‘Man-Thing’, more horrifying than the monster itself.
The latest adaptation of a comic has arrived, in this case from the Marvel factory. Since ‘X-Men’ was a well-deserved success, a lot of projects have been given the green light, which has materialized, sometimes wonderfully, like the Sam Raimi movies or one by Ang Lee, and others because we’ve had to regret it, like a certain thing with John Travolta playing the bad guy, or one in which Jennifer Garner pretends that she can play the fascinating character created by that genius named Frank Miller. Now, and without prior notice, and premiering almost behind the scenes, we get ‘Man Thing’, based on the comic of the same title. And I am afraid that we are facing one of the worst adaptations ever made of a comic. Well, really, aside from that, it’s also one of the worst movies ever made. Although if you take it with a sense of humor, at least you can have a good laugh.
A new sheriff arrives in the quiet town of Bywater convinced that it is what he needs, a quiet place to rest without too much work, and breathing fresh air. However, in the swampy areas of the place people are disappearing, who later reappear dead. They have been brutally and inexplicably murdered. The new sheriff has a job. Find out who kills these people, while dealing with a greedy businessman who wants to take over the place at all costs, for his own benefit.
Regardless of whether the film is based on a comic book, we have seen this type of story thousands of times in hundreds of small-time movies and TV movies. That is not an obstacle to reject it, of course not. Welcome to any kind of story, seen a thousand times or not, if they tell it to you well. Of course, that doesn’t even happen here. We are facing the typical film with a horrible monster (there are some monsters that are not horrible), in which absolutely everything is a huge topicazo, that at times one wonders if what is being seen is really true. It’s not at all surprising to see Brett Leonard behind the camera, a guy who has already shown us his “worth” with things like ‘The Lawn Cutter’ or the infamous ‘Virtuosity’, although he has a fairly decent film called ‘Assassin from Beyond ‘, that seen what was seen, someone must have done it.
Leonard sovereignly bores us with a film that suffers from all the defects of this type of production. The good boy is a very handsome boy with a very good heart, he doesn’t do anything that goes beyond the law, although when the time comes… The girl is a very pretty girl, who initially hates the boy, but of course, later the writer says they have to hook up, and they hook up. By the way, the scene in which that happens is a very clear demonstration of what should not be done in a movie, absolutely laughable, put in at the least opportune moment and not at all credible. It makes you laugh, seriously. It should be taught at Film Universities, so that students learn not to make those kinds of mistakes.
The rest of the characters move between the very bad bad guys, who when they make a hand gesture based on the middle finger stretched out and the rest of the fingers closed, for there to be more drama they have to say phrases like “ you” ( you, in Spanish), and niceties like that. Of course, there is no lack of the companion of the protagonist whose fate is very predictable, the stupid thugs who also have it raw, and even a mystical Indian who does nothing but pray while singing, and who stars in one of the most ridiculous scenes of the film.
I’m not going to talk about the dialogue phrases, like the one I quoted before, because then it makes me laugh. There are truly useless conversations and lack of originality. Not to mention the scenes in which the characters, and before being attacked by the monster, speak alone and loudly so that they can be heard. By the way, it is better to ignore the performances of the entire cast, really, that we can get very bad.
Regarding the horror scenes, well, they just don’t exist. Those responsible for the film did not know that they were making a horror film, therefore… To this we must add that the film is extremely crappy in terms of visual effects (the little monster brings it), although I imagine that there they wanted to pay a little tribute to those fantastic productions of the 50s of the Z series, which were just as crappy. Come on, I say it could have been because of that. Or not.
An unparalleled mess, I can’t explain why they’ve filmed it, and why they’ve released it. That secret will be swallowed by the swamp.
