Mantera (2012)

A lot of fun.

All that we are seeing on the screen is happening with real people, real action sequences in the background, forcing the eye to watch as if we were there.

The movie is made so realistic it has a lot of that WoW feeling at the right moments and never tooo over the top. the suspense is done so well and the emotion is felt. Very well put together with the music and all.

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

First off, all the other reviews are absolutely correct. All of them. Even if they contradict one another. Also, I would rate it a 10 if it were a comedy. I thought about rating it a 5, the average...but that didn't seem fair to the readers of these reviews.Second, I am only about halfway through the movie...but I have been laughing so much I had to take a break and do a little internet research on it. This movie makes the stuff on the SciFi network (Sharknado and the like) seem like grade A work.To put things into some perspective, the movie is a Malaysian effort. Yes, it's dubbed...but from what language(s), I'm not sure--Malaysian? Russian? But for it's obviously limited budget, the Mantera animations aren't too bad...for a cartoon, except it's a live-action movie. Actually, the animations may be better than the standard SciFi network fare.*** Possible Minor Spoilers ***As has been well covered by other reviews, I concur that large portions of the movie are blatant copies of other older works. Perhaps the most egregious offense is the scene where Mr. Miyagi's Crane Technique is practiced (about 45 min into movie). There are so many references, and funny enough, a lot are from the 80's. Think Streethawk meets Robotech/Megazone23 meets Karate Kid meets G.I. Joe. I even heard "Archangel" used a character's name...like in Airwolf!And as for names...Azman...(just typing it makes me laugh)...Assman. LOL. Really? Yes, watch it and see. :)And when you are done, follow it up with "Kung Fury" available for free on YouTube and now also on Netflix!

Actually, my headline is a lie. This movie sucked in every way possible: the special effects, the plot line, the HORRIBLE lifeless wooden acting, the sub par out of sync dubbing .. and just about every other aspect of this movie. But don't believe me, please. Rather, watch it for yourself and come to your own conclusion (that way, I don't have to suffer alone). If you can make it through the entire movie without pausing to take a mental break, stopping the movie entirely, or screaming out in pain, then you are more of a manly man than I.This movie is unfortunately a rip off of so many others that came before it. The transforming motorcycles: Mospeada/Genesis Climber (or Robotech third gen). The nano suit: Crysis. The leader of the enemies: Dr. Claw from Inspector Gadget cartoon fame.Someday, the people that wrote this movie will find out that the US government is using it to torture "terrorists" (or whatever the US government decides to label their latest and greatest made up enemies) and send them a bill that will finally result in this catastrophe being profitable.

I had to make an account just to review this trash. This movie was horrendous for reasons some don't point out. Yea the acting and effects and story and and and etc were all TERRIBLE... BUT! I don't see anyone pointing out how many scenes were just complete rip-offs of other works. That is the one thing that infuriates me about this. Complete scenes are entirely stolen from other action sequences from movies, Japanese action movies, and even anime.Example, at the very end, probably what someone would think is the "best" part where the two robots fight, from the moment they kick in mid-air: (link to youtube video showing exact scene ripped off of an anime) tinyurl.com/mgsojal

I haven't encountered so much bad written cheesy dialog per minute in awhile. You can't be writing that awful unless you consciously try to replace every possible line with a cliché phrase.I can understand medium budget CGI, I can forgive simpleton plot (yet another battle of good vs evil), but what on earth made them name prime forces "Alliance of Light" and "Legions of Darkness"??!! Those are literally the names of the two, and its not even ironic. And so on it goes all through the movie. The script is created straight out of some kid's imagination, we have savior who is a "purest soul", evil corporation, spacecraft stolen from X-Men, Star Gate-ish teleport device... heck! they even managed to clue in a martial arts training montage.The only plus side is that global crisis does really feel global - we are shown different countries, nations, languages - and are not happening somewhere in the backyard of a typical USA small town.