Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
You didn't REALLY expect masterpiece theater, did you?, June 2, 2004
Anything named "Amazons and Gladiators" cannot be taken as anything more than "B" movie caliber, and this certainly doesn't disappoint. Like all "B" movies about Amazons, it's about a bunch of naked women running around being sex objects while, somewhat hypocrtically, trying to talk and act convincingly about female empowerment in being MORE than sex objects. Characteristically, this empowerment is derived from the pointy end of a sword (phallic references obvious here, huh?).Anyone who buys or rents this film expecting something more will be disappointed, but probably hasn't been off the back of the turnip wagon long in that case, anyway. Anyone who says they wish to watch it for the quality of the acting or its historical value is probably trying to convince their wife/girlfriend to see it with them so both can enjoy some lesbian action on screen. They will be disappointed, as there is none of that in this film, despite the lead characters' professed confusion as to what exactly a man IS good for.... The story is typical. Serena, a young girl from Pane (I assume a reference to Pannonia, or present day Hungary) is forced by General Marcus Crassius to participate in her mother's execution (taken straight from an old Charles Bronson western, only without the harmonica). She then becomes a dancing slave girl, who quite chastely refuses the (paid) advances of a Roman senator, slaying him the process and running off with the Amazon warrior who happened to be captive in the same room. She joins the Amazons, and sets out with her trusty sidekick to avenge herself on the evil general that killed her mother. She gets the general, then becomes the Amazon queen and defends women's rights across Roman and barbarian lands. We've seen it all before. What's the harm in watching some of it again? Yes, the costumes are cheesy. Yes, the dialogue is sometimes terrible (there are some Lithuanian actors whose only English is limited to the lines they learned for the film, notably "Yes, my lord"). No, it's not a movie for Feminists. But it's a good mental vacation, regardless. Enjoy it for what it intended to be in the first place, a "B" movie about naked women pretending to be empowered in a time when women were property.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
I would rather die free than be a dancing whore!, December 21, 2004
So says a captured Amazon who is brought before the Senator. She escapes with the help of kidnapped maiden Serena who stabs the Senator in the back with a candlestick. I'm not sure where the blade came from after the candle fell out, but you go along with it.
Serena was just a young child when her village was attacked by a bloodthirsty Roman General turned Governor. Her father was killed, her sister was kidnapped, and her mother's death rested on her shoulders. Her mother was hung from a tree and Serena was underneath her for support. With her bare feet she had to stand under her mother while hot coals were lit on the ground. Of course her mother died and she was taken away as a slave.
After her escape she rides and trains with the Amazons. Only then does she discover that her grandmother was a great Amazon warrior and she is prophesized to be even greater.
Well there is a lot of sexy costumes, but little sex. Oh there's a whole lot of female nudity for those of us who enjoy sex with our violoence. My favorite chick had no lines, but was only instructed to pour the bath water slowly. Check out the headlights on that little honey WOW!
Anyway there's a whole lot of fighting in this movie, in the woodds and in the gladiator arena. In the end Serena gets her revenge by fighting the governor himself in the arena. After her victory she makes her speech; "And if I hear that anymore women are abused in this town, I will come back and kill you all!"
This is not a great movie, but it's good enough to pop in the old DVD player every now and then.
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8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Lithuanian sword and sandal, March 9, 2002
This sword and sandal film was apparently made in Lithuania. The Baltic scenery, obvious from the many scenes set in forested areas, seems somewhat out of place in a Roman setting. The handful of sets made to represent the grandeur of Rome fall quite short of the mark.The movie itself offers the usual sorts of entertainment found in sword and sandal flicks, sugar coated with a vaguely pop-feminist twist that seems incongruous given that the plot is pretty much standard. Your lead character must escape from cruel slavery and sexual danger with the aid of the Amazons, and then go back to confront her former master. This is the occasion for a fair number of orgies and badly choreographed hooch dancing sequences. A number of plot twists lie between our heroine and her final vengeance. The undercurrent of sexual violence, the motifs of dominance and submission, that were always present in the classic Italian low-budget sword and sandal films are presented more explicitly in their latter-day imitations. This is either a step forward in delivering the sort of entertainment wanted, or a step backwards in taste and subtlety. The bottom line is this is comparable to, but not as good, as -The Arena- a/k/a -Naked Warrior-. In that Seventies film, another Roman amazon gladiator film, Pam Grier's hooch dancing is much better. She also made a more convincing Amazon gladiator than the heroine of this film. One gathers from the packaging of the film that they are trying to ride the coattails of -Gladiator-, the Oscar-winning remake of -Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire-. Those who expect something similar will be disappointed. Those who like old fashioned low-budget sword and sandal films might get a kick out of this.
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