Review - Manborg (2011 - Dir. Steven Kostanski)

Ah, things are staring to pick up a bit. Manborg has a limit on how great it can be due to its subject matter and tone. But it hits that limit.

A soldier is brought back to life as Manborg (Matthew Kennedy). He fights some messed-up baddies backed up by his mates. Surely that's all you need to know?

I was expecting this to either be good or absolutely terrible and most of that expectation hung on the humour. I was pleased to see that it is really funny. Everything that Number One Man says, in his extremely deep sensible voice, made me chuckle. There is also a cracking line delivered by Manborg's dead brother. One thing that I thought was going to wear thin was a villain's pathetic attempts at wooing one of the female characters. I would start thinking, 'Oh dear, I'm getting a bit tired of this,' and then the villain would pull it round by saying or doing something funny again.

Manborg contains a training scene (hurray) and there are enough memorable villains developed to ensure that everyone gets the chance to have a good scrap. The climactic fight between Manborg and Draculon isn't the greatest but it doesn't bring the film down greatly.

This was made on a very small budget and reminds me of the creativity on show in Evil Dead. They have used all manner of different technologies to bring the story to life including stop-motion. Add to that a running time of about an hour and you get a film that doesn't outstay its welcome. Steven Kostanski should be given the job of directing a new version of Mortal Kombat. But still only given a tiny budget. It would be great.

7/10

evlkeith

If you like this you could also try:

Father's Day, Cyborg Cop.