Steven Spielberg got his start in TV with "Duel", and he is arguably the greatest director of his generation. Unlike the contenders for that title, he is concerned in releasing blockbusters more often than not.
This generation's (Those who came up during the resurgence of indie cinema.) blockbuster directors have a similar pedigree where they honed their skills, but with less prestige. Heroes of today cinema like James Cameron, Ron Howard, and Joe Dante came out of Roger Corman's "indie" cinema. Corman's latest protégé of note is Timur Bekmanbetov ("Night Watch", "Day Watch", "Wanted"). His B-movie was "The Arena". It is a film that shows glimpses of the director's talent, but those maybe blurred for late night cable due to all the excessive Roman decadence.
Timarchus (Viktor Verzhbitskiy from the "Watch" series) has been left to mind a Roman outpost in Western Europe's wasteland. Desperate to make this land his own little Rome, he has had a wooden coliseum built to host his bloodlust. When the locals prove to be wretched warriors and the gladiators who he brings in are subpar, he must come up with a new means to have the peasants love Roman culture. He decides to try and capture the intensity of the rebellious slave women by making gladiators out of them.
Can he make warriors of those he constantly victimized? Is it wise to do so? Can an empire fall by the hands of the women it scorned?
No comments:
Post a Comment