This story of an insecure and mentally stressed male who joins a group of men to bond and to become strong and proud again, may sound exciting or thrilling but the opposite is true, because this is merely a SLOWburning character portrait (and not a good one).
This flick is probably only suited for a patient arthouse movie crowd, and NOT suited for an action movie crowd at all, who might have been misled by the trailer, expecting another Fight Club or Taxi Driver.
The bad: Jesse Eisenberg is one of my favorite actors, but he doesnt succeed in convincing me with his acting performance that he is cracking down under severe mental issues (and who eventually goes on a killing spree). He just still looks like a silly harmless nerd. His supposedly deeply surpressed violent character doesnt come over true to life to me AT ALL...
This stories' arch in which Jesse Eisenberg transforms from a caring father of a pregnant girlfriend into a maniacal mental patient who eventually goes on a killing spree isnt convincing me whatsoever and THAT is a problem, because this character transformation is THE core of this very story.
More bad: There are too many credibility issues with the story. Out of the blue there suddenly is a group of men who start supporting the lonely and insecure Jesse Eisenberg like a loving father to his long lost son. There are too many weak performances by several supporting actors that really irritated me. And Adrien Brody's performance as a mumbling guru of a man club is rather silly looking as well.
If you are looking for a devestating movie about a lone soul slowly loosing his mind and seeking "cure" of his mental strains in killing someone, better watch an almost similar plot in "Taxi Driver" (1976) with Robert de Niro instead, because Manodrome is (at best) a cheap and failed surrogate of that all time great American movie classic.
This flick is probably only suited for a patient arthouse movie crowd, and NOT suited for an action movie crowd at all, who might have been misled by the trailer, expecting another Fight Club or Taxi Driver.
The bad: Jesse Eisenberg is one of my favorite actors, but he doesnt succeed in convincing me with his acting performance that he is cracking down under severe mental issues (and who eventually goes on a killing spree). He just still looks like a silly harmless nerd. His supposedly deeply surpressed violent character doesnt come over true to life to me AT ALL...
This stories' arch in which Jesse Eisenberg transforms from a caring father of a pregnant girlfriend into a maniacal mental patient who eventually goes on a killing spree isnt convincing me whatsoever and THAT is a problem, because this character transformation is THE core of this very story.
More bad: There are too many credibility issues with the story. Out of the blue there suddenly is a group of men who start supporting the lonely and insecure Jesse Eisenberg like a loving father to his long lost son. There are too many weak performances by several supporting actors that really irritated me. And Adrien Brody's performance as a mumbling guru of a man club is rather silly looking as well.
If you are looking for a devestating movie about a lone soul slowly loosing his mind and seeking "cure" of his mental strains in killing someone, better watch an almost similar plot in "Taxi Driver" (1976) with Robert de Niro instead, because Manodrome is (at best) a cheap and failed surrogate of that all time great American movie classic.