Manticore (2005 TV Movie) User Reviews (21)

Pretty average stuff (which is good for the Sci-Fi Channel)

[gtc83 · 5/10 · 27 November 2005]

This is about a group of American GIs in Iraq. We start with a scene of them interrogating some people who were caught looting a museum. They decide that these people were just really hungry, and it's completely understandable that they would loot someplace in order to be able to buy food. The soldiers release the suspects and give them all their MRE's, establishing them as really nice guys and gals. Some idiot reporter from CNN is hanging around bothering them as well. She pompously informs them that she's embedded with a Marine unit, so she's got the right to go anywhere. They inform her that they're with the Army, so she should go away. It's kind of funny. The reporter is cute and kind of sexy, but she never establishes herself as anything more than the standard issue "anything for a story" cliché. Next, the townspeople arm themselves and we get our first big shootout. It's actually pretty good, not exactly Blackhawk Down, but at least they tried. One thing that is rather amusing is watching these American soldiers ride around in a Russian BTR-70 armored personnel carrier. Don't tell me, let me guess: This was filmed in Romania?

Next we get the obligatory scene of the soldiers having some time off between missions, playing football. The guys have their shirts off and most of them just happen to have chiseled abs. The girl wears a sweaty tight T-shirt, which she fills out very well, if I do say so myself. The commander (that Chakotay guy from Star Trek Voyager, here playing that Chakotay guy from Voyager except in an Army uniform) gets suitably dressed down for letting all the suspects go. Then the "I'm sick of doing puff pieces" reporter gets herself in some trouble in a remote town, and the GI's are sent to rescue her. Little does anyone know (well, we know) that some bad guys have looted a very special artifact from the museum, one which allows them to bring the Manticore to life! Yes, the Manticore will kill the infidels, yadda yadda yadda.

There's a small shootout, then the soldiers get to the town and find everyone dead. Except of course for the reporter and about 4 other guys who were apparently the only ones with enough brains to hide inside a room to escape the Manticore. Then we get a whole bunch of shootouts, one of which involves a really fake CGI helicopter doing all the things that fake CGI stuff does so well, like bursting into flames in totally fake ways. The Manticore itself looks fairly good, at least in close up shots; it's CGI, but they did a good amount of detail on it, and it does look pretty icky. The ending really defies any sort of logic, but what the hey.

Overall, not a bad movie for the Sci-Fi Channel. You've got some hot babes, some very average B-movie acting, and thousands of rounds fired. Nothing particularly exciting, but if you've got a couple of hours to kill and you're a fan of low budget movies, you could do worse.

Just Like Iraq

[john-4316 · 4/10 · 4 December 2006]

The first 15 minutes looks like it could have been shot on the outskirts of Baghdad. Having spent 2 years working in Iraq I thought the movie crew did an excellent job with location. The background portraits of Sadaam with the eyes scratched out was a nice touch. Equipment used by the US Army is close to what is actually used except that none of the actors used Level 3 plates. As they add 25Kg to the weight of the body armor I understand why they were left out. The TV reporter should have been wearing black Kevlar Helmut with black body armor used by civilians working in Iraq. For some reason they were not provided with Personal Protection gear.

The movie is entertaining, and makes a fine "B" movie. You will be disappointed by the special effects. It would have been better if only parts of the Manticore were shown. A claw here or tail there. With this movie less would have been more.

I think it was still worth watching on HBO, Cinemax or Star Movies.

Another Predator imitator

[MartianOctocretr5 · 4/10 · 14 May 2007]

The same story line has been used many times, and not just on these Sci-Fi channel assembly line quickies. This flick will certainly not alter the course of cinema, but it has its moments and is OK for a viewing when you haven't got anything else to do.

Military with enormous fire power in the wilderness somewhere: check. Closing in on enemy troops, but finding a monster instead: check. Obnoxious civilians (represented here by a loudmouth TV journalist): check. Shooting useless guns at the thing: check. Blood, gore, high body count: check. Religious zealot in love with the creature who preaches spiritual legends about it: check. The story lacks originality, but the acting is decent. One glaring problem is the animation and design of the creatures. They just don't look evil or scary enough, and their movements are not 3-dimensional.

