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...
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...