From the far reaches of the Milky Way Galaxy, It's Retro Nerd Girl with film review for you.
Today I'll be reviewing the movie Manborg released in 2011.
Starring:
Matthew Kennedy, Adam Brooks, Meredith Sweeney
Directed by:
Steven Kostanski
Genre:
Action, Adventure, Comedy
Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) Rating:
Not Rated
Budget:
$1,000 (CAD)
Current IMDb Rating When Reviewed:
5.6
The Synopsis is:
A soldier, brought back to life as a cyborg, fights alongside a band of adventurers against demon hordes in a dystopian future.
Before I get into the story details of the film, I’d love to share the story of how the film was made, because it is a very unique independent film.
The film is produced by Astron-6, a low budget Canadian film company founded in 2007 by Adam Brooks and Jeremy Gillespie known for black comedic, 80’s-centric independent movies. Matt Kennedy, Conor Sweeney and Steven Kostanski were later included as equal partners in the company.
Steven Kostanski and friend Jeremy Gillespie came up with the idea to make Manborg while watching the movie Eliminators released in 1986 about a cyborg pilot that teams up with an odd collective of heroes.
Steven took the helm to direct, costing him approximately $1,000 (CAD) of his own personal money and he even called in some favors from his old High School teacher to borrow some light kits and other theatrical material. As well, his mom bought and sewed together the green screen that he would need for the heavy use of chromakey in the film.
So with little money, a small cast and a genuine love for 80’s b-action films, Manborg took about one year of filming followed by two years of post-production.
The story begins with a dramatic war between Count Draculon who has risen from hell to take over the Earth with Nazi zombies in the Hell Wars and won.
Right away the film sets up some powerful emotions with Manborg and his brother. Everything happens quite quickly but the emotional DNA there.
A young soldier fights alongside his brother in the last stand for mankind in a highly dramatic scene. His brother dies giving him a photo to remember him and a powerful but hilariously corny motto, “It's not about the killing, it’s about family.” This is a sample of some of the dialogue and I’m here for it.
It parodies fluffy action films, turning the moral of the story into a tale about family. Just think about the many modern day films that do this. It's a cheap trick that the film is pointing out but at the end of the day it is meaningful. This strong PSA or public service announcement gives the audience the message that “it's about family”.
It’s seriously corny, awkward, and that is part of the magic that makes me crack a smile.
The soldier is terribly wounded and left for dead, but a scientist, Dr. Scorpious horribly outfits his body with technology transforming him into Manborg.
He wakes up several years later into a horrifying technological hellscape future and is captured by Count Draculon’s goons to fight in a gladiatorial arena. While imprisoned he meets 3 renegades that eventually become… wait for it... his new family.
The film is character driven and not plot driven, giving nearly each character a detailed backstory or some unique outstanding quality.
There is Number One, who is a martial arts expert who was forced to train the hell army. He is noble and is obsessed with protecting a girl named Mina even though she is fully capable of taking care of herself. It feels as if he was ripped right out of the movie Enter The Dragon released in 1973 perfectly outfitted with a vintage voice over dub. He is the perfect hero archetype.
Mina is a knife throwing expert who wears a purple wig reminiscent of an anime character along with her own awesome anime sound effects and stings that are queued when she fights. She has her own private battles which gives her a little more depth than you would think she’d have.
Her brother Justice is a laser gun expert that has such accuracy that he can shoot without looking at his target. He is a rebellious loudmouth with Billy Idol good looks and a fake Australian accent that could be unlikeable until you realize he’s covering up the fact that sadly he can’t read.
There's a hilarious scene with Justice in a gunfight that is reminiscent to Moonwalker released in 1988 where there's similar sounding music in the background while he dances.
When you think of the fact that Justice speaks with an Australian accent and his sister Mina doesn't speak with an accent, you wonder oh-oh is this a mistake in the film? But no, it's actually mistake that is on purpose and that is part of the intentional humor from nuts to bolts, even when this is pretending to be serious.