However, this movie has a few well shot scenes, and the level of action rarely lags. The plot is illogical in places, but the movie can entertain if you turn your brain off.

See? There WERE Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq!!!

[Phillemos · 5/10 · 3 September 2006]

Don't let those flaming, bleeding-heart liberals fool you. It's a good thing we went in to liberate Iraq, because Saddam Hussein might have unleashed the Manticore on the peaceful shores of New England if we hadn't. The last thing this country to deal with in the War on Terror is some acne-faced, flying lion with a scorpion's tail. Luckily, the CNN embed who was covering the war in this movie was skeptical enough to uncover this major scoop and report back to the homeland. Of course, by investing five minutes into research we could discover that this thing turns to stone if he sees his reflection inn the mirror. There are enough mirrors in the United States that I think we can make this country safe for democracy again. Just try to mess with us, al-Qaeda! Maybe we should send the Manticore to Afghanistan to go after bin Laden. Anyway, this is your standard, formulaic monster movie. If you like monster movies, you'll enjoy it; if not, you'll slash your wrists in agony.

Perfection in the worst possible way !

[siit · 1/10 · 19 January 2007]

Manticore is woeful from the beginning to the end. There is so much wrong with it, that it belies belief.

A 'terrorist' brings back to life a 2000 yr old mythical creature in the middle of the Iraqi war! And the virtually indestructible Manticore goes on a rampage.

Horrendously poor acting; Robert Beltran is as woody and ineffectual, equalling his very worst performance on Star Trek: Voyager. Chase Masterson is sooo incredibly annoying I actually cheered when the monster presumably had its way with her! In fact only the occasional Jeff Fahey appearance was the acting saving grace.

The monster itself was a joke. The CGI looked like it was handled by pubescent first time computer users. I can fully understand why this production skipped the big screen and video/DVD sales and straight onto TV.

It is that bad, However I can say it has a twin in cheesy deplorable monster/horror genre; check out Bugs(2003) and yours truly's comments ;) They could release Bugs and Manticore as a 'Dastardly D-grade Duo'

Typical Sci-Fi drivel.

[JoeB131 · 2/10 · 18 May 2008]

Recipe on how to make a "Sci-Fi Channel (Un)Original production".

1) Get one or two out of work Star Trek actors. There are plenty of them nowadays. 2) Add low grade CGI special effects 3) a half-dozen no-name actors to be monster chow. 4) 3 Gallons of Catsup. (For the fake blood) 5) 1 Crappy illogical script.

Mix in movie for 2 hours (including commercial breaks).

The movie begins with some clips of Iraqis looting art treasures, and a squad of American soldiers lead by Robert Beltran, playing the kind of new-age castrati he played on Voyager for seven years. A reporter, played by Deep Space Nine's Chase Masterson, (who actually bothered to breath some life into a character) is trapped in a town menaced by the resurrected CGI Manticore. Beltran's squad is sent to rescue her.

Now, I often hate most military movies because they get so many things wrong, and this one is no exception. They have a Master Sergeant (E-8) leading a squad. They have a woman with an infantry team. They only send one vehicle on the rescue mission which they've deemed to be "important". The Sergeant is addressed as "Sir" by his squad. They use relaxed tactics in a hostile situation, allowing them to be picked off.

Other than that, what you see is a predictable mess, like you've seen in every other Sci-Fi production with a CGI monster.

Yet another addition to an overstuffed genre.

[Hey_Sweden · 4/10 · 17 October 2018]

Soldiers fighting the war in Iraq are tasked with locating and safely returning a reporter (Chase Masterson) and her cameraman (Benjamin Burdick). Well, the squad does find the two of them at some point, but they find something else, too: an ancient mythical Persian creature called a Manticore that's been contrived back into being by a bloodthirsty baddie (Faran Tahir).

