Manborg - Review

It's Never too Late...to be a Hero

I grew up with a generation of fans who found their love of genre films through VHS. On the weekends my parents would bring me to the local video store and I would spend a fair amount of time roaming the aisles going over the various covers attempting to decide which titles I should bring home. The box art was all I had to go by. There was no internet to look up a film before I watched it and I was far too young to have access to any type of printed forums of critical review. Therefore, I had to choose wisely because if I made the wrong choice, I was stuck with it for the weekend. I had no option but to watch it and be happy with it. I couldn't stream 10 minutes and shut it off if it sucked. I would grin and bear it but usually I grew to appreciate and enjoy them. Manborg is a love letter to that era of film. To the movies that came to exist outside of Hollywood during the VHS boom of the 80's where anyone who had the resources could make a movie and distribute it.

Manborg takes place in a dystopian future where Draculon has risen from hell and conquered the world along with his evil minions. Earth has become a vast wasteland where humans are locked up and forced to do battle with demons for entertainment. The only hope for humanity lies in Manborg, a former soldier turned cyborg, and a ragtag group of human surivors consisting of a kung-fu master, an australian sharpshooter and his sister, an expert with blades. The four must team up and work together to defeat Draculon and take down his massive demon horde.

There have been a lot of films over the past few years, particularly since the release of Grindhouse, where filmmakers decide to take "bad" movies as an influence and make their own film. They take a lot of the elements you would see in films of the 70's and 80's and they add some dust and scratches in post and voila!, they have a "throwback" film. The problem with that, however, is there isn't always a love for the films they homage. They come across as ironic or pretentious rather than a loving throwback to an era of film that they truly enjoy. Astron 6 clearly have a fondness for these films. They wouldn't watch an 80's Fred Olen Ray film and look down upon it. Instead, they see something to be enjoyed and even admired. I am not just making an assumption about their love of these films. You can see it in every scene of Manborg. It's homage done at it's very best. All of the elements for fans of 80's sci-fi action films are evident. The range of acting from awful to competent. Broadly drawn, likable, stereotypical characters. Cheesy stop-motion effects, costumes and gore as well as over the top action set pieces. It's also highly entertaining, enjoyable and funny. Not everyone is going to appreciate a film like Manborg. I suspect that many viewers would actually hate it and it's understandable why that is. Manborg also lacks the hipster irony you see in midnight screenings of bad movies so I'm not even sure they would truly enjoy or understand where it comes from either(although I am sure they would never admit that). However, for anyone that grew up loving 80's low budget genre films, this is a must-see. It's a nostalgic trip back to the era that made me fall in love with movies and I foresee multiple viewings in my future.

4/5