Search - Man-Thing on DVD

Chris W. (kungfudalek)
Reviewed on 9/9/2012...

I actually liked this one! It was not as good as swamp thing, but was still a good movie!

3 of 3 member(s) found this review helpful.

Jefferson N. from BLAIRSVILLE, GA
Reviewed on 10/28/2011...

Man-Thing is VERY LOOSELY BASED on the Marvel Comic of the same name. A new sheriff moves into a small town in the swamp and must get to the bottom of some murders being committed against the greedy company people in town. What he finds is a swamp monster who might have connections to a Native American activist who has gone missing. Sound interesting? It's not. Especially if you're a fan of the Man-Thing. Admittedly, Man-Thing is just a cheap rip-off of Swamp Thing, but geez, do we have to make a cheap cash-in movie of a cheap rip-off character just to make a few bucks? Not much difference than the company the Man-Thing is killing here. I wouldn't suggest the makers of this movie go back to the swamp...or they might get wasted by a tree...or people who saw this schlocky movie. At least in the comic, they tried to tie Man-Thing into the comics by saying the man he was (Ted Sallis) was working on a new super-soldier serum before he was set on fire (ala Swamp Thing) and set loose in the swamp. He was sure no environemental activist! And the comic took place in Florida, not Louisiana...And where did the whole Native American thing come from? Cajuns not good enough? This movie is atrocious to purists or anyone in general that just likes movies that move along at a good pace. The ONLY people I could suggest this to is to people that like big animal disaster movies like Mega Shark, Octopus, or something like that. Anyone else, you were WARNED!

5 of 5 member(s) found this review helpful.

Chad B. (abrnt1) from CABERY, IL
Reviewed on 3/30/2011...

The worst comic book based film I've seen. This abomination make The Return of Swamp Thing look good. This movie drags along and is pointless beyond belief. Ignores the comic book series for the most part. If you like being bored and having your intelligence insulted you might enjoy this piece of cinematic trash.

4 of 4 member(s) found this review helpful.

"This is a dark corner of the world, boy."

cookieman108 | Inside the jar... | 06/17/2005

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Of all the Marvel Comics characters to get their own film adaptation, Man-Thing is probably the one I least expected, but then again, they did make that Howard the Duck movie...just a bit of history from my geek side before I review the film...some think Man-Thing was Marvel's answer to the popular Swamp Thing character, but Man-Thing actually appeared first in the pages of Astonishing Tales #12 (aka Savage Tales #1) in May of 1971 (Swamp Thing first appeared in the comic House of Secrets #92 sometime in June/July 1971). In terms of getting their own series, Swamp Thing came first beginning in 1972, while Man-Thing got his due sometime in 1974 (the Man-Thing series was short lived, lasting all of about 22 issues while the Swamp Thing series continues to thrive in one form or another). Directed by Brett Leonard (The Lawnmower Man), who is currently working on a new Highlander movie, the film stars the relatively unknown Matthew Le Nevez (Peaches), along with newcomer Rachel Taylor and Jack Thompson (Original Sin). Also appearing is Rawiri Paratene (Whale Rider), Patrick Thompson (The Seventh Floor), Steve Bastoni (The Matrix Reloaded), and Alex O'Lachlan (Oyster Farmer). Also, look for the director himself who appears in the film as the smokes-a-lot county coroner.

As the story begins we learn through narration of an area in the swamps called `the dark water', a place that basically contains the spirit of the swamp and is also the `nexus of all realities' (I think I got one of these in the basement, next to the furnace). We also learn that this place, held sacred by native locals, is being violated by greedy men in search of oil, subsequently causing much damage, as industrialist are wont to do (or so the movies tell us)...but apparently the swamp isn't one to take this defilement lying down, so it strikes back, our first victims being a young couple canoodling in a boat, giving us a great bit of breastage within the first five minutes of the movie...enjoy it boyos, because that's all there is...I bet they didn't show that on the Sci-Fi Channel...anyhoo, next we meet our hero (of sorts) in Kyle Williams (Le Nevez) as he's recently relocated to the town of Bywater, assuming the position of sheriff and learns that a large number of people have since gone missing, including the last sheriff...he also meets the local bigwig oilman Frederic Schist (Thompson) and his idiot son, while dealing with some local protesters, one of them being 3rd grade teacher Teri Richards (Taylor), whom later on develops into a love interest for Kyle, but never gets nekkid, although she does show off her midriff quite a bit more than I would have expected from a school teacher...anyway, Schist claims a mysterious swamp dweller named LaRoque (Bastoni) is responsible for the missing people, and also for the recent spate of sabotage to his equipment, so Kyle begins his, ahem, `investigation', discovering Schist may have not gotten the rights to the land on the up and up, and his eco-destructive was may have awakened a guardian creature, one bent on retribution...let the soggy, boggy, slimy, bloodletting fun begin!