Robert Beltran of 'Star Trek: Voyageur' is the stone-faced officer in charge of a squad that also includes Heather Donahue of "The Blair Witch Project" fame. The cast, for the most part, actually isn't all that bad, but their characters are pretty dispensable. You don't much care what happens to most of them. The reporter character played by Masterson is particularly insufferable, and you spend the whole running time hoping and praying that she buys the farm at some point. Other than Beltran and Donahue, the only other "name" present is Jeff Fahey, who's solid as Beltrans' commanding officer.

The script isn't so hot, and as it plays out it does become extremely reminiscent of both "Aliens" and "Predator". On the plus side, we do get to see some highly enjoyable gore effects - the monster (resembling a lion with wings) makes utter mincemeat out of various victims. Too bad the monster itself is so badly rendered; it looks just awful most of the time. Excellent location shooting in Bulgaria helps matters some.

During another recent review of mine, I did mention that a lot of these types of movies tend to blend together after a while, and 'Manticore' does nothing to stand out in any way. It's only recommended if you're a big fan of the principal actors.

Four out of 10.

It could have been so much more...

[paul_haakonsen · 5/10 · 12 April 2011]

A movie about the mythical manticore creature. Hmmmm... Well that sales pitch was enough to get me interested, and so I decided to give the movie a go.

Now first of all, I had expected somewhat more thrills and horror from the movie. I hadn't anticipated this much action. Most of the movie has enough action in it that it borders on being an actual war movie with American troops in Iraq, and just having the manticore being a background story. That was a shame, in my opinion, because the creature would have worked so much better with more attention to it.

The creature itself was nicely enough fleshed out, despite it looked painstakingly fake at times. But the conceptual design of it was really good. And compared to the manticore from fantasy role-playing games, like Dungeons & Dragons, then the manticore did look quite like how the creature is presented in that world. And since most of the movie takes place during daylight, then you really get to see the creature a lot, unlike many horror movies that take place at night and everything is shrouded in perpetual shadow.

As for the cast in "Manticore", well then I was pleasantly surprised to actually see Jeff Fahey (playing Kramer) in here. I had no idea he was in the movie prior to actually seeing him on the screen. However, his performance here wasn't among his better performances. But still, his face was a welcomed one. The movie was solely carried by Robert Beltran (playing Sgt. Baxter), and he did a phenomenal job with his role. He was very believable and dynamic in this role, so thumbs up on that.

There weren't any real scares or shock moments throughout the movie, and that was a shame. There was a bit too much focus on the military parts of the story. But that particularly military part, they did well, however. It was realistic and adrenalin-filled action to watch the soldiers as they rushed through the narrow streets, and the camera work added a lot of chaotic touch to the scenes (in a good way). So that was really working out great.

The story of the movie, however simple it actually was, could have been better. You just brush the surface of the legend of the manticore. Again, it is the military in Iraq that overshadows everything here. And this weak storyline drags the overall impression of the movie down, for me at least.

"Manticore" could have been better, but it is far from bad. Don't get me wrong. It is good enough for a night where you just want to unwind with a movie and disconnect your brain.

Bad acting + bad special effects = bad movie!

[Dangerous_Lee_Handsome · 1/10 · 3 April 2006]

I don't have much hope for movies that premiere on the Sci Fi network (unless of course it's a theatrical movie ie. "The Hulk" etc.) because they are never great. Sci Fi seems to be an outlet for B-grade movies that probably premiere theatrically in other countries except here because their so terrible. "Manticore" is no exception. Everything about this movie sucked. The FX were cheap and some of the same shots were used over and over. The acting was some of the worst I have ever seen. The story was laughable. The gore effects were extremely cheesy and lame. These movies, for some sick reason, have their fans and I'm proud to say that I'm not one of them. "Manticore" sucks.

It is what it is, and what it is, isn't good...........

