One more in the line of Marvel comics adaptations, but this time, instead of superhero action comedy, we got horror "thriller". New sheriff comes to the town on the edge of the swamp, where people disappear in an unusually large number. Bodies are disfigured in a way that the alligator attack can not explain. Local Indians know something, and it's on the sheriff and the young teacher to find out what, while Man-Thing in depths of swamp waits for new victim. Characters are everyday ordinary, story is realistic as much as it is possible for a monster movie, directing is solid and swamp is eerily beautiful. For its budget movie is very well done, special effects are credible and acting is all right. There is not much action, characterization is satisfactory and the horror scenes are well measured, without exaggeration typical for this type of movie. My main objection is insufficient tension in the atmosphere, and what I liked the most is that monster is not a real villain, but represents an ecosystem that is defending itself from human destructiveness. True villain is revealed in in the second half of the film, but unfortunately it is obvious from the very beginning. Although technically this movie is thriller, because of the predictability and lack of tension, I put quotes on the word.6,5/10P.S. At the very beginning of the movie, there's a scene, in which a monster attacks a couple in the middle of sex, that looks as if it turned out from a horror of the eighties, and it's a real treat for gore B movies fans.

Marvel Comics' Man-Thing is a mindless, empathic swamp creature that lives in the Everglades. This 2005 film is loosely based on the story "Cry of the Native" from the 1973 comic Adventure Into Fear #16, which featured the Man-Thing, by writer Steve Gerber and Howland, Ohio's Val Mayerik (artist).WHAT WORKS: The plot's great: The Seminoles and environmentalists are upset over a developer taking over their precious swamp. A new police chief comes into town and has to deal with the situation, as well as investigate an increasing number of horrifying deaths in the swamp and reports of a "man-thing" creature living there.The swamp sets, cinematography, music, locations (Sydney, Australia -- of all places) and cast are all quite good. This is not a Grade-Z movie. As a matter of fact, it was originally intended for theatrical release.The film has a good mysterious feel to it, in particular the first 30 minutes and final 20 minutes. The vibe, to be expected, is very comic booky, but the material is respected and generally taken seriously, avoiding the rut of camp.What works best is the "Man-Thing" itself; imagine Val Mayerik's rendition of the creature with a bunch of creepy branches & roots sticking out of its back & head and you'd have a pretty good idea of what ol' Manny looks like in this film -- he's an 8-foot tall, hulking, and utterly horrifying piece of man-like swamp mass.WHAT DOESN'T WORK: Although the Man-Thing looks great, which is a cinematic triumph in and of itself, he doesn't appear fully until the last 20 minutes. This would be fine if the story were captivating, like say "Jaws," but it's not. Although the plot's great, the story itself barely holds your attention after the first half hour and is unnecessarily convoluted with pointless characters. The middle-hour is wasted on various characters hanging out in the swamp for one reason or another, half of them getting picked off by the creature. I'm sure they did this to show-off the cool swamp sets and lighting, etc., but they forgot the most important part -- an interesting story and characters. This makes no sense since Gerber's run on the comic contains a wealth of great material for compelling scripts.Unfortunately, the film deviates too far from Man-Thing's original concept. Some new ideas introduced are great -- like the way the creature looks and horrifically attacks people -- but where's Manny's empathic nature? Where's the "whatever knows fear burns at the Man-Thing's touch" element? And why does Manny kill people indistinguishably? For instance, the creature kills a noble native at one point and later threatens the two protagonists of the story. The Man-Thing never did this in the comics even though he was a mindless creature.Also, the Man-thing in the film is not Ted Salis (although Salis fits into the storyline another way); in the film the swamp monster is the spirit-guardian of the "Dark Water" area of the swamp, which is a nexus to another dimension, apparently birthed because of Salis' murder. At least the nexus aspect is faithful to the comic.COMPARISON: The first comic featuring the Man-thing beat out DC's Swamp Thing by two months in 1971, but Theodore Sturgeon's similar swamp creature "It" appeared in one of his short stories 31 years earlier! The first comic book bog beast, The Heap, appeared two years later in 1942, obviously inspired by Sturgeon's creature.Let's compare the films "Man-Thing" and the similar "Swamp-Thing" from 1982. To be expected, the creature from "Man-Thing" absolutely blows away the guy-in-a-rubber-suit in "Swamp-Thing." The sets, atmosphere and cinematography of "Man-Thing" are also better than "Swamp-Thing," not to mention the vibe's not as goofy. As for the story, I would say they're about equal.I suggest watching "Swamp-Thing" and "Man-Thing" back-to-back, like I just did. Then, if you really want to get wild & crazy, catch "Frogs" and "Pumpkinhead." You'll be swamped out after this.FINAL ANALYSIS: The midsection of "Man-Thing" is lethargic and meandering, filled with uninteresting or undeveloped characters, but the film's attributes noted above make it worth checking out if you're into creature-on-the-loose flicks, particularly swamp monster films. On that level it's a decent movie. The greatest part is the creature itself, which is a cinematic triumph, especially if you're a fan of the comic books. But these same fans will be disappointed because the film's a very loose interpretation. It's too bad because the potential for greatness was there.GRADE: C+

