Search - Duran Duran - Arena: The Movie/Making of Arena on DVD

Arena

George | Philadelphia, PA | 05/20/2004

(3 out of 5 stars)

"ok, if your a hardcore fan,like me, your gonna get it anyway. - but i never liked this. not as a vhs or dvd. its just kind of corny. definetly very dated. i mean, im sure the idea behind it was meant well but everytime you get into a song its interupted by midgets or retarded aliens or just some other nonsense. the only thing i enjoyed about this was the making of arena-because it included some interviews with the band. so go with sing blue silver. thats a much better dvd."

Purely for die-hards

Cafreen | Temecula, CA | 04/26/2005

(3 out of 5 stars)

"I absolutely ADORE this band but even I found it quite hard to sit through. As others have commented, it is very dated, but I suppose it was a cool concept for it's time. The only part I really liked was "the making of Arena" portion of the DVD, and even then, I was still fast-forwarding through to see the parts where band members were interviewed. I think that is it's only saving grace. There were definitely some "Spinal Tap" moments, particularly when Nick was talking about how he constructed his own costume for the Wild Boys video, that really cracked me up. Otherwise, the acutal Arena video/concert portion was a total drag. I would have just preferred to see the concert itself without the alien snippet interruptions.

It is definitely entertaining to see how young the bandmembers looked back then when they do the behind-the-scenes interviews. Like I said, this is purely for die-hard Duranies."

Duran Duran - 'Arena:The Movie/Making Of Arena' (EMI)DVD

Mike Reed | USA | 01/29/2005

(3 out of 5 stars)

"I saw Duran Duran on this very tour,in early 1984 and one thing I remember was that it was one of the first concerts that had a ticket cost of $15.How things have changed.The live performance on this DVD is good.High quality sound,picture and cinematography through out.THAT said,there is far too many snippets/interruptions with the lame-ass sci-fi scenes of the mutated aliens making their way through the concert trail(or whatever).A little would've been okay,but this much is downright annoying.Believe that much of this DVD was the same concert that aired on MTV and maybe one other channel in the '80's by the title 'As The Lights Go Down'.Some of the classics I somewhat enjoyed experiencing once again were "Is There Something I Should Know?","Girls On Film","Hungry Like The Wolf"(my Duran Duran favorite),"Save A Prayer" and "Union Of The Snake".Even die-hards MAY not get that excited about this release."

This is not a standard concert film

fictional sounds | 12/02/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"just a quick note from one duran fan to other duran fans, including the ones who've already reviewed this DVD and missed the boat...

this was not a concert film, nor was it ever meant to be a concert film...it was an experimental film/video/concert project that was just meant to be something different. the concert footage was shot in oakland and the band/director shot additional stuff w/a really random (and loosely scripted) plot.

this is also NOT the concert film that was shown on cinemax in 1984/1985, the concert film was actually titled "as the lights go down" and was cut differently (using some additional video shots but not anywhere as much as "arena"). if you are looking for a simple concert video/film like "as the lights go down," this is not it.

so the critiques about the band not syncing up visually with the audio are weak, if you can get your hands on a copy of "as the lights go down," you can see the band playing everything just like some of the other reviewers wanted out of this DVD. they were (and still are) quite capable musicians that could always put together a good show. but this wasn't meant to be a concert film...this was something different. you might argue that it does (or doesn't) work as far as a film/art/video project, but it was never meant to be a simple concert film."