[merklekranz · 5/10 · 8 November 2008]

The Iraq setting is unique and a definite plus for "Manticore". The daylight photography of the barren, rocky, landscape is interesting. The acting is average. The script relies heavily on conjuring up a beast from the past, that is about as likely as a children's bedtime story coming true. Now that I have built up expectations, prepare for a massive letdown. The Manticore itself is not only ridiculous, but displayed in c.g.i. that is totally unacceptable from any angle. There is no nudity, laughable gore effects, and a story that leads to one of the most preposterous conclusions ever. If the Manticore had been depicted as something that you actually believed was in the film, it would have helped. - MERK

Despite the other reviews, this is a good Sci-Fi Flick!

[Eventuallyequalsalways · 8/10 · 3 September 2006]

The makers of original movies for the Sci-Fi channel must feel like red-headed stepchildren if they ever bother to read the reviews of some of their viewers and posters on IMDb. If I had relied on their advice, I would have passed this movie by, and as a result would have missed a fine piece of movie-making. So it may have been low-budget, so what? They did a lot with the budget available to them. Who really judges a movie's worth by how realistically a helicopter blows up? Small minds reared on a steady diet of cartoons and sit-com TV, that's who! The makers of this fine film took a good "what-if" premise and explored the idea that Weapons of Mass Destruction really exist in Iraq in the form of the "Manticore", a monstrous creature with the body of a lion and a fearsome head of human/tiger/Satan blend. The winged creature has a scorpion-like tail which ends in a ball filled with poisonous darts. The creature is capable of firing the darts at victims or simply devouring them. It's appetite is ravenous and legend tells how victims are devoured completely, even the bones and clothing, so that the victim simply vanishes. In this respect, the movie-makers chose to stray from the actual legend of the Manticore because obviously they wouldn't have as much gore and blood to film whenever a body is left behind after an attack. Of course, we all know it's make-believe, but the scenes involving the soldiers as they pursue an evil enemy through the sandy streets and adobe huts are thoroughly believable. Just ask some of the guys and gals serving in Iraq today what it is like to go house-to-house in search of an enemy hell-bent on destroying them, and then ask them if this movie captures some of the tension and fear, and I think their answer would be positive. Overall, this movie was made seriously by the cast and crew, the acting was certainly plausible, the effects should have been good enough for the audience if they were willing to suspend their criticism so that the budget didn't have to run into the millions. The movie follows a well-written script with a dose of mystery and suspense thrown into the mix. Two hot chicks ought to tempt the teens away from their video games long enough to see what it might be like if they decide to go over to Iraq and spread a little freedom and democracy into a desert country which detests their invasion. Let's give the Sci-Fi producers some respect; if they keep making movies as good as this one, I'll be the first to give them a standing ovation.

Way better than I expected

[johnsamo-1 · 6/10 · 1 December 2005]

After watching crap like Raptor Island from the scifi channel, I had shall we say, LOW expectations but was pleasantly surprised. Despite a no name cast with the exception of Jeff Fahey, the acting was solid. In terms of plot, it was REAL DIREVITAVE of James Cameron's Aliens, and a had a few moments from other classic action movies like Predator. But as a low- budget knockoff, it was done quite well. I know a lot about the limitations directors have on low budget action movies. WIth little money or time, its hard to make an action movie that is as slickly made as this movie is... The FX weren't that good however but that's largely the problem of the budget, not the director.

Marvellous Manticore munches marines. Menacingly.

[james_ian_miller · 1 June 2006]

After ten o'clock, I like nothing better than making a cup of tea and watching a horror / horror thriller – I save The Straight Story etc. for the afternoon or early evening. This film filled the spot well, and despite obviously not having the budget of Independence Day (most evident in the look of the town streets, and the CGI of the Manticore running and jumping), the film looked good, and the Manticore in close-up was detailed, and would scare me if it walked round the sofa. The acting was good, although the reporter jumped a little too quickly from scared out of her wits in a little room, to chasing off after the beast to follow the story (a film cliché, as somebody has mentioned), and her facing a soldier's gun and agreeing to sit down was the low point of the acting and script.

I have to say, I have enough trouble making out anything on those little screens on video cameras, so the final effort at destruction relied heavily on the Manticore both looking at the tiny screen and not Chakotay's finely chiselled head, and having superb eyesight to "recognize" its twin. Would the Manticore turn to stone if it drank from a lake (if it drinks), and is this why, like vampires, there were no mirrors in its lair? In the how good it is / budget ratio, this film is ten times better than, say, Godzilla.

