Steven Spielberg got his start in TV with "Duel", and he is arguably the greatest director of his generation. Unlike the contenders for that title, he is concerned in releasing blockbusters more often than not.
This generation's (Those who came up during the resurgence of indie cinema.) blockbuster directors have a similar pedigree where they honed their skills, but with less prestige. Heroes of today cinema like James Cameron, Ron Howard, and Joe Dante came out of Roger Corman's "indie" cinema. Corman's latest protégé of note is Timur Bekmanbetov ("Night Watch", "Day Watch", "Wanted"). His B-movie was "The Arena". It is a film that shows glimpses of the director's talent, but those maybe blurred for late night cable due to all the excessive Roman decadence.
Timarchus (Viktor Verzhbitskiy from the "Watch" series) has been left to mind a Roman outpost in Western Europe's wasteland. Desperate to make this land his own little Rome, he has had a wooden coliseum built to host his bloodlust. When the locals prove to be wretched warriors and the gladiators who he brings in are subpar, he must come up with a new means to have the peasants love Roman culture. He decides to try and capture the intensity of the rebellious slave women by making gladiators out of them.
Can he make warriors of those he constantly victimized? Is it wise to do so? Can an empire fall by the hands of the women it scorned?
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"The Arena" can only be suggested if you are looking to rot your brain on a lame weekend. We have all been there, so if you take the film as that, it is worth a few inebriated minutes.
The script is pretty lame along with the fight scenes, but there is enough female nudity to amuse the male audience through to the second act. From there, it is just laughable, but there are some moments where you see the director's talent that has placed in high regards by the likes of Tim Burton.
The director has vision, and for that to work, he needs a lot of space to work in. This film is squeezed into sets that are far too small for the extras to be involved. If his characters (all of them) do to get an open world to play in, then the feature could have been saved by his skillset.
"The Arena" is junk food, better yet, the bottom of the chip bag. For whatever reason, it is worthwhile until you realize what you are watching. This is a flick you can only come across by accident even if you want to be a Bekmanbetov completist.
If you like "1941", you may like "The Arena."
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