In the not too far future, the show Arena Wars, hosted by Samson (Michael Madsen) and Moses (Robert Donavan) with ringside announcer Holly Daze (Sheri Davis), has become TV staple. Basically it's a program where death row candidates fight to the death with physically and mechanically augmented, heavily armed fighters for a chance for a second lease on life. Most of the times, the convicts, having to go through no less than 7 back-to-back fights, lose though and die gory deaths. Of late though, the program has fallen out with audiences as even carnage gets old after a while and the audience longs for characters to identify with - something death row inmates, especially with multiple murder raps, just aren't. So some digging's done, and eventually Luke Bender (John Wells) is found, a highly decorated Marine who has entered death row undercover for a mission - but hey, it's only fair to blow any cover for the sake of ratings, right? So he's to lead a group of convicts, consisting of among others strongman with a heart of gold Minty (Wesley Cannon), badass femaile Billie (Kylie Fulmer) and comic relief Khan (Johnny Huang), through the seven chambers of death. But will the convicts even trust him, learning that he's an innocent man? And what about the show's executives once his popularity has eclipsed the show's? And will the enhanced killing machines just let him through for the sake of ratings?

Seen as a mere piece of action cinema, Arena Wars sets hardly a foot wrong: The fights are exciting, the violence is rather relentless, properly gory and nicely captured by the camera, and there's a rather fitting campiness to things that's very much copied from real life wrestling shows - so in that way alone, the film's already a pretty fun ride. However, there's another, deeper level to this film that veers towards social commentary on today's state of mass media that seems to always go for the sensationalist, even if it's the totally wrong thing to do - and that's where Arena Wars really hits the nail on the head - but wrapped into a really nice genre wrapping so it doesn't come across as a message movie, just pretty good action entertainment.

review © by Mike Haberfelner

 

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