There is a Saturday morning cartoon vibe to the story with this Ensemble of Misfits that makes the film infectious.
For the cost of the film, everything that is creatively done visually looks outstanding. We talked about the use of green screen and the film boldly makes no excuses for being obviously artificial, but dedicated to holding true to this fantasy dystopian hell future.
The fight scenes were choreographed really clear and you could see pretty much everything with clarity. A lot of small budget movies will zoom in close or make funny cuts during their fight scenes and I really appreciate that. What may be a turn-off to some people is that it is very graphic in the gore department. It may be a shock if you're not prepared for it. For me, I felt it was appropriate for the tone of the film.
As well there are some pretty cool masks and makeup to corroborate the story. Again, for the cost, I scratch my head thinking, wow this is so cool. How are they pulling this off?
Since this film, Steven Kostanski has been working steadily in the film industry as a special makeup effects technician and artists on Hannibal (TV Series) in 2014, Crimson Peak in 2015, Suicide Squad in 2016, It in 2017, and Star Trek: Discovery (TV Series) in 2018. We are dealing with a highly talented professional who has a can do attitude no matter the budget.
We’ve got stop motion in this reminiscent of RoboCop, Terminator, and some old school Ray Harryhausen and Roger Corman movies. The champion was a great example of this as he was a genetic monstrosity composed in all of its stop-motion splendor. The gladiatorial arena fights remind me of the cult b-movie Arena released in 1987 and some other parts of the film it seems a lot like Mortal Kombat from the 1990’s, adopting some of the aesthetics and cut scenes from other 1990s video games.
There's a lot of technical work done on this, but it also feels like you're watching your friends put together a play in their backyard with all of the trimmings of special effects with a cinematic Saturday morning cartoons flair. The 1980s flavor metal rock music makes it all feel like a R rated Power Rangers episode.
Matthew Kennedy plays the lead character, Manborg and I enjoyed the little nuances that he gives to the audience. His charming robotic movements and tender moments where Manborg displays a little more humanity, reminds me so much of Robocop released in 1987. I thought he was delightful in the role.
Co- founder of Astron 6 Adam Brooks takes on two roles as the many forms of Count Draculon and Dr. Scorpious who I also enjoyed on screen. In particular his portrayal or Dr. Scorpious had some serious gravitas, telling us the story of how it was he who let loose the gates of hell upon the earth and then created Manborg to destroy Count Draculon because he was the only Human to face the titan on the battlefield.
I couldn't help but roar into laughter when Dr. Scorpious turns into a force ghost type character reminiscent of Star Wars movies.
I mentioned Jeremy Gillespie before who played Count Draculon’s hilariously sensitive henchman, The Baron, giving the audience a few laughs along the way as he tries to find ways to impress Mina, who he refers to as prisoner #7 , but in his heart “she was always prisoner #1”. I really love that and the humor is just so well pitched for the situation.
Jeremy Gillespie also helped with visual effects and music, so you get the sense that the small team at Astron 6 pitched in to help put everything together. There is so much love and childlike excitement built into every scene.
What’s missing? Tension. Any chance of believability is lost, but that is the whole point of this exercise! The rough edges are supposed to be there and not even the lowest of low budget could stop this movie from happening. And to be honest it just really feels nice to see a movie that doesn't feel like it's trapped into making something that's homogeneously constructed to please the box office. There's no interference from the creative process so it kindles a primal play space for the creators. I absolutely love that and I'm personally looking into making a project like this myself.
Manborg is a micro-budget spectacle fantasy, action, packed into every corny thing that I have ever loved about cheesy action movies of the 1980’s and 1990’s. They even add the same grainy textures to the visual display of the film like an old VHS tape. The film dives deep, wonderfully celebrating what it is. It’s a homemade film with a lot of talent poured into it for fun. It’s beautiful.
My Rating:
8
That sums up my review. I hope you liked it. This is Retro Nerd Girl signing off!
Take care movie lovers! I'm off to the next review!
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