The gear of the U.S soldiers kind of bothered me how they were not wearing somewhat not correct gear. I also didn't like how the creature killed its victims in one slash in about 1 sec a person is killed, i mean couldn't there be a few seconds of screaming or at least some struggling? The special effects were pretty bad, every time the Manticore appeared it like a video game. The Blackhawk sent to evac the squad and civilians was quite bad too it also looked like a video game element. Also i don't understand why the soldiers had so little ammo, i mean first the M249 SAW gunner started shooting and then 1 second later at the next camera, he ran out of ammo. i mean what kind of gunner runs out of ammo, and all he has to do is take out another box, change it and then put the ammo belt in taking less than a minute for a trained soldier.I also didn't like how the creature killed off nearly the entire cast, including the civilians save for the kid. I mean even kill off the camera crew. I also didn't like how the creature was invulnerable TO EVERYTHING. i mean sure creature has to be strong but thats TOO DAMN STRONG how can it survive a bomb that decimated an entire village, as well as how bax survived the explosion.

Manticore is woeful from the beginning to the end. There is so much wrong with it, that it belies belief.A 'terrorist' brings back to life a 2000 yr old mythical creature in the middle of the Iraqi war! And the virtually indestructible Manticore goes on a rampage.Horrendously poor acting; Robert Beltran is as woody and ineffectual, equalling his very worst performance on Star Trek: Voyager. Chase Masterson is sooo incredibly annoying I actually cheered when the monster presumably had its way with her! In fact only the occasional Jeff Fahey appearance was the acting saving grace.The monster itself was a joke. The CGI looked like it was handled by pubescent first time computer users. I can fully understand why this production skipped the big screen and video/DVD sales and straight onto TV. It is that bad, However I can say it has a twin in cheesy deplorable monster/horror genre; check out Bugs(2003) and yours truly's comments ;) They could release Bugs and Manticore as a 'Dastardly D-grade Duo'

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.

After watching crap like Raptor Island from the scifi channel, I had shall we say, LOW expectations but was pleasantly surprised. Despite a no name cast with the exception of Jeff Fahey, the acting was solid. In terms of plot, it was REAL DIREVITAVE of James Cameron's Aliens, and a had a few moments from other classic action movies like Predator. But as a low- budget knockoff, it was done quite well. I know a lot about the limitations directors have on low budget action movies. WIth little money or time, its hard to make an action movie that is as slickly made as this movie is... The FX weren't that good however but that's largely the problem of the budget, not the director.