Duran Duran: Arena (An Absurd Notion) (1985 Video) User Reviews

Tiger Abort!

[a55_rgy · 21 December 2005]

This remains one of my favorite movies of all time. It is not by any means good, it is really embarrassing at points. But it's immensely entertaining, and 20 years on it's even more entertaining for new, kitchy reasons.

This is a Duran Duran concert shot in Oakland for the Seven and the Ragged Tiger tour. The concert footage is mixed in with an absurd, stupid plot line. Duran Duran, the bad guy from Barbarella, has been awakened in deep space by the chants of screaming teenage girls. So he discovers the band Duran Duran has taken his name and he sets out to destroy the band, setting up shop under the Oakland arena and kidnapping fans with enormous hair to supply power to his positronic ray that will allow him to control the universe. Yes, really.

Duran Duran were one of the best of the new wave bands from the 80s. When they came out they seemed to be another pretty boy band more concerned with image than music. However, they wrote their own music and played their own instrument. Seeing them again last year, they have actually gotten better with age -- they have never sounded better. Their entire catalog has held up much better than one would have thought 20 years ago, particularly their first three near perfect albums, Duran Duran, Rio, and Seven.

Back to the DVD. The concert footage remains thrilling. The audience is in hysterics, and the boys really put on a hot show. The theatrics, the staging, the costuming were all brilliant, yet the music still towered above everything else. Back then and now, they really put on one hell of a good show. The storyline footage has taken on a campy, nostalgic aura and is still compulsively watchable despite inducing cringes. Oh my god, did we actually do those things to our hair! It is really great seeing bands such as Interpol and the Killers being inspired by and ripping off the original pretty boys, and it makes me feel old to realize some of these kids weren't even born when Duran Duran first hit.

Duran Duran has really held up, and Arena is a thrilling, trashy masterpiece of camp. Time has turned this show into a kitschy work of art.

Love this

[Lamia7609 · 10/10 · 12 February 2001]

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.

wow...

[khanada rhodes · 10/10 · 27 February 2001]

all right, so this "movie," if you can really call it that, is interesting. whether or not someone will like it all depends on why you want to see it. if you want to see duran duran in concert, back during their heyday, back when they were the fab five, you might consider trying to find "as the lights go down" instead. but, if you want to see an interesting subplot, and liked the movie "barbarella," this is the movie for you." as "arena" displays in the opening credits, this is a sort of continuation of "barbarella." it has been also known to be called "barbarella II." it features the same actor (milo o'shea) who played doctor duran duran in "barbarella," as well as clips from the first movie. basically, the movie is about the doctor, who has been awakened from his eternal sleep to hear people chanting "duran duran." he thinks they're calling him, but when he realizes they're chanting the rock band's name, he becomes infuriated and plans to destroy the band...

Well ok so i've had this video for 15 years!

[target-4 · 10/10 · 27 October 2000]

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!

Cut the Theatrics

[jrfranklin01 · 2/10 · 19 March 2005]

For loyal Duran Duran fans who want to watch a good music video, skip this one. The producers decided to get creative and make this 80's video something of a sci-fi story, involving the evil Barbarella villain from which the band got its name.

What makes this idea fail is that right in the middle of some great 80's Duran Duran songs, confusing and annoying cut scenes take place showing the fictional antagonist trying to stop the band at one of their concerts. Not only is the good music repeatedly interrupted, but we have to suffer through some cheap spin-off story hosted by an evil Dr. Mario. It's almost too much to bear. 2/10

Decent concert ruined by pointless cuts

[grantss · 4/10 · 3 January 2015]

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.

Let's do the Big Hair Warp Again...

[cchase · 8 December 2000]

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...

I actually was intrigued to see this, BUT

[stephencassidy · 1/10 · 9 December 2004]

Ooof! This one was a stinker. It does not fall 'somewhere in between Star Wars and Thriller', thats for sure. In all actuality, it falls somewhere between the cracks of a Wham! video and Captain EO, only with not as big of a budget, and a lot more close ups of ugly teenagers crying. Simon Le Bon preens front and center, while the rest of the band gamely tries to hide the fact that they stole their whole career from Roxy Music's last 3 albums. Brief clips from Barbarella add nothing. Avoid at all costs. (However, I liked the part when they played 'Hungry Like The Wolf' but why was there a tiger lurking in the audience changing into a woman painted with tiger stripes? I mean, they aren't singing 'Eye of the Tiger' or 'Hungry like the Tiger' it's a Wolf! Whatever.) A DVD of Duran Duran's '80s videos is probably worth a look for nostalgia's sake

Not Quite a Concert and Not Quite a Sci-Fi Crossover

[drqshadow-reviews · 2/10 · 28 June 2013]

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.

A feast for the senses

[MarLee1114 · 1 December 2001]

This film is almost sensory overload. It is a visual feast of color, not to mention fabulous-looking people, and it obviously features great music, considering the stars and the era in which it was made. Duran Duran have always taken the music video a bit farther as an art form, so this was the perfect genre for their full-length film. Not that this is just a long-running music video. Far from it. It seems to finally encapsulate all they have wanted to express, but were previously kept to only three to five minutes. Very cute storyline incorporating a visit from Dr. Duran Duran, a bit of the history of the band and it's followers, and the development of the music to its highest point.

Great Duran Duran footage!

[BlueVelvet7609 · 5 July 2002]

When I first saw this "movie", I was expecting something more on the lines of Barbarella with some of my favourite band thrown in. That is not what I got. The whole movie is like a concert music video. It has great live footage in it and Duran Duran look fab! Esp. John Taylor's look when he sees that girl in the hall. But I'm more of an Andy girl.... If you love Duran Duran and you want to see them in concert, buy or rent this movie because it is awesome. Also check out their documentary Sing Blue Silver, it is to die for.