User reviews

I saw this movie in the bargain bin and mistook it for The Arena from 1974 , with Pam Grier. I bought it since it was so cheap and I was in a hurry. Only to find out it wasn't the movie I had in mind when I got home. No harm done I said to myself and decided to give the movie a go. Wrong idea. The scenery is plain, the acting is below mediocre (even extending to horrible) and the cinematography is boring as hell. For those into just nude chicks, pass the movie as well. While the 2 female "stars" (i believe i read somewhere they are former playboy models) rarely show any flesh.

If for some reason you still want to see this movie, please have brain-surgery

1st watched 10/12/2001 - 3 out of 10(Dir-Timour Bekmambetov): Hard to believe, american playboy playmates pose as female gladiators in this Russian film obviously financed by Americans for video release. This is actually a remake of a Roger Corman film of the early seventies and guess what(He is the executive producer of this film). Lots of violence, some sex but mostly cheaply done film trying to profit on the recent films that have been done in this realm. At least this is not too exploitative of the women in the film. They are more human than most of the men portrayed in the movie, but again this is an obvious movie that was created and setup for a particular purpose and it reaks of this.

This is a prime little exploitation flick with a couple of cute, costumed Playboy-Bunny gladiatrix being harassed by the local Roman invaders. It's an update of Roger Corman's Pam Grier classic from the early seventies, spiced up with some flash-cut editing, filtered cinematography and impressive location photography done in Russia. There's enough flesh peddling, sleazy sexual situations and action to reasonably satisfy today's B-movie fans, but it's all relatively kinder and gentler than viewers should expect from your typical exploitation flick. The most enjoyable thing about the DVD release is the mini-commentary supplements from the two lead bunnies. It's an amusing take on their adventures as low-budget movie stars and adds immeasurably to the enjoyment of the feature. Frankly, I'm surprised there aren't a lot more cheesy, sword-and-sandal ripoffs in the wake of Ridley Scott's enormously successful GLADIATOR. This is one genre where the sky's the limit!

Of course Roger Corman was going to cash in on the success of "Gladiator" by having one of his films from the 70's remade. Probably not as good as the original since I have not seen it but this still is entertaining junk. Playboy playmates are cast and of course they are kidnapped, raped, forced to train, and then of course to fight as female gladiators. Here's your chance to see female gladiators with very noticeable breast implants. The film is made with a serious tone and mood and definitely not tongue in cheek. Entertaining exploitation that was actually filmed in Russia.

From what I could see, the only reason this movie exists is to give some very beautiful Playmates multiple opportunities to display the nude female figure divine. Regretfully, the nude scenes are (for me anyway) pretty much destroyed by poor editing; the constant cuts and pseudo-artsy close-ups become very distracting after a while. Maybe they were trying to avoid letting us see the silicone <grin>?

The "actresses" can't act, even with their clothes off! Most of the characters are obviously speaking a different language overdubbed in English. As for the storyline, well, it's got so many holes in it, I wouldn't even know where to begin. Even the fights are poorly staged, their impact destroyed by dumb closeups and dizzying, confusing scene jumps.

Too bad, with a little effort, it could actually have been a fairly decent movie. The first step would have had to be, give the Playmates some acting lessons. Both vertical and horizontal.

One positive note: the scenes in which the women struggle to learn the fighting arts are actually quite well-done. You get the feeling the actresses enjoyed learning how to fight, and put themselves into it, without any phoniness.

I came into this movie expecting two things - a lot of nudity and not much of a plot. Neither one came to fruition. The story was surprisingly easy to follow and pretty much made sense. A group of slaves gets sent to the frontier of the Roman Empire; some are pressed into gladiator duty. The local governor is trying to assimilate the local populace into the Empire so he organizes "quality" gladiator fights for the entertainment of the people. He figures what could be more entertaining than watching some slave girls duel. They get trained and then they fight. It's not a great story, but it works.

The lead actresses are indeed Playboy material. However, they aren't particularly good actresses and there wasn't enough screen time for their assets. As such, these ladies were miscast. They could have found some girls who could actually look like they were fighters and it would have made this a little better.

The real killer in this movie is the cinematography. The color filters are straight up annoying. The emphasis on close-ups - while I'm sure used to cover up the cheap sets - made it hard to watch. And the average shot length on this must have been two seconds. A drunk monkey with an iPhone could have shot a better movie.

This story had potential. It was horribly undone by poor acting, awful editing, and fight scenes scripted by 10 year olds.

I'm a long-time fan of bad movies. I recognize them for what they are, and often they provide something I want for entertainment. Mindless violence, goofy comedy, or scantily women gallivanting about consorting with all manner of folk. There are times though, that even I can't find anything worth watching in a film.

