Mantera (2012) User Reviews

Action movie with few action scenes and the story is more to drama-sci fi instead of a more to action

[jeremyexinyr · 2/10 · 29 April 2023]

Actually, this movie could have been better. But the plot ruined this poor movie thoroughly, and the pointless action scenes aggravate it. I'm extremely disappointed with this movie tbh. I was expecting there to be epic battle scenes like in Transformers. However this movie's amazing fight scenes are only the hotel battle in Dubai and the final fight, and they ain't even the best. The rest of the movie is just filled with dramas and pointless acts which are boring. Since this is an action movie, there should have been more brutal battle scenes. I'm sure this movie would have a higher rating if it has more battle scenes. Also, the story is so forced. I don't like the story honestly, it's weird. CGI is not consistent. In some scenes, it's pretty decent. But at the other scenes, it's a big mess.

I used to fall in love with this movie when I watched the trailer and see the poster. But I was to cry after I watched the movie. I just wasted 2 hours on this boring drama. And I felt very sorry with the cool Mantera robot to exist in this bad plotted movie.

Sorry Mr. Filmmaker, I'm don't mean to insult this movie. I'm just telling you feedbacks. You know, when you receive a feedback, your self awareness will be activated. And your self awareness will urge you to improve. I'm sure you'll create better movies in the future after receiving these painful yet brutally honest feedback.

Worst movie i've ever seen.

[HerbieDaniel · 1/10 · 6 January 2014]

Terrible movie.

Horrible dubbing, lackluster performances, clichéd and extremely lazy writing, horrible effects, terrible cinematography, and to add insult to... well, *more* insult to injury, there's actually a sequel bait ending.

But I must say, this film's biggest sin is not the terrible writing. It isn't the terrible dubbing. It isn't even the sequel bait ending (which still pisses me off). No, this film's biggest sin is that it doesn't even get the action right. I can forgive the poor effects (I watch Kamen Rider and those effects aren't great either), but the action in this SUCKS. And that just makes the poor effects and everything else all the more painful. This films ONLY redeeming qualities were

A. The concept is inherently cool (no thanks to the film).

And B. There were *maybe* a cool shot or two.

Other than that? Nothing. There's nothing here. Waste of 87 minutes.

Its like they are mocking us.

[acerbic-1 · 5/10 · 16 December 2012]

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.

Ummmmmmmmmmm

[michaelvwilson-64-197766 · 1/10 · 27 July 2014]

I'll keep my review short. This movie is like a fart in the wind. You never seen it coming but leaves you in utter disgust!Ready to vomit everything on the floor. I would rather go play leap frog with a unicorn than have to sit through another 10 minutes of this repulsive compressed turd of a movie. I guess this is what i get for having high hopes in what I know should not exist. The moment the intro scene was revealed it was like that feeling when you have a near death experience and lost in broken thought frantically trying to find either the stop or pause button, luckily for me as soon as I was about to rip my TV off the wall my foot unplugged it saving me from having to buy a new one.

So many stolen scenes in this garbage...

[asaikaiyosho · 1/10 · 16 January 2014]

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

Wasted Time That I'll Never Get Back !

[pompeii-73995 · 1/10 · 22 June 2015]

My mom always said I was stubborn. This is apparent when I saw Mantera was rated 1.5 stars in Netflix and I proceeded to watch the the movie anyway. And one I started to watch it, it was like a turd that you've already started pushing out. It was too late, I had to go all the way and birth this turd of a movie. As mentioned in other reviews, this movie stole so many elements. Even the crane kick scene from The Karate Kid. Also a lot of this movie was stolen from The Guyver, "Bio Booster Armor". The acting was cheesy and pungent!

Please take heed to my warning and those of my fellow reviewers. Unless you want to birth a turd of your own.

SciFi B Movie / Accidental Comedy Worth Watching for a Laugh

[therealshadowknight · 1/10 · 24 November 2015]

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!

Amazing movie, don't listen to the haters!

[jsmahler · 9/10 · 9 February 2014]

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.

Don't believe the idiots, this is a good movie

[jade_green-06605 · 7/10 · 11 December 2019]

Yeah sure, it is derivative, but what movie isn't? Poorly dubbed, yes. It has a few niggling problems, but nothing compared to huge movie franchises like The Lord of the Rings, Marvel, Xmen, Star Wars etc. Just enjoy it for what it is, a mecha movie.

Mantera

[thomashull · 10/10 · 27 August 2021]

This is a great movie and how it's performed with great actions.

Fun, silly movie to watch. Just good fun.

[daletheminoltaman · 10/10 · 1 December 2020]

Fun, silly movie to watch. Just good fun. Yeah it is not a $200 million budget movie but it is very watchable and fun, silly and cool that Kamalya is in the movie.