Arena

Kellan Lutz was amazing in this and of course Mr. Jackson is always flawless. I really hope they can do a part 2 or somehow franchise on the film and keep the original characters and keep the story flowing. I'm typically not into fighting films, or anything of this nature but I'm a big fan of the Twilight cast so I've been watching their other films in between releases of Breaking Dawn and I stumbled across this one. It really surprised me! Not recommended for children of course. There is a ton of violence, I'd compare the gore to say, 300. The action is great and their is a surprising twist in the end. It really did take me by surprise. I hope you all get as good of a thrill from this as I did!

While I agree with the highly negative reviews already posted, I didn't find it *quite* as offensively bad as they did. Sure, the fight choreography was poor, at times, but it wasn't nearly as bad as Amsterdam Heavy. The acting wasn't much better, but it was still about par for the genre. I guess this is place where I'm supposed to express incredulity over Sam Jackson appearing in this movie, but, really, everyone who watches lots of low budget, direct-to-video movies knows that he'll appear in anything. He's done some really mediocre (and even bad) movies, in the past.

Anyways, the main plot consists of a James Bond villain (Sam Jackson) kidnapping people and forcing them into fighting to the death. That's it. Nothing else. No pretenses to art here. Now, if the fight choreography and stunts were good, I might able to suggest this to fans of direct-to-video B movies inspired by Enter the Dragon and Bloodsport. Unfortunately, they're really not very well done, with some of them looking downright crappy and unimpressive. Some others, however, end up looking pretty decent, though nowhere near Enter The Dragon or Bloodsport. The direction focuses on stylized, bloody violence, with fast cuts, slow motion, and lots of posing. If Michael Bay drives you nuts, I doubt you'll like this much, either.

There's a rather surprising amount of gratuitous exploitation in this movie. If you're prudish at all, I'd warn you to avoid it. There's constant, gory violence and occasional full frontal nudity (female only), making this one of the most overt, unapologetic, and cynical attempts at making a mainstream action movie that I've seen recently. I guess they're saying that if the nudity doesn't get you off, the violence will, like we're all a bunch over-stimulated sociopaths. There's a satirical element to all this gratuitous exploitation, but I think it was inserted merely to deflect criticism.

If you're looking for exploitation, there's plenty of that. Otherwise, I'd say you're best off skipping it. The action scenes aren't good enough. Some people have criticized this as being pornographic, and I have to agree; the violence seems to be almost fetishized. However, amoral as I am, I find the lack of plot and poor fight choreography to be the true problems with this movie.

Logan (Samuel L. Jackson) runs an internet gladiatorial bloodsport. Denver fireman David Lord (Kellan Lutz) loses his pregnant wife in a car crash. He's despondent. While on a bender in rundown Acapoco, he is kidnapped by Milla (Katia Winter) and forces to fight in the game. Taiga (Daniel Dae Kim) is the neighboring prisoner.

Jackson is camping it up as much he can. The movie and Lutz refuse to allow it to have any fun. Lord's motivation is problematic. It would have so much simpler to kidnap the pregnant wife and force him to fight for her life. They give him a sword and I don't know why he doesn't just go on a suicide mission. His reasoning makes no reason. Lutz's major failure is his inability to make this ridiculous. It's the wrong actor doing a bad script and failing to understand the silliness of his movie. Even the fights lack commitment. It's a lot of blood and gore with no tension. Then there is the big fat twist at the end. It rewrites so much of the earlier parts of the movie that it would be bad if I actually care.

If you're craving a lot gladiatorial gore with a side order of nude babes, this one suits those baser parts of your nature. Samuel L. Jackson overacts as the villain (not nearly so amusingly evil as in The Kingsmen) to offset the degree to which Kellan Lutz underplays his heroics. The plot is pure paint-by-numbers.

And now for the exception. At about 25 minutes, there's a quick, flawlessly executed Easter egg nod to a much better film, Office Space. Fans of that one will love that brief flash of wit that's nowhere to be found in the rest of the script.

Very graphic, bloody and violent... and that's just how I like my films.

To those that hated this movie because they don't like displays of graphic violence... Why would you even start to watch something that clearly states in the synopsis "men fight to the death for the entertainment of the online masses."

*Shakes head* I don't know.... But if you like your films violent and bloody you will love this!

If you don't like violent movies definitely give this one a miss.

Also, I thought Kellan Lutz (known for The Twilight Saga) did a great job as the main character, and gave it his all.

And I officially have a new crush after watching Katia Winter in this, who actually gets naked in this... Wow!!