Arena: An Absurd Notion

This is by far the most innovative video collections. This came out in 1985 and has a look and production values as good as anything that is out there now. Duran Duran have never gotten the credit they deserve as pioneers of the video genre. Most of the credit is handed to Michael Jackson and Madonna who I am afraid had never made anything in the 80s as well as "Is there something I should know?", which to me is one of the most perfect music videos. Arena is a collection of live performances by the band bonded together with a tongue and cheek plotline including the band's namesake, the evil sex fiend Dr. Duran of Barbarella fame. It's all in fun and was especially pleasing to a 15 year old fan. I give it a 10 with deep affection.

Filmed and released during the height of Duran Duran's popularity, this concentrated bundle of self-importance tries in vain to straddle two genres and only succeeds in spoiling them both. Footage of the group on-stage during their 1984 Seven and the Ragged Tiger tour is interspersed with (and interrupted by) loud, overplayed vignettes of an invading alien force, which results in an effect similar to constant channel-flips between MTV and an episode of The Transformers. The inclusion of Milo O'Shea, reprising his role as the evil Dr. Durand Durand from the film Barbarella (source of the band's name) is a cute nod, but hardly enough to overcome the surrounding trainwreck. Even the band's performance, what little we actually get to see of it, is sub-par, as if we've caught them on the last few dates of a particularly draining tour. Die-hards and casuals alike should try to forget this one ever existed.

this was one of my first videos that i owned(at the tender age of 15!) It is mostly concert footage of duran duran at their height performing. that in itself makes the video worthwhile. But Miles o'shea's potrayal as dr duran takes the cake.... And if you watch carefully you see bits of barbarella thrown in.

the weak spot is the Wild Boys video.... I love the video but the way it is edited in is rather weak...... But all in all it is truly a good movie!

Decent concert ruined by pointless cuts.

This film captures Duran Duran at the height of their powers and popularity, in Oakland, CA on their 1984 US tour. All their big hits are there: Hungry like the Wolf, Is there something I should know?, Rio, Union of the Snake, Save a Prayer, Wild Boys, Planet Earth, The Reflex and Girls on Film.

The movie accurately captures the energy of the band, plus the adoration of the fans.

Unfortunately, this is all ruined by cuts to an attempt to make some sort of sci fi movie in parallel. The parallel movie borrows from Barbarella, the movie from which Duran Duran got their name. However, it adds nothing to the concert. Worse than that, it wrecks the concert. The cuts are in the middle of songs, and are incredibly irritating.

Leave out the sci fi bs and this would have been a good concert film.

One of the most bizarre companion videos to an album ever made, IMO, Milo O'Shea reprises his role as megalomaniacal Dr. Durand Durand from Jane Fonda's old babes-in-space flick BARBARELLA, and winds up making it a lot more interesting than the movie which spawned it.

Having somehow escaped the corrosive destruction of The Matmos, Dr. Durand, still just as loopy as a test monkey in a centrifuge chamber, decides he wants to conquer Earth and simultaneously wreak his revenge on the poofy-haired teen idols who have "taken his name in vain," and stolen what he perceives to be in his warped brain, a piece of his past glory.

Mind you, I'm giving this vid-movie more credit for having a plot than it probably deserves. What director Russell Mulcahy (HIGHLANDER) was about here is images, textures and sound, and ways to combine them that would either leave you mesmerized, or with an intense migraine. Anyway, aside from the story nonsense is some great concert footage of The Boys, and as I mentioned before, O'Shea's OTT performance, which works splendidly here.

Which is not to say that ARENA is for all tastes. DD fans or people who enjoyed the accompanying album who'd like another perspective on songs like "The Reflex," "Save A Prayer," "Union of the Snake" and "Rio" will want to check this out.

But good luck finding it. Except as a rental, ARENA is out of print in most places. Maybe VH1 or MTV will show it on some extremely rare occasion...