Man-Thing
I must confess, I've never really read a Man-Thing comic from Marvel -- I've read more of Swamp Thing (DC), although there too, I wasn't really a follower of the series. With the number of recent adaptations of Marvel comics to the big screen, I expected Man-Thing to get the full treatment, however, since it gone a straight to DVD release, I was expecting crap. To be fair, the movie wasn't total crap, though there was the hint of stench in the air -- fitting I suppose, since the movie was set in a swamp, in the Louisiana hick-ville of a town, Bywater.
The plot was fairly simple, with no surprises. The local bigwig of Bywater, one oil tycoon named Schist (Jack Thompson), is drilling in the swamp. He's bought and murdered his way into getting the natives to give up their land, and his enterprise continue to commit sins -- only this time it's not just sins against people, but also against nature. Within the swamp, there is a place called "dark water" -- some mumbo-jumbo about the "nexus of all realities" according to mumbling native wiseman, Pete Horn (Rawiri Paratene) -- which is apparently where the Man-Thing comes into the picture. The swamp it seems doesn't like all the death and destruction that comes with Schist, and it lashes out with the Man-Thing, the swamps lawman. Into this mess comes a new sheriff, Kyle Williams, played by Matthew Le Nevez, who needs to solve a series of murders; contend with Schist, his son and some local goons, who want to off the rest of the natives (anyone who's not white and all Yankees too); a hot school teacher Teri Richards, played by Rachel Taylor, who teaches respect for nature and is a bit of an environmentalist; and perhaps a native vigilante, Rene LaRoque, played by Steve Bastoni, who is suspected of the murders in the swamp.
The acting wasn't too bad. Neither was the action sequence, the mood of the film, the special effects, the cinematography, etc. The story left a little to be desired. It wasn't really about the Man-Thing. The Man-Thing was just kinda there. There was no intelligence, no exploration of character, not even any significant commentary on the whole man vs. nature theme -- the whole environmental aspect just got a passing reference. Then there was the love that seemed to have magically developed between Richards and Williams. Just out of nowhere, it appeared -- like the Man-Thing in fact. They went from being semi-adversarial, to sucking face, and caring deeply about each other (uh, yeah, sure). WTF? Where did that come from? Was it the swamp gas? A lot of the action took place in the deep, dark, swamp, at night -- when everyone knew that something or someone in there was killing people -- so what did all the characters do? They all rushed into the swamp, yelling for each other. Even the bloody sheriff, who was looking for the suspected murderer, LaRoque, went into the swamp calling out LaRoque's name. Who wrote the shitty script? Hans Rodionoff -- a guy cut his teeth on Baywatch in the 1990s.
The decision to release this on DVD was a good one. It's best watched late at night, when you're a little tired.
The plot was fairly simple, with no surprises. The local bigwig of Bywater, one oil tycoon named Schist (Jack Thompson), is drilling in the swamp. He's bought and murdered his way into getting the natives to give up their land, and his enterprise continue to commit sins -- only this time it's not just sins against people, but also against nature. Within the swamp, there is a place called "dark water" -- some mumbo-jumbo about the "nexus of all realities" according to mumbling native wiseman, Pete Horn (Rawiri Paratene) -- which is apparently where the Man-Thing comes into the picture. The swamp it seems doesn't like all the death and destruction that comes with Schist, and it lashes out with the Man-Thing, the swamps lawman. Into this mess comes a new sheriff, Kyle Williams, played by Matthew Le Nevez, who needs to solve a series of murders; contend with Schist, his son and some local goons, who want to off the rest of the natives (anyone who's not white and all Yankees too); a hot school teacher Teri Richards, played by Rachel Taylor, who teaches respect for nature and is a bit of an environmentalist; and perhaps a native vigilante, Rene LaRoque, played by Steve Bastoni, who is suspected of the murders in the swamp.
The acting wasn't too bad. Neither was the action sequence, the mood of the film, the special effects, the cinematography, etc. The story left a little to be desired. It wasn't really about the Man-Thing. The Man-Thing was just kinda there. There was no intelligence, no exploration of character, not even any significant commentary on the whole man vs. nature theme -- the whole environmental aspect just got a passing reference. Then there was the love that seemed to have magically developed between Richards and Williams. Just out of nowhere, it appeared -- like the Man-Thing in fact. They went from being semi-adversarial, to sucking face, and caring deeply about each other (uh, yeah, sure). WTF? Where did that come from? Was it the swamp gas? A lot of the action took place in the deep, dark, swamp, at night -- when everyone knew that something or someone in there was killing people -- so what did all the characters do? They all rushed into the swamp, yelling for each other. Even the bloody sheriff, who was looking for the suspected murderer, LaRoque, went into the swamp calling out LaRoque's name. Who wrote the shitty script? Hans Rodionoff -- a guy cut his teeth on Baywatch in the 1990s.
The decision to release this on DVD was a good one. It's best watched late at night, when you're a little tired.
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