This is the trick with this "film". With drop-dead beautiful leads and a setting that had plenty of opportunity for great action sequences, I was really hopeful I'd find SOMETHING of note in this video. Unfortunately, there's nothing. The "fight" scenes look faker than a couple of 3 year olds with paper towel tubes. The acting is worse than some porn films I've seen, but without the sex that makes THOSE halfway worth watching! Seriously, don't waste your time on this piece of junk. If you do, you'll wish you listened to me.

This gory remake of an old Pam Grier vehicle is shot in an extremely annoying pseudo-MTV-ish style (color filters, quick cuts and flashes, overamplified sounds), but if you take it strictly as an assault on the senses, it is partly effective. Lisa Dergan (the blonde) completely outshines her co-star in the acting as well as in the looks department. (**)

Found this movie in a stack of "to be watched" DVDs. I did, and found it worth the time. While billed as a remake of the Pam Grier-Roger Corman 70s classic, it's much different in many aspects, particularly the escape from The Arena.

I found the "Extras" as interesting as the movie itself. Both principal women were interviewed and revealed many interesting aspects of filming in Russia. Lisa Dergan's lengthy narative was particularly interesting, in dealing with Russia's climate and terrain (the movie was filmed in Russia), drunk Russian actors (vodka), a buff male gladiator who told her, in the clenches, that he was gay, and the Russian health care system (not). (Lesson learned: Get to an American health faculty if injured; Russian "care" (sic) can be as dangerous as the injury itself.)

Both Durgan and McDougal discussed the process from going from a Playboy playmate to being featured in a movie; very Interesting.

Of note, the cover for the DVD is deceiving. When the crew returned to LA the women were fitted out in the bikini outfits shown in the cover image. In the movie itself both women are dressed far more appropriately in gladiator outfits, particularly Dergan's right arm in armor which was heavy and difficult to wield over multiple sword clashes with her female opponent (McDougal) and multiple male Romans at the end.

Both women expressed disappointment that more of their "fights" were not depicted on screen, a legitimate ciriticism. The training was exhausting and the steel swords heavy. Unfortunately, most of the scenes were edited to an almost incoherent "flash" depiction. Both women would have benefited from a Ridley Scott treatment of gladiator combat in The Arena. (A director with a "Thelma and Louise" perspective would have been of value here.)

Bottom line: Worth getting a DVD copy and watching both the movie and the extras.

Roger Corman has an unusual reputation. He has produced or directed a large number of "cheapie" movies--including this one, which was shot in Russia(per the DVD commentary, even the interior shots were done on soundstages in St. Petersberg).

Sometimes, one just doesn't feel like some sort of heavy-duty, call-to-action movie--say, like "Spartactus"(1963). On the other hand, if you feel like being entertained, "Arena"(2001), is likely to "hit the spot" very nicely. Just like a lot of Roger Corman's films.

The fact of the matter is that, surprisingly, the screenplay is well-crafted and not as goofy as you might think. The Romans did try to implement their customs wherever they conquered--including the contests of the gladiators as they were being performed in the Great Coliseum in Rome. And there was even a disastrous attempt to perform them in Greece(the Greeks rioted because of the carnage). Female gladiators--while unusual--were not unknown and some of them even appeared in "Gladiator" with Russell Crowe. A wooden, scaled-down clone of The Great Coliseum in Rome is not only possible, it is likely that there were hundreds of them in the forested frontier regions of the Empire.

A nice, fun movie for an evening's entertainment.

But you could say the same thing about other movies from Roger Corman, notably "The Undead"(1957) and "The Dunwich Horror"(1969). Incidentally, many of today's movies are just that--entertainment--and, IMO, no apologies are necessary.

Movies with "a message" are not--and should not be--the only alternative.

If you're reading this having not seen The Arena yet, it should be painfully obvious what you're in for: a low-budget Gladiator knock-off filmed in Russia and starring a couple of Playboy girls, meaning you're in for a lot of graphic scenes of good old-fashioned Roman debauchery.

Sure enough, no surprises to be found... although it wasn't the unapologetic T&A festival that I expected (not the whole way through, at least). As actresses, Karen McDougal and Lisa Dergan make great centrefolds and the rest of the cast list looks like the starting lineup for the Detroit Red Wings, only with better English-speaking skills. The storyline is decadent at best and it features possibly one of the most audacious endings I've seen in recent years that was worthy of fifteen minutes of laughter all on its own.

The Arena turns out to be a toga party and a mud wrestling competition rolled into one... it's cheap entertainment, and I liked it. Enjoy it for what it is, try not to think too hard, and you won't be disappointed.

