BelSports
This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.
Derrick Gibbons
An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.
Sarita Rafferty
There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.
Bezenby
I'm no expert on Marvel - I likes me guardians of the galaxy and the odd X-men film, so I've no idea of what Man-Thing 'should' be like, but I get the feeling he should have been more something, because this film doesn't quite work, no matter what it was supposed to be.In order to save words and web space let me sum up the plot using buzz words only. Environmental destruction. Evil businessmen. Ancient Ethnic minority spirit. New Cop in town. Eco-warrior love interest. Ignorant rednecks. Spiritual native Americans. You get the picture.What annoyed me about the film was that the night scenes in the swamp were very well filmed, and yet instead of using that to create atmosphere the tension is broken up with clichéd sped-up footage that littered these film in the new millennium.Another moan from me is that the film, once it decides it's a horror film and not a superhero film, takes forever to show us Man-Thing! I don't give a crap about all the other folks, show us that actual monster.It's not a complete waste of time, however. It's kind of alright for the most part. They should have added in a bit more gore, took out the clichéd editing and fancy camera-work, and given us more beast. And that's my review of Derek Jarman's Blue.
Wuchak
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+
MissLinn
I think the title says it all. Man-Thing. This is the kind of film actors only agree to do because they need the money. Not that all the actors are good ones. The sheriff ( Matthew Le Neves ) have the same facial expression during the whole film. The woman ( Rachael Taylor ) he fancy is overacting to the roof. The brothers Thibadeaux are caricatures. And I mean, how many boiled alligator-heads do you actually need? The Mant-hing itself is pretty well done, but a bit small. And not very scary, maybe he need a set of really big teeth ? I have not read the comic-book ( because I do not read comic-books ). Maybe Marvel went to far? Now, why the hell is Alex O'loughlin in this mess?? He is a solid actor and way to good looking guy. Alex honey, if you need money, just call me, OK?
Ben Larson
Fans of Hawaii Five-0 may want to tune in to see Alex O'Loughlin (Steve McGarrett), but since I don't watch that I was more interested in the girl in the boat. Boy, did they jiggle when she was screaming, covered in blood from her boyfriend.After the opening scene, it settled down to a predictable nature vs. environment-spoilers adventure with lots of blood and gore. The dialog was predicable, as was the story. It doesn't mean it wasn't worth watching, just that it has been done over and over with piranhas or anacondas or crocodiles, etc.I did really like the man-thing. It was different.Come on down to Florida and see for yourself.
