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Slow pace in the most part of the movie.

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

The same story line has been used many times, and not just on these Sci-Fi channel assembly line quickies. This flick will certainly not alter the course of cinema, but it has its moments and is OK for a viewing when you haven't got anything else to do.Military with enormous fire power in the wilderness somewhere: check. Closing in on enemy troops, but finding a monster instead: check. Obnoxious civilians (represented here by a loudmouth TV journalist): check. Shooting useless guns at the thing: check. Blood, gore, high body count: check. Religious zealot in love with the creature who preaches spiritual legends about it: check. The story lacks originality, but the acting is decent. One glaring problem is the animation and design of the creatures. They just don't look evil or scary enough, and their movements are not 3-dimensional.However, this movie has a few well shot scenes, and the level of action rarely lags. The plot is illogical in places, but the movie can entertain if you turn your brain off.

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.

The makers of original movies for the Sci-Fi channel must feel like red-headed stepchildren if they ever bother to read the reviews of some of their viewers and posters on IMDb. If I had relied on their advice, I would have passed this movie by, and as a result would have missed a fine piece of movie-making. So it may have been low-budget, so what? They did a lot with the budget available to them. Who really judges a movie's worth by how realistically a helicopter blows up? Small minds reared on a steady diet of cartoons and sit-com TV, that's who! The makers of this fine film took a good "what-if" premise and explored the idea that Weapons of Mass Destruction really exist in Iraq in the form of the "Manticore", a monstrous creature with the body of a lion and a fearsome head of human/tiger/Satan blend. The winged creature has a scorpion-like tail which ends in a ball filled with poisonous darts. The creature is capable of firing the darts at victims or simply devouring them. It's appetite is ravenous and legend tells how victims are devoured completely, even the bones and clothing, so that the victim simply vanishes. In this respect, the movie-makers chose to stray from the actual legend of the Manticore because obviously they wouldn't have as much gore and blood to film whenever a body is left behind after an attack. Of course, we all know it's make-believe, but the scenes involving the soldiers as they pursue an evil enemy through the sandy streets and adobe huts are thoroughly believable. Just ask some of the guys and gals serving in Iraq today what it is like to go house-to-house in search of an enemy hell-bent on destroying them, and then ask them if this movie captures some of the tension and fear, and I think their answer would be positive. Overall, this movie was made seriously by the cast and crew, the acting was certainly plausible, the effects should have been good enough for the audience if they were willing to suspend their criticism so that the budget didn't have to run into the millions. The movie follows a well-written script with a dose of mystery and suspense thrown into the mix. Two hot chicks ought to tempt the teens away from their video games long enough to see what it might be like if they decide to go over to Iraq and spread a little freedom and democracy into a desert country which detests their invasion. Let's give the Sci-Fi producers some respect; if they keep making movies as good as this one, I'll be the first to give them a standing ovation.

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.