I wished this was worse so I could laugh a bit more but this is just a poorly done movie in nearly every aspects
Arena is one of those concept movies that never really leaves the realm of a concept. It sounds like a draft idea that then sadly turned into a movie. Top that of with a director that has primally only done special effects and you are left with a movie that is properly nothing more than a tech demo for this person more than it was a movie. The idea of a fighting tournament is fun and all, but you really need a story to make it makes sense and the movie is lacking that on all aspects. That and a poor technical side and you have a really bad movie overall.
David Lord is kidnapped after the dearth of his partner and unborn child and is forced to fight in a death game broadcasted online.
This movie has so many technical aspects that are just plain bad and makes the viewing experience so much worse. Generic soundtrack is one of them, followed by a horrible use of sound effects that sound so stuck it hurts. Someone really got to use the full scale of a stuck sound library with no filters or editing over them. The editing is absolutely horrible. It gets better later in the movie, but the movie cuts constantly and disorient the viewer so much in the beginning, it´s ugly and obnoxious. The fighting choreography is terrible also in terms of the editing, we can simply not read what is going on in a fight. Cutting with nearly every hit, and cutting to reactions from viewers instead of actually showing any action. Top this off with horrible choreography where so many hits look fake and you understand why they cut away. Even the effects the aspects I imagined would look the best because of the director look pretty tame today, since it´s just a green screen set. Sure some of the backgrounds look aright, but it´s none the less fake and pointing it out doesn't really help. Overall this is a technical disaster on nearly every level.
The acting here is pretty bad, even for actors that I know can do a good performance. I think the directing is the key since some actors do a fine job in some scenes and then absolutely abysmal in others.
Ehen you have a concept for your movie, you have to make a plot for that concept. You can´t just write "fighting tournament" on a whiteboard and then call it a day. What is supposed to happen in the tournament? Who are the characters? How do they grow? What are their different motivations and flaws? How do we get from start to finish? What are the movie supposed to teel the viewer? None of these aspects are focused on with only one character really going through an ark and they do it so fast it´s embarrassing. Even the fighting isn´t really focused on, we are supposed to see 10 fights, but the movie glances over 7 of them and that leaves you with an actual plotless movie. Nothing happens in this movie.
The twist at the end is hilariously bad. I laughed when it was revealed how they were going to end this. The writers clearly wrote themselves into a corner, how do we end this in a natural way? And then wrote the most unnatural ending in the world. This movie just really needed to end in some way and I must say, it did in the unintentionally funniest way imaginable. Also why are all the cars dirty at the end? That really needs an explanation like the rest of this movie.
Let a movie like this be a lesson for any future screenwriter. You might think you have a great and funny concept for a movie, but without characters, without motivations, without a plot, you will never engage a viewer to their core. The only other thing you can do then is wow in different ways. And when you even fail at that, even entertain with simple action or effects, you have a just absolutely soulless movie that has no point at the end of it all and then, what was the point of making it to begin with?
Arena is one of those concept movies that never really leaves the realm of a concept. It sounds like a draft idea that then sadly turned into a movie. Top that of with a director that has primally only done special effects and you are left with a movie that is properly nothing more than a tech demo for this person more than it was a movie. The idea of a fighting tournament is fun and all, but you really need a story to make it makes sense and the movie is lacking that on all aspects. That and a poor technical side and you have a really bad movie overall.
David Lord is kidnapped after the dearth of his partner and unborn child and is forced to fight in a death game broadcasted online.
This movie has so many technical aspects that are just plain bad and makes the viewing experience so much worse. Generic soundtrack is one of them, followed by a horrible use of sound effects that sound so stuck it hurts. Someone really got to use the full scale of a stuck sound library with no filters or editing over them. The editing is absolutely horrible. It gets better later in the movie, but the movie cuts constantly and disorient the viewer so much in the beginning, it´s ugly and obnoxious. The fighting choreography is terrible also in terms of the editing, we can simply not read what is going on in a fight. Cutting with nearly every hit, and cutting to reactions from viewers instead of actually showing any action. Top this off with horrible choreography where so many hits look fake and you understand why they cut away. Even the effects the aspects I imagined would look the best because of the director look pretty tame today, since it´s just a green screen set. Sure some of the backgrounds look aright, but it´s none the less fake and pointing it out doesn't really help. Overall this is a technical disaster on nearly every level.
The acting here is pretty bad, even for actors that I know can do a good performance. I think the directing is the key since some actors do a fine job in some scenes and then absolutely abysmal in others.
Ehen you have a concept for your movie, you have to make a plot for that concept. You can´t just write "fighting tournament" on a whiteboard and then call it a day. What is supposed to happen in the tournament? Who are the characters? How do they grow? What are their different motivations and flaws? How do we get from start to finish? What are the movie supposed to teel the viewer? None of these aspects are focused on with only one character really going through an ark and they do it so fast it´s embarrassing. Even the fighting isn´t really focused on, we are supposed to see 10 fights, but the movie glances over 7 of them and that leaves you with an actual plotless movie. Nothing happens in this movie.
The twist at the end is hilariously bad. I laughed when it was revealed how they were going to end this. The writers clearly wrote themselves into a corner, how do we end this in a natural way? And then wrote the most unnatural ending in the world. This movie just really needed to end in some way and I must say, it did in the unintentionally funniest way imaginable. Also why are all the cars dirty at the end? That really needs an explanation like the rest of this movie.
Let a movie like this be a lesson for any future screenwriter. You might think you have a great and funny concept for a movie, but without characters, without motivations, without a plot, you will never engage a viewer to their core. The only other thing you can do then is wow in different ways. And when you even fail at that, even entertain with simple action or effects, you have a just absolutely soulless movie that has no point at the end of it all and then, what was the point of making it to begin with?