Manborg (2011) Review
MANBORG is set in a future where mankind’s numbers have been severely impacted due to an ongoing war against the demon-like Hellions. It is during an armed battle that Manborg (Matthew Kennedy) is conceived. After dying on the battlefield, alongside his brother, he awakes in a laboratory. He has been brought back to life as a cyborg courtesy of bad guy Doctor Scorpius (Adam Brooks) but otherwise he’s captive to bad guy leader Draculon (also acted by Adam Brooks) and is forced to fight to the death in an arena for the entertainment of the demonic scum. He teams up with three humans also selected for fighting in the arena – brother and sister Justice (Conor Sweeney) and Mina (Meredith Sweeney) and the film’s best idea and comic treat, a badly dubbed kick-boxing Asian martial arts hero #1 Man (Ludwig Lee). Manborg and his new-found allies manage to escape whereby Manborg plans his revenge against the demons ruler Count Draculon whom killed his brother.
The Canadian collective responsible for MANBORG, known as Astron-6, is made up of five members (Adam Brooks, Jeremy Gillespie, Connor Sweeney, Matthew Kennedy and Steven Kostanski) all of whom have a huge hand in getting their products on screen and come from a background in special effects. In the film’s press blurb co-writer/director Steven Kostanski lists THE ELIMINATORS, I COME IN PEACE, ROBOT JOX, GUYVER 2: DARK HERO, STARCRASH, JUDGE DREDD, SPAWN, THE KEEP, CAPTAIN AMERICA 1990, NEMESIS, CYBORG “and about a million other” cult classics as his inspiration for MANBORG.
MANBORG is the result of three years work from the collective with a budget of just one thousand dollars. Yes. You read that correctly. Just one thousand dollars. In an era where low budget tends to mean ‘found footage’ derivative nonsense it’s great to see a bunch of film-makers doing their own thing and evidently enjoy doing so. Remember how Sam Raimi, Rob Tapert and Bruce Campbell threw everything they could at the camera regardless of financial resources and ended up making a cult classic in the process? Kostanski and his crew have the same vibe to them. It’s about the ideas and what they can get achieve with nothing money wise at their disposal. Unfortunately in a culture where most sneer at produce that isn’t designed for a multiplex mentality MANBORG may struggle to find acceptance amongst a wider throng however for those who like to go out on a limb and try something different they will be rewarded with an amusing, fast-moving and innovative sci-fi actioner that wants to have fun and laugh along the way. It’s cheesy it’s camp and it’s short and deliberately silly.
The visuals are cheap but arresting but suit the style. It’s not about acting either so to critique the performances would be stupid. It’s agenda is fun not about whether the lead makes for a credible manborg. With some choice lines, such as when Manborg’s brother returns in ghost form and as he departs says; ‘there’s no Heaven’, MANBORG is a hoot on every level. However the running time is a little misleading in stating it’s seventy minutes when in fact MANBORG finishes pretty much dead on an hour’s running time. The remaining ten minutes is made up of a fake trailer for the rather fun looking BIO-COP. That minor quibble aside this deserves a look for offering something different to the norm and for daring to exceed its fiscal limitations. Enjoy!