I'm astonished to read reviews recommending this film for its T&A factor. Considering it is clearly a B-level exploitation film starring two former Playboy Playmates, you'd THINK it had T&A aplenty but it has very little. The four female gladiators who are the leads spend most of their time dressed in dowdy rags that cover them from neck to knees. There are some brief nude scenes and a couple of brief sex scenes, but like the rest of the movie they are jump cut so aggressively that you have a lot of trouble seeing what there is to see. Plus the sex scenes are seriously underlit. It is literally hard to watch the movie because of all the jump cutting. The fight scenes are filmed the same way, which helps somewhat with the rather obvious lack of fighting ability of the gladiatrixes (who don't do all that much fighting -- the fighting is handled by more capable male actors, who were also heavily jump cut, just like the rest of the movie).

Most of the movie's dramatic opportunities are completely bobbled as well. The set up provides for plenty of drama: who shall live, who shall die, whom will be betrayed by whom, etc. Very little advantage was taken of it.

If you are looking for well done gladiator movies, any single episode of the Starz series "Spartacus" will put this movie to shame. Deathstalker and Barbarian Queen have MUCH better fight scenes as well as more and better T&A. "The Arena" is simply a failure, badly botched, not worth any attention at all. There are some MST3K-able bits, but even there the jump cutting is a problem. There is NOTHING to recommend this film. Do. Not. Watch. And if you do ... don't say you weren't warned.

Roger corman went to Russia to produce this ludicrous exploitation movie, trying to gather an audience through the use of Gladiator fame and two beatiful playmates (Lisa Dergan and Karen McDougal) as the leadign actressess of this mess. Rest sure that you get plenty of gore, less nudity than you may expect (but both the leading ladies are really gorgeous), and a story that is almost non-existent, but it is not really so bad as you may think before. As for historicity, even Scott's magnus opus is abysmal in that respect; so, The Arena, at least in this respect, is not worse than its Oscar winning model

It's not gladiator but it is not bad. The worst thing about this movie is that you constantly feel like you are watching a Japanese film that has been dubbed in English. The voices of the Playmates are the ones that belong to them but I can't be sure of any of the others.

The two main female characters are lovely. AND YES they do get nekkid. In the Featurette for Lisa Dergen she revealed that the guy she was supposed to be having sex with was very nervous, she was not as she had partaken in quite a bit of wine and was dis-inhibited. She said that somewhere in the scene he leaned over and whispered in her ear the he was gay. She laughed. In the editing it just looks like she is enjoying his labors so they left it in.

The sets are not bad but the "cells" where the slaves are kept are pretty flimsy wood. Really not strong enough to keep in what we are supposed to believe are warriors. They did do a very good job of making things look used instead of brand new.

The SOUND other than the dubbed feeling is quite good.

The dialogue oft times written as though it is intended to be sarcastic but rendered with complete sincerity. I wonder if that is due to non-English speaking actors giving dialogue phonetically.

The fight scenes are not up to par with much of anything else I have scene of this type. Editing is used to make up for the lack of good coordination among the fighters but it doesn't quite make up for it.

For an afternoon of fun and a good bit of T&A THE ARENA is a good choice.

Right off the bat, you'd think that two former playmates playing gladiators would be just about as campy as The Bare Wench Project or something similar, meant solely to show as much T & A as possible. That it was not (although it was not without it). I would say the violence in the movie far outweighed the T & A (again, why cast playmates if there wasn't going to be at least some).

My second misconception was that when these ladies would eventually do battle, it would be too "girlie" or fake, like you could tell the actresses didn't want to break a nail for the sake of the movie. This was very much unlike the "gang fight" in Savage Roses AKA Locas 4 Life, where you could tell every kick was pulled and was probably the first time the actress had even attempted to kick someone. Anyways, I never would have believed that Karen McDougal and Lisa Dergan would have been able to handle a sword believably. I'm sure they were just props, so as to make them lighter and easier to handle, but that's the point right? To make everything as believable as possible.

With that being said, and knowing that I thought it was worth a watch, the one thing that bugged me was the voice acting. Apparently this movie was filmed in Russia, and probably used many Russian actors, but the voices spoken were perfect English. This resulted in the old Kung Fu movie look where hearing the words didn't match up with watching the lips saying the words. However, if you're a lip reader, you can tell they were saying the same thing. This confused me a bit but I got over it.

I also didn't know they had nail salons in ancient Rome, or wherever they were, but now I'm nitpicking. Overall, I'd recommend viewing this movie at least once. I was surprised that it was better than the 2.9 most IMDb voters chose to rate it (at the time this was wrote). MUCH better than the 2.9, in fact, I gave it a 7.

I have seen this film four times now. It is a remake of the film, Naked Warriors (Pam Grier and Margaret Markov). Grier and Markov also made a film called Black Mama, White Mama (1973), a women in prison film. The Arena is not a bad remake--it owes much to the original film and to two other films/series, yes Ridley Scott's Gladiator and the series, Xena, Warrior Princess. It treats the women with a certain amount of respect and quickly focuses on their love/hate/love relationship. Another film of the same type from the Sixties: Thor and the Amazon Women.