The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

Blistering performances.

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.

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.

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.

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.