GL84 Working on a mission during the Iraq War, a squad of soldiers finds their orders complicated when a vengeful Iraqi insurgent brings a legendary creature to life who begins a rampage of terror across the landscape including the rest of the squad and must find a way to stop it.This one here turned out to be another decent Sci-Fi Channel original feature. One of the best aspects of the film is that it takes place during the recent wars in Iraq, which is quite timely and gives it a topical relevance that few have ever done. It's a refreshing change from so many of their films that were just creatures on the loose. To have some other meaning to their action is a nice idea that scores some points. This makes for some good action scenes with the creature, including the resurrection ceremony in the sacred chamber which results in their resurrection before the eventual rampage against the gathered believers, a really entertaining rampage against the townspeople as it sticks to the shadows leaving decimated bodies along the way, a spirited series of confrontations out in the desert as they slowly realize what they're up against as the brief blurs and quick confrontations offer up some fun times. The scenes early on as the squad battles a team of Iraqis is pretty decent and balances out the creature action as the shadowy creature begins attacking them on the outskirts in some decent surprise attacks makes for a wholly enjoyable time. As it leads into the thrilling action in the second half where the dwindling group confronts the creature in high-energy confrontations, especially the last thirty minutes when the team becomes trapped inside the village and are under constant attack as stalking, killing and more big scenes occur within a small area of the village, which provides it's best action scenes and allows it to really leave with a sense of satisfaction. Coupled with the fine monster design and fine gore with a huge body count and this one turned out to be pretty good. There really wasn't a whole lot wrong with this one, but what's there deserves to be mentioned. That comes from the usual Sci-Fi Channel problems with this one as there's really no instance where it looks like anything other than a really, really bad CGI creation, and that continues throughout the film as the creature utterly fails to convince that it is a living being. There's also the problem of the shaking camera during a lot of scenes where a character was running not being chased by the creature that's really distracting and doesn't serve any purpose other to give the viewer a headache. Speaking of which, trying to figure this one's back-story out be a real challenge. Normally, these are pretty cut and dried affairs, but the need to include several different back-stories into this and tie them all together got a little confusing. Thankfully, it dropped this whenever the creature was on-screen, but otherwise, this didn't make a lot of sense. Otherwise, expect the usual Sci-Fi channel problems with this one.Rated R: Graphic Violence and Language.

JoeB131 Recipe on how to make a "Sci-Fi Channel (Un)Original production".1) Get one or two out of work Star Trek actors. There are plenty of them nowadays. 2) Add low grade CGI special effects 3) a half-dozen no-name actors to be monster chow. 4) 3 Gallons of Catsup. (For the fake blood) 5) 1 Crappy illogical script. Mix in movie for 2 hours (including commercial breaks). The movie begins with some clips of Iraqis looting art treasures, and a squad of American soldiers lead by Robert Beltran, playing the kind of new-age castrati he played on Voyager for seven years. A reporter, played by Deep Space Nine's Chase Masterson, (who actually bothered to breath some life into a character) is trapped in a town menaced by the resurrected CGI Manticore. Beltran's squad is sent to rescue her. Now, I often hate most military movies because they get so many things wrong, and this one is no exception. They have a Master Sergeant (E-8) leading a squad. They have a woman with an infantry team. They only send one vehicle on the rescue mission which they've deemed to be "important". The Sergeant is addressed as "Sir" by his squad. They use relaxed tactics in a hostile situation, allowing them to be picked off. Other than that, what you see is a predictable mess, like you've seen in every other Sci-Fi production with a CGI monster.

john-4316 The first 15 minutes looks like it could have been shot on the outskirts of Baghdad. Having spent 2 years working in Iraq I thought the movie crew did an excellent job with location. The background portraits of Sadaam with the eyes scratched out was a nice touch. Equipment used by the US Army is close to what is actually used except that none of the actors used Level 3 plates. As they add 25Kg to the weight of the body armor I understand why they were left out. The TV reporter should have been wearing black Kevlar Helmut with black body armor used by civilians working in Iraq. For some reason they were not provided with Personal Protection gear.The movie is entertaining, and makes a fine "B" movie. You will be disappointed by the special effects. It would have been better if only parts of the Manticore were shown. A claw here or tail there. With this movie less would have been more.I think it was still worth watching on HBO, Cinemax or Star Movies.

jjib I thought the plot had potential, but the special effects were very poorly done. It would have been better if we had never seen the "manticore" -- just shadows or a claw here and there. And I won't even comment on the helicopter crash.The acting, though, was a pleasant surprise. Robert Beltran and Jeff Fahey (whose performance in "Silverado" is one of my all-time favorites) turned in good, solid performances. The real surprises came from A.J. Buckley, Faran Tahir and even some of the more minor roles, like Jeff M. Lewis and Richard Gnolfo. I'm looking forward to seeing them again.