Alright, Man-Thing wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be, but it wasn't as good as it could have been, if that makes sense...the element that annoyed me the most was the how some aspects of the comic book character were preserved (like the `protector of the nexus of all realities' thing), while other, more important one, in my opinion, were deliberately left out (the whole `use what you see fit, and discard the rest' tactic). In the comic, scientist Ted Sallis was working on some super formula, eventually taking it himself and running off into the swamp, where science and magic combined to create Man-Thing (there's a lot more to it than that, but that's the gist)...now this next part is important, as it creates a clear distinction between the Man-Thing and Swamp Thing...the Man-Thing `feels' emotions of other beings, and is often drawn to them out of curiosity. Emotions like fear, hatred, and anger cause him pain, to which he produces a `fuming sulfuric acid' and attack that which causes him pain...thus his touch burns...this was completely left out of the story...and in the movie the creature kills indiscriminately...the film starts out pretty strong, but then drops off severely up until about the last twenty minutes or so. Heck, we don't even get a good view of the Man-Thing until about an hour in...I did think the CGI creature effects looked pretty cool, but, as I already mentioned, without the burning touch element, this might as well have been a Swamp Thing movie. The story itself hardly stands on its own as various lame duck characters parade across the screen (the pointless Mike Ploog character, who, by the way, was named after an artist on the comic book series) and the whole love subplot between Kyle (he's hot for teacher) and Teri was forced together for no other reason that they had to have a romantic aspect (by the way, did it seem like Teri's accent would come and go?) There's a few decent kills featuring some greasy, racist, redneck, grit sucking, swamp rat locals, but these scenes were far and few between. Thompson, who played the greedy industrialist Schist, made a pretty good villain (didn't his corporate logo look kinda like a swastika?) Or at least I thought so until the scene where he and his son are sitting in their Hummer talking about the sheriff and how he's getting close to their secrets...Schist Jr. `He keeps on digging', to which Schist Sr. replies `We'll let him dig...it's his own grave he's digging!' followed by maniacal laughter from both...oh bruther...and I have to say Le Nevez's (who looks like a transvestite...nice job make-up department) character hardly seemed like much of a hero as his role consisted of him fumbling around witnessing things but having little effect on the outcome of the story...I got the impression it would have ended they way it did with or without him. There were some pretty cool and interesting visuals, and the swamp sets looked suitably foreboding, although they seemed completely devoid of animal life like snakes, frogs, newts and other such denizens one would expect to see in the green, spongy morass.

This Lion's Gate Entertainment DVD release features a widescreen (1.85:1) picture that looks very sharp and clean. The audio, available in both 2.0 and 5.0 Dolby Digital comes though clear. There are no special features, but included is some trailers for other Lion's Gate releases like Alone in the Dark (2005), Undead (2003), The Slaughterhouse Massacre (2005), The Punisher (2004), and the really awful looking film Zombiez (2005).

Cookieman108
"

Mediocre Marvel movie, but that's why it went straight-2-DVD

Jason Dickson | Maryville, TN USA | 05/01/2005

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Some reviewers out there will claim this movie is horrible. Um, what do you expect exactly from a movie called "Man-Thing"? I'm familiar with the comic and sure, they've changed things like they did for the Blade character in his movies. Honestly I don't know what else they could have done without making this a goofy teen comedy about someone's "man thing" (ok now that d*ck joke is out of my system!!)

