Arena

Arena is a 2011 American independent action film directed by Jonah Loop, and starring Kellan Lutz and Samuel L. Jackson. The film is about an illegal web show pitting fighters against each other in a gladiatorial combat. Plot The Deathgames is a popular, controversial, and illegal web-show featuring a modern day gladiator arena where combatants fight to the death for the entertainment of online viewers, including a group of college students, and a group of Singaporean office workers. Government authorities have been searching to shut down the operation, but to no avail. David Lord (Kellan Lutz), a fireman and paramedic, gets into a terrible car accident with his pregnant girlfriend, Lori (Nina Dobrev), who does not survive the crash. Grief-stricken, David contemplates suicide, but decides against it. Later he drowns his sorrows at a local bar, while a mysterious woman, Milla (Katia Winter), watches him from afar. After witnessing him easily subdue the bar's bouncer, Milla seduces David before incapacitating him and allowing him to be kidnapped. Milla, it turns out, is a recruiter for The Deathgames, which is run by the confident Logan (Samuel L. Jackson) and his two assistants Kaneko (Irene Choi) and Kawaii (Lauren Shiohama). Kaden (Johnny Messner), the executioner, is doubtful of the fighting ability of a mere "doctor." David is locked in a small cell and befriends a fellow fighter in the cell next to his, Taiga (Daniel Dae Kim), who tells him that he was coerced into participating due to a threat on his wife's life. David reluctantly wins his first fight, and Milla becomes more invested in his success (as she gets paid when he wins). Logan tells David that he will set him free if he wins ten fights in a row. In order to persuade David to fight again, Kaden reveals that Taiga's wife is in their hands and will be killed if he fails to win his next fight. After David wins, it is revealed that his opponent was Taiga, who was given the same task for his wife. Remorsefully, David kills Taiga, but not before incurring serious wounds of his own. It is then that David officially accepts Logan's offer (win ten battles and he will be set free), on the one condition: the tenth and final opponent must be Kaden himself.