Not the worst, but pretty bad.

[medina-dean · 3/10 · 9 August 2008]

The gear of the U.S soldiers kind of bothered me how they were not wearing somewhat not correct gear. I also didn't like how the creature killed its victims in one slash in about 1 sec a person is killed, i mean couldn't there be a few seconds of screaming or at least some struggling? The special effects were pretty bad, every time the Manticore appeared it like a video game. The Blackhawk sent to evac the squad and civilians was quite bad too it also looked like a video game element. Also i don't understand why the soldiers had so little ammo, i mean first the M249 SAW gunner started shooting and then 1 second later at the next camera, he ran out of ammo. i mean what kind of gunner runs out of ammo, and all he has to do is take out another box, change it and then put the ammo belt in taking less than a minute for a trained soldier.

I also didn't like how the creature killed off nearly the entire cast, including the civilians save for the kid. I mean even kill off the camera crew. I also didn't like how the creature was invulnerable TO EVERYTHING. i mean sure creature has to be strong but thats TOO DAMN STRONG how can it survive a bomb that decimated an entire village, as well as how bax survived the explosion.

Well made, but

[ebiros2 · 4/10 · 2 September 2012]

Interesting movie about US soldiers in Iraq coming face to face with a legendary creature.

The movie is well made, and has some of the most realistic battle ground scenes. Soldiers all look real, and the story is also intriguing. What spoils this movie is its ending. I'm not sure what made it bad. Was it just the way it ended ? or is it the acting ? In any case, it came across as a dud.

Rest of the movie was good. The plot was very original, and the story was seamless. All the scenes looked real too.

Not a bad movie, if they changed the ending, and kept the same level of quality as the rest of the movie it would have been much better.

Awesome movie

[jerrykimbro1 · 10/10 · 28 June 2008]

I think it was one of the best monster movies that i've seen in a while. Setting the story in Iraq was a stroke of genius, it all looked genuine. The special effects were great! All the research i have been able to uncover about manticores were present in the movie- AND I sense incredible potential for a sequel.

Originally there were TWO manticore- but they are unclear as to what happened to one of them. In the sequel- Halliburton could have captured it- and have it in the states for genetic experimentation. Of course it gets loose somewhere and starts killing everyone. Only Sgt Baxter knows what to do ( and this could be horror franchise for this character) and he is called up by the Army to take it on.

The opportunity to bring other Mesopotamian monsters to life is also tempting. The ancient Babylonians had monsters galore dating back to the earliest days of recorded history. Manticore Two could feature a few also.

Surprisingly good acting, poor special effects

[jjib · 7/10 · 31 January 2006]

I thought the plot had potential, but the special effects were very poorly done. It would have been better if we had never seen the "manticore" -- just shadows or a claw here and there. And I won't even comment on the helicopter crash.

The acting, though, was a pleasant surprise. Robert Beltran and Jeff Fahey (whose performance in "Silverado" is one of my all-time favorites) turned in good, solid performances. The real surprises came from A.J. Buckley, Faran Tahir and even some of the more minor roles, like Jeff M. Lewis and Richard Gnolfo. I'm looking forward to seeing them again.

Wonderful movie

[xypmqffs · 10/10 · 11 June 2022]

The movie was very good it was shot in very good locations that made me scratch my balls with curiosity about if this was the real war or not. Even the cgi made me scratch my balls about if it was a puppet or just cgi, but I'm pretty sure it is cgi. The cgi from the helicopter and the monster is possibly the best I've ever seen great movie would recommend. Great movie to scratch your balls to.

Monster Mayhem in war

[djderka · 7/10 · 14 May 2012]

I thought this movie was way above some of the cheesy offings that the "SY FY" channel offers. Was this shot for them? If so, it is one of the way better films they usually offer, with cheesy CGI effects.

But first, fire all the CGI guys. These effects are horrible. You are better off with stuffed animals to lend an aura of realism.

