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Man-Thing (2005)
Starring: Matthew Le Nevez, Rachel Taylor Run Time: 93 mins
Certificate: 15
Plot Outline: A new sheriff arrives in a small town on the edges of the
Louisiana Bayou and is caught in a dispute between the oil company that is
draining the swamp and the environmental protesters who want it preserved. More
pressing is the number of people who are going missing in the swamp. According
to Native American legend, the "spirit guardian" of the swamp has been awakened
and will protect it at any cost. Originally slated for a cinematic release back in 2004, it was wisely dropped onto television when Marvel considered it not bankable enough. It's a rather random and most curious choice of comic to turn into a film given the popularity of the big superhero films of late and also that some of Marvel's more famous characters still hadn't received film versions at time of writing. But the writers here drop any "superhero" element and turn this into a straight-out horror film where the only loose connections to the comic itself are a few names of characters and the creature itself is more of a Jason-in-the-swamp monster. Unfortunately the story doesn't really do that much either. There's this big, angry swamp monster who suddenly appears and starts killing trespassers in the swamp. He kills a few people during the course of the film and once the oil company is taken care of, he disappears again. The end. The plot bears little resemblance to what I've come to read about the comic. So basically what the writers have done here is simply pick a Marvel superhero, shred the character of everything about him bar name and then throw him into a horror flick! So much so that those not in the know would think it as another Sci-Fi Channel original. The film should have been able to break free of it's B-movie shackles but instead the writers have managed to keep them as tightly-locked as possible. It's your run-of-the-mill monster movie which runs like clockwork - gore, breasts, monsters wreaking havoc, etc. Sit back, watch and tell me that you didn't see the next scene coming a mile away?
One of the film's clear highlights is the
cinematography. The swamp settings look great and the film is saturated in a
deep green hue at night to give it an extra freakish atmosphere. It's almost as
if the swamp itself is alive and breathing. It looks beautiful but deadly at the
same time. You'll be hard pressed to tell which scenes were shot on location and
which were in the studio as the integration of the two is almost seamless. The
camera really gives you a long, lingering look at the density of this swamp so
that Man-Thing can blend into the background without you realising. The creature
is little known in the Marvel canon so I can't really comment on it too much.
But as far as movie monsters go, it doesn't look too bad in all honesty. The CGI
stands out for a mile but with the screen being dark and full of undergrowth
anyway, it does it's job well. As per tradition, it's a while before you see the
monster in all of it's glory and most of the time you just see the remains of
it's handy work with some reasonably made-up corpses. However the big reveal
towards the end when you finally see the towering mass of plant-life is pretty
good. The cast isn't great but their characters are so
caricature that they almost border on insulting. There's the Native Americans
who are portrayed as elderly and wise medicine men who live in wooden shacks in
the middle of the swamp. You've got the redneck populace with their racist and
bigoted views on life which have led them to hunting alligators to earn a
living. Don't forget the slimy boss of the oil company. And of course the token
hero and token love interest who get it together simply because it's the natural
flow of the film. You watch these films for the monsters, not the actors so it's
a good job that no one knows who any of them. Nor will this film's release do
anything to change that. © Popcorn Pictures 2000 - present. All Rights Reserved. |
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