I love found footage/fake documentary movies, which is why I put Man Vs. in my queue without knowing anything else about the movie. I am unfamiliar with Bear Gryllis—I did not even know that he existed until Obama appeared on Gryllis’ show, but the film allegedly uses Gryllis’ show as a premise for the narrative. A reality television survivalist is filming his third season when things stop going according to plan when his camp site shows signs of disturbance. Is his crew messing with him? Is their local contact more than just a little gruff? Or something else? Someone else?
Man Vs. was awesome. Canadian horror films may not have our money, but I would keep an eye out on our filmmaking neighbors in the north. They generally have a good story and better than expected acting. With a few more coins, they could consistently surpass us if we are not careful—not for awhile, but some day. I grade on a curve and for a found footage fil, it is pretty darn tasty. If you are familiar with the genre, then you will be able to set up a drinking game to tick off all the signs that lead to the eventual answer of the question, but you will not predict the ending of the film, which I adored, and I kind of want a television series spinoff with Chris Diamantopoulos, whom I do not remember from Hannibal or Boston Legal, the protagonist survivalist, as the central character. I am going to do my best to advocate for the movie if you too share a guilty pleasure of watching found footage films without spoiling until later. Warning: bunnies die, and gross enormous splinters are featured.
Man Vs.’s protagonist was immediately endearing, personable and sympathetic. Because of the close relationship with his crew, there was never a problem of finding the least annoying character to relate to, and I never started rooting for any of the characters to die. The stakes are high before the odd shenanigans ensue so it is credible that he would stick it out as long as he did, but I was relieved that we had a character that never rationalized his way out of the weirdness, especially for a man. It is rare for men to express fear and reservations, but he clearly draws a line. It makes him smart and easy to root for.
Even though I immediately guessed correctly the source of the protagonist’s problem, I was still interested because there were still great elements of tension. The best theme of Man Vs. is not just that the protagonist is teaching his viewers how to survive, but he is also showing his stalker, and his stalker is smart enough to extrapolate from the protagonist’s lessons then take it to the next level. Also I enjoyed that even though the film adhered to a few recognizable tropes related to the problem, it found refreshing new ways to depict the threat that I did not anticipate and left me surprised. So even when I figured out the danger, there were innovative, unpredictable advantages that the stalker had over the survivalist that left me wanting to know more about the threat and did not make me feel complacent that I knew more than the protagonist. I only knew more by seconds, but anything could still happen.
If I had to complain about Man Vs., I hate that it started with the how we got here trope when it began with a scene that occurs later in the film then starts at the beginning of the characters’ journey; however, it did not suck all the suspense from the film so while I will not sign a waiver, I will not consider it an unforgiveable mistake since it did not ruin the trajectory of the movie. Otherwise if viewers are not familiar with this genre, the film does a great job of giving enough misdirection that you could make a couple of incorrect guesses regarding the identity of the stalker. The film never left me with the impression that they were trying to straddle genres, and as if even the filmmakers were uncertain until the end which direction they were planning on taking. I was confident that among the possibilities was a clear answer unlike the director’s sophomore film, The Intruders, which I despised.
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I guessed immediately that there was a stalker, and that the stalker in Man Vs. was an alien. It was obvious based on the way that the animals were behaving, and the alien’s effect on the technical equipment. The alien reminded me of a mash up of Predator and the alien from Enemy Mine except hostile, but also a bit of a screw up like Venom. If you are familiar with aliens in found footage films, it is obvious, but if you are not, I could see someone mistakenly thinking that some Blair Witch hijinks were occurring, and the source of the problem was supernatural considering the protagonist’s navigation issues.
Man Vs. completely surprised me because I did not expect that there was a widescale alien invasion because I assumed that it was the usual lone guy in the woods in danger of becoming the next alien abduction victim. I did not guess that the alien screwed up the invasion and landed in the wrong place. When the protagonist realizes the scope of his predicament, the issue of survival increases in importance for the world. The sound blast was new and greatly appreciated. I do not recall any other alien movie using that characteristic as an alien feature. Also I did not expect that the alien was good at track and field. Oh snap.
I would love Man Vs. to become a series. Yes, we kind of already had a television series with a similar staring point, Falling Skies, but the change in the protagonist’s career would be less pedantic and heavy handed. Because he is already an expert in broadcasting and surviving, he makes a natural leader of the human resistance, and he already has a built-in motivation since he wants to reunite with his family. I also loved that he was prepared to quit at some point even when his family’s financial security was at risk because it was just too dangerous for him so he is more relatable as a normal guy put in an untenable situation. Before I realized that it was a widescale invasion, I was concerned that he was going to get charged with murder since he was under a lot of pressure from them, and it is unlikely that cops would believe his story, especially since he did not get any video footage of the alien. Even though he did not appear unstable before, Occam’s Razor would lead to that conclusion. I am actually really glad that the filmmakers did not take that route, and I love the alien invasion ending whereas others did not.
I want to know what ultimately happens to the protagonist in Man Vs., but since it was released five years ago, I guess that I will never know. Wahhhh.