You know much of the plot so I will summarize my thoughts.

This is very good considering the probably bare bones budget. I like the beginning of taking place in war torn Iraq and a sampling of the culture with the various actors. And I like the blending of ancient Middle east myths and them coming to life against the backdrop of the Iraq war. There was not only the Manticore but some suspense with who do you trust type intrigue with the various Middle East characters. The tunnel scene was suspenseful. The Marines can't figure this Manitcore out, but can deal with insurgents more readily, was a nice touch.

You will really enjoy this film with some good acting, plot, effects, and as a low budget feature, this offers some worthwhile entertainment.

Would I buy it for $5 at Walmart. You bet.

One of the better Sci-Fi Channel efforts

[kannibalcorpsegrinder · 8/10 · 10 January 2017]

Working on a mission during the Iraq War, a squad of soldiers finds their orders complicated when a vengeful Iraqi insurgent brings a legendary creature to life who begins a rampage of terror across the landscape including the rest of the squad and must find a way to stop it.

This one here turned out to be another decent Sci-Fi Channel original feature. One of the best aspects of the film is that it takes place during the recent wars in Iraq, which is quite timely and gives it a topical relevance that few have ever done. It's a refreshing change from so many of their films that were just creatures on the loose. To have some other meaning to their action is a nice idea that scores some points. This makes for some good action scenes with the creature, including the resurrection ceremony in the sacred chamber which results in their resurrection before the eventual rampage against the gathered believers, a really entertaining rampage against the townspeople as it sticks to the shadows leaving decimated bodies along the way, a spirited series of confrontations out in the desert as they slowly realize what they're up against as the brief blurs and quick confrontations offer up some fun times. The scenes early on as the squad battles a team of Iraqis is pretty decent and balances out the creature action as the shadowy creature begins attacking them on the outskirts in some decent surprise attacks makes for a wholly enjoyable time. As it leads into the thrilling action in the second half where the dwindling group confronts the creature in high-energy confrontations, especially the last thirty minutes when the team becomes trapped inside the village and are under constant attack as stalking, killing and more big scenes occur within a small area of the village, which provides it's best action scenes and allows it to really leave with a sense of satisfaction. Coupled with the fine monster design and fine gore with a huge body count and this one turned out to be pretty good. There really wasn't a whole lot wrong with this one, but what's there deserves to be mentioned. That comes from the usual Sci-Fi Channel problems with this one as there's really no instance where it looks like anything other than a really, really bad CGI creation, and that continues throughout the film as the creature utterly fails to convince that it is a living being. There's also the problem of the shaking camera during a lot of scenes where a character was running not being chased by the creature that's really distracting and doesn't serve any purpose other to give the viewer a headache. Speaking of which, trying to figure this one's back-story out be a real challenge. Normally, these are pretty cut and dried affairs, but the need to include several different back-stories into this and tie them all together got a little confusing. Thankfully, it dropped this whenever the creature was on-screen, but otherwise, this didn't make a lot of sense. Otherwise, expect the usual Sci-Fi channel problems with this one.

Rated R: Graphic Violence and Language.

One of SyFy's better movies

[TheLittleSongbird · 6/10 · 29 May 2012]

Manticore is not perfect by all means, it does suffer from trying to incorporate too many character back stories(but that's also kind of an improvement as SyFy's characters are often annoying and underdeveloped), the dialogue doesn't flow very naturally, the monster is very poorly-designed(though there have been worse in SyFy movies) and the shaking camera effect in some scenes was distracting and I think unnecessary, then again I may be biased as I don't like and never have liked the use of that technique. However, the story, while not the most original one on the planet is a lot less formulaic and predictable than I have known it to be, there is some tension and suspense with some good gore and the Iraq setting makes it also relevant topically in a way. There is also some good acting from Robert Beltran and Jeff Fahey, the scenery always tries to be authentic, the characters are not as annoying, underdeveloped or stereotypical as any of the SyFy movies since Manticore and the music is less generic and more driven. So overall, not bad, in fact quite tolerable if imperfect. 6/10 Bethany Cox