This is a B movie, pure and simple. Its a slasher/monster flick and when you view it as just that, not some "Citizen Kane" masterpiece, then you'll enjoy it. It has some good cheap scares and a monster tree (yes, I said *tree*) that goes around butchering people. Did I mention that there is a lot of gore and plenty of violent deaths to make a typical "Friday the 13th" fan happy? Graphic Tree tentacle/root impalings are the order of the day.

The special effects are fine, the story does the job for this sort of movie, and its probably the bloodiest Marvel movie yet (I kid you not.) The only thing that got to me was some of the casting. Now I know a lot of no-name Australian Actors were cast for this movie and well... Aussies cant pull a Southern accent off for crap. It's not a major problem; 15 minutes into it and you don't really notice (in between all the tree branch impalings). But I have to say that Jack Thompson and the female lead are the worst offenders in this regard. The rest of the cast do a decent job.

Oh, and I've read some reviews on certain sites that the Man-Thing monster is hardly shown. That's BS. The director takes the "Jaws" route at the start of the movie, showing very little of the monster but by the last half hour you get to see plenty of him. And for a low budget flick, the monster effects are pretty cool ... better than say, the effects in StarShip Troopers 2, another low-budget direct-to-DVD flick.

Overall for a DVD rental or previously-viewed purchase, "Man-Thing" will do the job. It would have been a misfire to release this theatrically, but for a Sci-Fi channel/direct-to-DVD movie, this one is much much better than other similar releases.

Worth a watch if you're into B movies or slasher/monster flicks with lots of gore. 3 out of 5 stars."

Not A Conventional Comic Flick

K. Fontenot | The Bayou State | 02/02/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Okay, so it's more like three-and-a-half stars, but I was quite surprised at how good "Man-Thing" actually is. There aren't any major stars in this direct-to-DVD film, but it garnered enough attention to be produced by Avi Arad and executive produced by Stan Lee. That alone should show the viewer that this film is at least worthy of one viewing.

Since I'm only remotely familiar with the "Man-Thing" comics, I have to go on what I've seen on the screen alone. Matthew Le Nevez plays the newly appointed sheriff of a swampy Florida county who is literally dropped into a peculiar case involving multiple missing persons and a little construction site sabotage. Ever since bigwig Schist has placed his oilrig in the middle of the sacred "darkwater," people have gone missing. When the new sheriff gets to the sleepy town of Bywater, the bodies start popping up in the swamp. Le Nevez has a few leads to go on, but nothing for sure. He is assisted by the local third grade teacher, played by the attractive Rachael Taylor, who believes that what she's been told by the local indian tribe is true. She believes that a guardian spirit has been awakened due to the intrusion of the Schist oil company and is exacting his revenge on the locals.

The film rolls along at a nice pace and actually has a few jittery moments in it that caught me off guard. I really enjoyed watching the action in the dark swamp. The action sequences are rather violent at points, and the "leftovers" from each death are pretty grisly.

The acting is pretty good. The story is just good enough that the actors don't have to stretch themselves too hard to fit into their roles. The redneck characters are stereotypical of folks in the South, but they are tolerable enough. Being a Southerner myself, I wasn't offended by the idiots on the screen that Man-Thing makes quick work of.

As for the actual Man-Thing, he looks really good on the screen. The CGI creation holds up rather well considering that this flick's budget was nothing like other recent Marvel flicks like "Hulk" and "Fantastic Four." In fact, "Man-Thing" is much better than "Hulk" as far as the story is concerned. It recognizes its limits and isn't bloated into a two-plus hour film.

My only gripe with this film is that the new sheriff adapted to his swampy surroundings way too quick. Anyone with half a brain knows that people just don't haul off into a foreign swamp on their own and expect to get back in one piece. There are people here in Louisiana who've spent their entire lives in the Atchafalaya swamp and they still don't know every inch of it. Other than this small detail, this flick is well worth watching.

I will personally buy this DVD. I rented it since I missed its original airing on SciFi channel some time ago. It's worth a purchase if you love comic flicks, and it's a great rental for fans of horror or action films.

With surprise painted all over my face, I have to give "Man-Thing" a solid recommendation."