Amazons and Gladiators - starring Nichole M Hiltz, Melanie Gutteridge, Jennifer Rubin and Wendi Winburn

"12-year-old Serena and her sister are taken as slaves by Julius Caesar’s troops after their parents are brutally murdered by the foot soldiers of General Crassius. As her older sister is taken off to the Roman slave market, the young Serena swears revenge against the evil General and sets off on a solo quest to find Crassius.

Serena’s journey leads her to the gladiator fights, where she is shocked to learn that her sister is now Crassius’ slave mistress.

Serena must prove herself the ultimate Gladiator if she is to exact vengeance for her family."

The impossibly beautiful Nichole Hiltz stars as Serena in this excellent movie. As a young child, Serena sees her village destroyed and her parents murdered by the (as always) evil Roman Governor, Crassius (Patrick Bergin). She is taken captive, and sold into slavery, and older sister, Gwened is taken by Crassius to be his concubine.

Ten years pass, and we find Serena and her best friend Brianna (Melanie Gutteridge) working as exotic, sword-wielding dancers for an oily slave merchant. During one of their performances, a Roman Senator purchases Serena to serve as his whore. However, before the Senator can have his way with her, his men bring him an Amazon prisoner, Ione (Jennifer Rubin). During the exchange of words, Ione springs into action and kills her guards, whilst Serena dispatches the Senator. The two make a break for freedom, stopping to rescue Serena’s lifelong friend, Brianna (Melanie Gutteridge).

Ione takes the two former slaves to the hidden Amazon village, where they learn the skills that will turn them from dancers to fearsome warrior women. But Serena is driven by revenge and cannot forget the evil Crassius – she leaves the village to confront not only the murderer of her parents but also her older sister (Wendi Winburn), who has become loyal to her evil master.

This movie works on so many levels. The Lithuanian location seems to have afforded producer Fred Wientraub the opportunity to spend bigger on the actors, which takes Amazons and Gladiator a level above similar movies. Despite sometimes-creaky dialogue, the performances rival those of Lisa Dergan and Karen McDougal in “The Arena.” The eclectic cast mix from America, England and Australia really works for this film, giving it a true international flavour.

The prolific Australian martial artist, Richard Norton, choreographed the fight scenes, and his expertise does show in the frequent action set pieces. Certainly, these are the best in the three movies reviewed, although it must be said that in The Arena 2001, we did not see the full potential of Dergan and McDougal’s swordplay.

“Amazons and Gladiators” is not shy about delivering its feminist message, and Nichole Hiltz does this convincingly, in her first starring role. Hiltz has an amazing screen presence, not only because of her unsurpassed beauty, but also her acting skills - she holds attention for every second she is on camera. Whilst she portrays a driven, revengeful woman, focussed on her goal of extracting painful vengeance on Crassius, she also carries off the softer side of Serena to perfection – giving her Serena real depth of character.

Hiltz is ably supported by Melanie Gutteridge as Brianna. Brianna’s character less agnst-ridden than Serena’s, and this affords Gutteridge to apply some hilarious English irony to her part; certainly we can tell she is having fun with the role. However, she is as good as Hiltz in the fighting scenes, testament to the effort put in by both actresses and the choreographer. Gutteridge's performance is the standout one of the movie, bringing both humour and depth to the role as well as delivering a standup physicality that many actresses would not be able to achieve.

Jennifer Rubin applies just the right amount of gravitas to her role as Amazon war chief, Ione. Rubin is a skilled, veteran actress, and the quality of her performance only adds to the movie.

This is also true of Wendi Winburn who is excellent as the sexy, pragmatic Gwened; certainly, she is the counter balance to Serena’s “independent woman.” Winburn’s character has adapted to her circumstances, using her not inconsiderable charms to gain a position of power as Crassius’ favoured concubine.

This is a worthy movie for anyone’s collection, fan of the Gladiatrix genre or no. It can be purchased on from amazon.co.uk and www.amazon.com.

To see the Press Pack for this movie, click here to download the pdf. You can also download two of the fight scenes from the movie in this sites multimedia section.