AniInterview Sorry, this movie sucks

Spoonatects Am i the only one who thinks........Average?

Intcatinfo A Masterpiece!

Brendon Jones It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

Woodyanders In the future the best fighters from all over the universe compete in a brutal gladiator-type sport called Arena. Tough and resourceful Steve Armstrong (a solid and affable performance by Paul Satterfield) becomes the first human brawler to participate in the event in a long time. However, nefarious alien crime lord Rogor (nicely played to the slimy hilt by Marc Alaimo) plots to stop Steve from winning the title of champion. Director Peter Manoogian, working from a clever script by Danny Bilson and Paul De Meo, relates the predictable, but still engrossing and entertaining story at a brisk pace, squeezes plenty of impressive production value out of the modest budget (Screaming Mad George's extraterrestrial make-up designs and the special effects are surprisingly pretty good), and stages the big matches with gusto. The neat array of funky aliens are a lot of fun to watch while the colorful characters are drawn in engagingly broad strokes. Moreover, the game cast have a ball with the quirky material: Claudia Christian as feisty fight promoter Quinn, Hamilton Camp as Steve's hearty and loyal diminutive pal Shorty, Armin Shimerman as short-tempered lackey Weezil, Shari Shattuck as sultry and deceitful moll Jade, and William Butler as wormy small-time hustler Skull. Michael Deak cuts a fearsome figure as ferocious and formidable reptilian reigning champ Horn. Jack Carter has a lively small part as an enthusiastic announcer. Both Richard Band's robust score and Mac Ahlberg's slick cinematography are up to speed. A really cool little flick.

RJR99SS Arena is a crappy, low budget B movie...but it's one of the best crappy low budget B movies ever made. Actually, it's what passes for a big budget Hollywood blockbuster, in terms of B movies.The saving grace of the film is the quality of the special effects that go into creating some of the alien species in the film, they're actually pretty darn impressive. Of course, it's sometimes hard to be impressed with the film, such as even though the special effects are cool, the costumes the characters wear look like cheesy leftovers from the wardrobe of "Space Mutiny".The main character is an unlikeable, one dimensional, somewhat confusing, and laughable muscle hunk. However...he's not AS unlikeable or laughable as most other B movie leading men, such as the many incarnations of Reb Brown. It tend to ads to the fun though, that you don't really like this character, and you actually would like to see a hairy alien kick his head in.Similarly the acting and plot are definitely mediocre. However, being just mediocre is a huge step up from some of the B movie cousins of this film.If you were to grade the film on a "normal movie" scale, i suppose it would only be a 3 or a 4. However, it's like the Special Olympics here, you cant really class it with normal films as it's quite obviously B movie cheese. And as far as B movies go, I'd give it a 7.

lost-in-limbo Held in a space station is an intergalactic fighting competition that pits all kind of species in the arena of endurance, ability and strength. There hasn't been a human victor in over 50 years and Steve Armstrong decides to take up the challenge, after his friend finds himself in trouble. However to take that crown of champion he must defeat the hideously cocky Horn and overcome attempts by a devious promoter Rogor. Who's trying to stop Steve's advancement through the competition. I really wanted to relish in "Arena", because for an extremely low budget production (it simply tells), it illustrated a colourful universe and a magnificent range of distinguishable species (think of Star Wars). Sure it doesn't have state of the art visuals, but those limitations didn't worry it and the overall junky and tackiness of it play into its own hands. Who produced this low-end Sci-fi romp? Well, no other than full moon's Charles Brand. So the campy richness and b-grade fixtures were assured from the get-go. Though, I guess I better get to the point to why I found it to be lacking poise. From very beginning we know how the standard storyline will play out. An underdog theme trumps in as we watch our protagonist start small with obstacles standing in his way and then eventually end a big high note. This predictable pattern is made more foreseeable with the good guys vs. bad guys context. It's pretty old-hat stuff, but one gets used to after a while even if there's a change of scenery to the mix. But this was lesser of its worries. Its main showpiece was the arena and fighting competition itself. Too bad the fight scenes were too few and goofily staged. I was disappointed on this aspect. They lacked any real sort of adrenaline, force and at times completely drag with the same repetitive activity. The only real fight that stood out for me took place outside the arena, when Steve shows us what his made of. I wouldn't blame someone who thinks this is more so a costume show, as Steve is in one fancy looking nappy outfit.Peter Manoogian's direction is workably sub-par, but lacks flair in his vision. The photography is quite stuffy and trumping in is Richard Brand's cornball music score. Those filming techniques might not blow you away, but they are acceptably achieved. John Carl Buechler's make-up is detailed (though not always perfect) and adds the to the film's spirit. The cold script is flooded with ineptness, but thankfully it's laced with agreeably witty banter. The performances aren't anything special, but solid enough. Paul Strathfield makes a likable working class heroine, if not much else. There's the familiar face of the succulent and biting Claudia Christian. Eye candy is in the shape of Shari Shattuck. Marco Alaimo goes out of his way to look and act real sinister as Rogor. Hamilton Camp and Armin Shimerman play the supporting roles in mostly a comical tone. Dreams can come true, but that wasn't entirely the case here. Rather than be exciting, it's diverting at best.

Aaron1375 This movie is sort of like "Robot Jox" in that it has a tournament. It isn't like it, in that it is fights between aliens. The alien in this case being a rare human ready to become the first human champ in some time. All the standards are here for this type of movie with a villain, betrayal and all that good stuff that make movies of this type so predictable. It does not help that the fights are lacking any real punch as they are nothing like the high energy fights you get in an anime or any Jackie Chan movie. Still though you have loads of alien creatures to look at and some attractive female leads. That, however, does not a movie make so for the most part it is a by the numbers sports movie with an alien twist.