What do you do when you’re desperate to create an industrial punk sci-fi movie but have almost no money? Easy: hire the cheapest actors you can find, get them to run around in a green room for 2 months and spend the remainder of the year working on the editing and creating the techno-atrocity called Manborg.
Suffering from memory loss, a cybernetic abomination discovers himself in a strange high-tech world under the control of… violent mutant fascists? Unable to keep himself out of trouble for very long, he’s soon captured and thrown into a cruel arena to compete for his life for the amusement of others, where himself and a group of fellow brawlers ponder their dwindling chance of survival – as so does the rest of mankind.
For a science fiction, convincing computer graphics are absolutely key to delivering the whole show. Here, they’re awful. This is really cheap production which will not be to everyone’s taste. As well as the special effects, the sets are obviously tiny, props are tacky, and the horrible stop motion animation is rather painful. Usually this would instantly be a dealbreaker since we live in a time where no sci fi would be seen dead without expensive lasers and jaw-dropping spaceship designs.
But the insane thing is that this actually works; it amazingly capitalizes and exploits upon its own poverty. Thanks to talented directive coordination, the story demands interest, relentlessly keeping up the pace and throwing in the occasional comedy whenever things turn quiet. The costumes are also impressive, especially the bad guys created with a futuristic Hellraiser twist. And even though an eyesore to look at first, the corny characters, OTT theatrics and the hilarious dubbing of the No.1 Man beg for your appreciation, especially with overblown lines like “The power of the human spirit will never be obsolete!” punches demon
If you can overlook the obvious budget constraints on this flick then you’re in for some fun. While nothing serious or groundbreaking, it doesn’t pretend to be, with lead director Steven Kostanski doing a hell of a lot with a little and whipping up a surprisingly satisfying watch, which is sadly a little too short finishing disappointingly at just below the 1 hour mark. If you can imagine Lexx with more fight scenes and an asian martial arts guy covered in blood, you’re halfway here.
5/10
Possession Media 