Bullet Points: Arena (1989)

Empire International Pictures was the mini-studio that could in the 1980’s. With Charles Band at the helm, Empire produced dozens of films during their run, many of which became cult favorites of genre film fans.

1989’s Arena was being produced at a time when the company was in dire straits financially. But while the books were in poor shape, Arena is proof that Empire was still rich in creativity.

Like many Empire pictures, Arena combined elements from various genres (in this case action and sci-fi) to produce a unique movie experience and not a movie that could be accused of being cookie cutter entertainment…

• Wish Upon a Star Station: Steve Armstrong (Paul Satterfield, Creepshow 2) finds himself far from his home on Earth, working as a short order cook at a snack bar on a star station. Steve left Earth a year prior to follow his dream of competing in the Arena… a place where fighters from across galaxies fight to see who is the best of the best. The Arena fights emanate from the very star station Steve is now living on… but his initial attempts to get into the Arena competition were rejected, despite the fact that Steve had an impressive record in the human circuit back home. A dejected Steve is now trying to save up enough money to return to Earth and give up on his Arena dreams…
• Snack on Danger: But fate intervenes for Steve Armstrong at the Snack Bar, when some unruly customers threaten Steve’s four armed co-worker/friend Shorty (Hamilton Camp). Steve jumps in, starts throwing punches, putting other life forms through tables and before it is all said and done he is defenestrating one of the Arena fighters known as Vang. Steve and Shorty are immediately terminated and even worse, Steve finds out he’s been evicted from his living quarters on the star station. Shorty, feels indebted to Steve and insists that Steve stay with him in “The Tombs” a section in the bowels of the star station where people go, when there is nowhere else to go. Shorty even offers to help Steve get back to Earth.

• Tomb Raiders: Before Steve can get too comfortable and figure out what his next move is going to be, two goons show up and start beating the tar out of Steve. But just like in the snack bar brawl, Steve proves he is no push over and starts delivering some ass whoopings of his own… that’s when Quinn (Claudia Christian, Substitute 3: Winner Takes All) steps in and breaks up the proceedings. Quinn manages a stable of fighters, one of which was Vang, the fighter Steve beat up at the snack bar. She wanted to see Steve in action first hand so she had two of her cornermen test Steve… she then offers Steve a contract to fight for her…. but Steve rejects the offer flat out as far as he is concerned is Arena dream is dead.
• Casino Night: Shorty thinks Steve made a huge mistake not taking Quinn’s offer, but still wants to help Steve get a ticket back to Earth, so he convinces Steve to give him what little money he has and the two go to an illegal casino on the star station. Shorty guarantees they’ll leave with a lot more money than they are going in with… but once Shorty starts playing, it is clear that Shorty is unlucky at cards, which makes sense because with 20+ kids on his home planet of Nebula, it is obvious that Shorty is lucky in love. But fate once again intervenes, the illegal casino is raided and in the midst of the chaos Shorty grabs some cash (10 finger discount style) before he and Steve split before the authorities can nab them. But our heroes are about to have some bigger problems than some space station police…

• Rogor’s World: Shorty and Steve meet up at a bar after the brouhaha at the casino, it is there Shorty presents Steve with a one way ticket to Earth (purchased with the money he stole)… but that’s about a time a weaselly character, conveniently named Weezil. Weezil works for Mr. Rogor (Marc Alaimo, Total Recall) and he saw Shorty steal the money from the casino that Rogor operated. Rogor is pissed and wants his money back… Steve asks for a day to get Rogor his cash… Rogor gives him 12 hours. So Steve finds Quinn, signs a contract to become one of her fighters and pays off his debt. Rogor is impressed, but not as impressed as he is going to be when Steve wins his first fight.
• Overnight Sensation: It has been so long since a human competed in the Arena that Steve Armstrong becomes an instant celebrity. After just one win Arena fans are speculating on what would happen if Steve took on the reigning champion Horn, who just so happens to be managed by Rogor. Rogor’s power on the star station is all based on the fact that he’s managed the long reigning champion Horn… without Horn on top, Rogor will lose everything. So it is no surprise when Rogor tries to get Steve to sign on with him… this way even if Horn were to lose the inevitable Horn vs. Armstrong fight, Rogor would still have the champion in his stable. Steve Armstrong refuses to join up with Rogor, he wants to get to the top the right way with Quinn’s guidance. But Rogor has more tricks up his sleeve including using his sultry girlfriend Jade (Shari Shattuck, Out for Blood) to seduce Steve Armstrong.

Call me old fashioned, but I’ll take low budget practical effects over poorly done CGI any day of the week. There’s a certain charm knowing there were people behind the scenes squeezing every dime they could out of a limited budget to pull a movie like Arena off and I applaud those efforts.

The efforts of those in front of the camera in Arena can not be ignored. Paul Satterfield made for a quality, strong willed hero and it is surprising to me that Paul didn’t do more action hero type roles after this… Claudia Christian has delivered in any role I’ve ever seen her in and Arena was no exception… And even though they were covered in make up, you can’t discount what Michael Deak and Armin Shimerman brought to the table as Horn and Weezil respectively.

I have a few Bonus Bullet Points that I would now like to bring to the table…

• Don’t Judge a Movie By Its Poster: The tagline on many of the posters for Arena state that there has not been a human champion for a thousand years, but in the movie Steve actually meets the last human champion, Marcus Diablo, who was on top of the Arena game 50 years ago as champion.
• Delayed Reaction: The movie was produced in 1988, but didn’t get released in the United States until 1991, despite being released in parts of Europe in 1989.
• The Name Game: Not to be confused with 2011’s Arena starring Kellan Lutz and Samuel L. Jackson or 1974’s The Arena starring Pam Grier. I’m almost positive The Arena was the movie featured on an episode of USA Up All Night with special guest hosts, Bobby “The Brain” Heenan and “Mean” Gene Okerlund.