Man-Thing is set in the small town of Bywater & starts as new Sheriff Kyle Williams (Matthew Le Nevez) arrives to begin his first day on the job taking over from the previous Sheriff who mysteriously disappeared along with several other local residents over the past few months. Straight away Sheriff Williams is called into action as he learns of an ongoing feud between rich oil industrialist Frederic Schist (Jack Thompson) & local environmentalists who are trying to stop Schist building more oil rigs in & around Bywater. Sheriff Williams learns that various bodies have been found in the swamps, mutilated bodies with plants growing from the inside out & that an ancient native American myth may be responsible for the killings. Sheriff Williams sets out to discover the truth & finds that the ancient legends are true & that a giant swamp monster is roaming the swamps killing any trespasser...This American Australian co-production was directed by Brett Leonard who also has a small part in the film as Val Mayerick & is based on the Marvel comic book character Man-Thing who first appeared in Savage Tales in 1971 & had gained his own self titled comic book by 1974, although I know little of the actual Man-Thing comic book this film apparently bears little resemblance to it. In the comic book a scientist named Ted Sallis fell into a swamp & mutated into Man-Thing because of chemicals he had developed while the script for the film has someone named Ted Sallis murdered by oil tycoon Schist & buried in the swamp & it's hinted that it's him who is Man-Thing although it's quite ambiguous. Although based on a superhero comic book it's hard to tell while actually watching it, there's no sense of justice or right or wrong & Man-Thing has no great motivation & generally just seems to kill anyone it comes across including a teenage boy in a boat who in all honestly wasn't doing anything wrong at all, also why kill the Deputy when again he was a good guy? Man-Thing feels much more like a Sy-Fy Channel creature feature with some monster roaming around killing bit part character's & the local Sheriff investigating the murders, at just over 90 minutes long Man-Thing has a decent pace but it gets repetitive & the native American magic nonsense is dull & predictable as the overall explanation. The character's are all clichéd, the local Sheriff, the pretty female teacher, a few Redneck goons & the big bad businessman villain. While Man-Thing is better than the usual creature feature it's not that great, it plods along & never really captivates or comes to life as large parts of the film just feature people walking around dark swamps at night & I don't understand why Man-Thing itself isn't fully revealed until past the 70 minute mark as I found myself sitting there just waiting for it to show up.Obviously quite similar to the DC Comics character Swamp Thing the two have much in common, often this film lowers itself to standard horror film clichés with teenagers killed, vague supernatural nonsense & a big monster which does look quite good actually. The CGI computer effects are better than I expected & Man-Thing looks quite good although is underused & is never anything more than a one dimensional monster rather than the complex character with depth that appeared in the comic books. Originally planned to go straight to video there were plans for Man-Thing to have a limited theatrical release which were dropped & it eventually premiered on the Sy-Fy Channel before being released on DVD. Apparently a test screening was held & half the audience walked out before the end, that says it all really.Originally to be filmed in New Orleans budget restraints forced a rethink & it was eventually shot in Sydney in Australia. The production values are pretty good & it looks quite slick with a nice tinted green colour to all the swamp scenes. The acting is alright, it's nothing special but the material isn't great so the actors didn't have much to work with.Man-Thing is more of a cheap Sy-Fy Channel creature feature than a Marvel comic book superhero film, in fact if you weren't aware of the Man-Thing origins then you wouldn't know this was based on a comic book by simply watching it. I suppose it passes 90 odd minutes & is well made but ultimately hollow & forgettable.

Well, no, it is definitely better than a B-movie. Viewing the movie, one can tell that there is enough money invested into it. This is not a cheap video or like the cheaper made-for-television variety -- at least by North American standards. If it happens to be so in Australia then I envy them.Terrible actors? Not at all! Watch these names -- they are all up-and-comers! I watched this movie because I noticed that Jack Thompson was in it. Jack has been around for a long, long time. Thompson is a super-star in Australia and has been in pretty much everything decent that has come out of that country -- usually one of the high-lights. And, in Man-thing, the Marvel Comic adaptation that never saw the light of the movie theatres, Jack is definitely the heavy-weight here. I liked his performance. I liked his Southern US accent, his greed, his gravitas.Interesting little international cast here, too. One from Split ENZ land, one from Taz, one from Italy. Lots from Oz. And, until I studied the credits, I believed these were Americans. And, let me tell you, I tend to be picky about poor accents and acting. You want poor accents? Watch Sean Connery in The Wind and the Lion, or Richard Gere in First Knight. Poor acting? Watch most of the James Bond movies. This one felt like what it was supposing to represent and that impressed me.Some complained that the Man-thing was only in the end of the picture or that it was compromised by deeper characterizations of the Sheriff, the medicine-man, the teacher,etc. I enjoyed all of the characterizations and felt that this added to the movie. [ I agree that the soundtrack was well done and fitting and that the swamp scenes (which dominate this picture) were nicely shot. ] I suspect, however, that the critics were fan-boys of the comic and thus disturbed by the "monster's" smaller role in the larger storyline.Sadly, this movie lacks the completeness of a beginning. We don't get a genesis here and are fed only the smallest of hints of where the Man-thing came from and that is sad.Sequel? Well, I doubt that will happen with a direct-to-DVD, but to be honest, a re-make would probably lose some of the wonder captured in this pic. I recommend that you watch it -- if you are into Marvel lore and haven't read the comics. I am still stunned by Imogen Bailey's sexy introduction.Another issue I have is with the storyline fed to us by IMDb if not the movie-makers. Man-thing isn't seen burning anyone (unless it is the fast-motion shaking). It does have bizarre eyes but if there is terror transferred in its stare we don't see that.What the movie version does is impale its victims seemingly without reason and without intelligence. It is like a natural disaster. That is to say that, if it were real, it would just be better not to be there. It wouldn't matter how innocent you are.I have re-rated this. And, I have to say it is truly an under-rated movie. People take exception to the somewhat wooden acting of the new, young sheriff. Looking back at it. New guy, trying to get a feel of the town. He did a great job.