Perhaps I shouldn't be amazed when I see a name star perform in a low budget film like ARENA. The pay must be good and I'm sure the promise that it was intended to be much more was there. The good news is that when a name actor like Samuel L. Jackson appears in these films the amount of money raised to take it above schlock comes about and a half decent film comes out.
Kellan Lutz is David Lord, a rugby player whose pregnant wife was killed in an accident. Now David is on a landmark binge, getting drunk in the worst places in the world. Being the tough guy he is it also helps land him kidnapped and placed in the most dangerous game on the planet.
DEATH GAMES is an online viewer only match up between modern gladiators who fight to the death. The enterprise is led by Samuel L. Jackson as Logan, a man who has hidden the location and electronic trail of this show so that even the FBI and Interpol have been unable to locate him. As for the viewers most think that its all fake, that it's just special effects. They aren't aware that when these combatants fight one actually never walks away.
Recruited for the games David resists all attempts to brainwash him. Jackson's team does this to all entries, changing them from violent individuals to cold blooded killers. When David begins to show signs that he's ready for the next level, he's tossed into his first match.
The combatants fight in a virtual world so that viewers can witness them in all sorts of locations. But the hand to hand combat and the weapons used are all real. In his first match David refuses to be a part of it all, immobilizing his opponent but not killing him. It doesn't matter as the show has its own executioner and encourages viewers to vote thumbs up or down on the loser. Thinking its only a game, they always vote down.
While Kadden, the show's executioner and brainwasher, thinks David needs taken down more to be willing to fight, his captor Milla thinks coercion is their best bed. She also has taken a personal interest in David as well and begins tending to his wounds, both inner and out. Eventually David finds what he thinks is an escape. Logan had offered him a deal, ten deaths and he would be free. David changes the deal.; ten deaths and a match up against Kadden, which Logan accepts.
Each match continues and David wins one after the other leading to the eventual match up with Kadden. And each win makes both Kadden and Logan just a little more nervous while encouraging both David and Milla. Scarred for life, David's strength comes from his desire for revenge. Or does it? A twist at the end that caught me completely off guard stepped this movie up a notch.
While interesting in some spots the movie does have a ton of weaknesses. For an online viewing experience that is supposedly generating tons of money to Logan, how is it that college students and cubicle working hacks can afford to watch it let alone bet on the outcome? Why wouldn't someone recognize David and try to get him help? If someone could afford the technology to create a virtual world without glasses for these people to fight in, couldn't they make more money creating worlds for everyone to visit?
Two other items dropped the movie down a notch or two for me. The first is that this theme has been used over and over again beginning with the original DEATH RACE 2000. Folks battling for their lives as entertainment is not original. The only saving grace here for that is the twist. The second is what is becoming the obligatory kinky sex scene. Here Logan's two female oriental computer geniuses are entwined while he watches and giggles. Come on, really? The shock value wore off years ago and now it just seems like scenes like these have to be included just to guarantee an R rating.
ARENA isn't the best movie of this sort ever made but its not the worst either. Teetering on the edge of torture porn (a genre I hate) but not quite going over, it does offer some decent action and fight sequences and displays some genuine acting ability in its stars. If you're looking for something to rent and the top flicks are gone, then this one is worth you while if you're not squeamish.
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