This film is one of my all time favorite movies to watch. I have seen it about 3 times in the last year alone. The acting is absolutely top-notch. The feeling of a post-apocalyptic future is eminent, and every character adds their own piece to the overall feeling of desperation. The storyline creates a very believable notion of sports evolution, and although the sports battles are very violent, there is a very high level of camaraderie evident throughout the film. An excellent movie to watch on a dreary day, or rainy night. I guarantee that, although not all of you will love the film, you will be moved for the duration of it by the sincerity in each character's plight. One of the few post-apocalyptic films where characters seek, and have a real chance, to obtain a better life for themselves.

Jugger is a great spectator sport; it's quick, with strategic elements, something's always going on, and a third is over before any ADD you might have could set in. The movie, though? Well, to start with, it's the boredom of watching a fixed game that any sports movie offers. (And not much else, there isn't really much in the way of plot.) But you'll also be watching a game the rules of which aren't properly explained, and the cinematography isn't conducive to figuring it out, especially in the key games which happen in half-light. Any of Blade Runner, Split Second, even Wedlock are better vehicles for Hauer.Reviewed: "Long" (99min/PAL) DVD. May work better on theatre size screen.

While I have found it impossible to clearly define, there is something special about this film. There is some hidden mystique the viewer feels, which has eluded me in my attempts to pinpoint it. Rutger Hauer gives as adequate a performance as anyone can expect from his work in the 1980's, and the story is a hodgepodge of a plethora of other films like Mad Max, Conan, and anything else made around the same time.Honestly, the brutal football-like game seems to come straight from Australian Rules football, but who am I to judge? The banality of this film, would seemingly render it pointless, useless crud, but that doesn't seem to be the case, for some reason.There is something about this film that holds the viewer, caresses the viewer's mind and brings it back to the film. I don't know if there are heinous subliminals embedded herein, or what, but there is something seriously luring about this work.The main problem with it is that it was a film made about the future, painted darkly sinister, and released at a time when the future was bright as a new penny. It flopped.All in all it rates a 6.4/10 from...the Fiend :.

- - WARNING SPOILERS - - - ..The movie I have seen a long time ago was titled "Salute of the Jugger." The ending is markedly different than that from "Blood of the heroes." In the longer movie, "Salute of the Jugger," the fate of the character played by Hauer can be seen some time after their victory. His luck has changed little. Joan Chen's character was lucky to be adopted by the elite underground society. Hauer's character can only do what he does best: continue playing the Jugger game for as long as he is fit but without hope of being adopted himself.That is the bitter sweet ending of "Salute of the Jugger." Perhaps this movie is a satirical view on American society; there is the dream of achieving success and being among the rich elite. In reality only a handful of entertainers (singers, sportsmen, actors) get to enter the wealthy elite society. The movie portrays the American Dream: even the lowliest people can become rich and elite themselves if they fight long and hard enough AND if they are lucky enough...Joan Chen's character in this movie is one of the lucky few. Hauer's character, despite having won the final game twice, will never be allowed into high society though.