The Spirit

I have seen neither "Sin City" nor "300", and I always felt like I missed out on something special. Now I'm not so sure. Of course they may be nothing like "The Spirit", but if they are, they're off my list. "The Spirit" is neither fish nor fowl. Most importantly, Frank Miller couldn't make up his mind whether to give us a serious and somber story of life-long retribution (like "Batman Begins"), or an over-the-top burlesque (like "Repo! The Genetic Opera"). The script keeps going back and forth between motivation and mockery, between drama and slapstick. The same is true for the movie's visual style. It's a random mix of stylized cartoon in black, white, and red on the one hand and uneventful real-live action on the other. Throughout, there's way too much CGI to create a sense of space and motion, but then, it's not as comprehensively synthetic as the sets of "Sky Captain". Of the many weaknesses, the hodgepodge script is the most aggravating. It gives the cast nothing substantial to work with and produces characters that are just caricatures of themselves. Even Samuel L. Jackson, in the part of chief villain Octopus, looks ridiculous. Which is a pity. He probably won't get a second chance to play a Nazi dentist chasing the blood of Hercules. Similarly, the talents of half a dozen high-profile young actresses are wasted on this. Stana Katic, I have to admit, is cute as over-eager rookie Officer Morgenstern, a chipper performance possibly inspired by Sandra Bullock's Lenina Huxley in "Demolition Man". Perhaps the best reason to go see (and sit through) this is Christina Aguilera's electro-pop version of Frederick Hollander's classic "Falling in Love Again", playing over the closing credits.

Sin City, it ain't. I saw this with people who said they liked it (they may or may not have been drinking), and that was accompanied by the disclaimer "... so bad, it's good." Just because it can be funny to watch something fail in it's own ineptness doesn't necessarily make it good. The plot (MINOR SPOILERS): A cop (Gabriel Macht) comes back from beyond the grave as The (womanizing) Spirit. Due to a mix-up, his voluptuous childhood ex-girlfriend, Sand Saref (Eva Mendes), and the mysterious, make-up wearing Octopus (Samuel L. Jackson) wind up with wrong trunks. The trunk that The Octopus wants contains the blood of Heracles (because it will turn him into a God), and the trunk that Sand Saref wants contains Jason's Golden Fleece (because (and I am not making this up, this is the given reason in the movie) it's shiny). The Spirit is running around, trying to figure out what is going on, and seducing women as he goes along. (/MINOR SPOILERS) Everything comes back to Frank Miller, the director, and that's just where the problem lies. He's really not a director; he's a visual stylist. He has a terrible sense of timing, from line delivery to the puns of poorly written jokes. The performances he yields from his actors makes this arguably the most overacted movie of the year... Come to think of it, this is also probably the most sexist movie of the year, with women being easily manipulated on the drop of a dime and only being interested in lavish, material things, never mind the fact that they are just being used for eye candy. The only thing this movie really has going for it is that is breathtaking to look at in parts. Has this year's biggest WTF moment when Samuel L. Jackson comes out dressed like a Nazi for no apparent reason.

This movie faces a storm of bad reviews from people who expected a second sin city. in stylization and direction, it was, but with one key difference. it was just as absurdly over the top and ridiculously unbelievable as every other comic book to movie i have seen, except this movie had the guts to knowledge exactly how plain stupid it was. This movie is a farce. straight and true. Frank Miller is basically poking fun at his work on Sin City, and the viewer must understand that everything about this movie is over the top. if your looking for a second Shawshank Redemption, something based off a comic is not the best place to look. however if you watch this movie merely to be entertained and laugh you ass off, this is a good movie to choose. In the end, you have to watch this movie wanting and willing to be entertained, and not like Siskel and Ebert. get some friends, rent this movie, make some popcorn, have a good time. but for gods sake don't take this movie any more seriously than it does itself.

WOW. This movie really go to show that while someone has genius in one area that is doesn't necessarily mean he will have success in another. Frank Miller while I love his work with comic books I have decided that his directorial work is something that needs some work. The Spirit was just doesn't work at all. I enjoyed a whole five minutes of it and wished that 45 minutes into the movie when other people were walking out of the theater that I did too. The Spirit. I would be ashamed if I had to present this in film class. It makes cardinal don'ts, that shows Frank Miller's lack of directorial experience. Just because you watched Robert Rodriguez do it doesn't mean you can too. Plot that didn't work. Narration all the time and in the worst way. Breaking the fourth wall for no particular reason. Just like how a cook should taste their own food a director should really watch their own movie.

I saw the Spirit at a special advanced screening in Montreal yesterday evening... Wow! what a bore-fest! Granted, Frank Miller's style still makes for beautiful imagery, but Holy God, the man doesn't know the first thing about about the cinematic language! Some scenes go on like, what seems, forever! One scene in particular where the Spirit finds himself tied to a dentist chair while the Octopus and his sidekick Dental Floss, or whatever the name of Scarlet Johansson's character is, talk and talk and talk for... at least twenty minutes! I'm kidding you not! See for yourself when it opens. There is no sense whatsoever of pacing or rhythm, scenes start abruptly and close for no reason, without ever building or leading to something else... The movie (or un-movie as I like to call it) is more like a collage of beautiful images. There is no real story, no real danger, no characters real enough to connect to. I'd like to tell you to skip it, but you'll have to see it for yourself to believe how bad it is!...

I saw this movie on Christmas day. I was hoping for a movie like Sin City. What I got was art design like Sin City and a plot, characters, and dialog so well written it amazes me how this was not put straight to DVD. It was not just one thing that did this movie in. It was the flashbacks, the campy characters, the bad plot line, the annoying over use of (I'm not making this up) the angel of death. Granted, this movie had some good parts, the acting was very solid. Sam Jackson and Gabriel Macht did a great job. The misuse of some of the actors was horrifying, though. You don't bring Scarlet Johansson in an make her act like a trained puppet for a whole movie. The plot line became so muddled through short-sighted directing and bad puns. When this movie started I knew it would be bad, I just never knew hoe bad I could get. The bottom line is DON'T SEE THIS MOVIE.

I have to say this film won't win many moviegoers' hearts out there. Some people might think this film is cheesy, over the top, or just simply ridiculous. The thing is, this film jumps right out from comic book's pages. The scenes and the dialogues are just like watching moving comic book's drawings. Frank Miller was born to direct this film. I like the way he put the over-the-topness to make a thick comical feeling. It's like watching the modern, noir, and sarcastic version of Adam West's Batman or The Green Hornet. Through all these years comic books have developed some changes to be more realistic, but this film delivers the feeling of old 1940s through 1960s comic books. This film might won't hit a massive box office, but sure will win its own loyal fans out there.

No really. He takes a property that is fun and clever and entertaining, spews his well-worn brand of "dark and gritty" all over it, and proceeds to waste a little over an hour and a half of your life (more if parking was a pain in the rear - as it tends to be during the holiday season). We'll start off with what's right with this movie. It's... um... "visually stunning?" Maybe. If you haven't seen "300" or "Sin City" or "Sky Captain" before. (Please note that while two of the three mentioned films are based on his work - there's a good reason they're watchable. You guessed it - he didn't write and/or direct them) And that's about it. The acting was phoned in - it takes a great director to wring a great performance from actors who are given laughably bad, pseudo-noir lines to puke out and guess what? Frank Miller isn't a great director. He isn't even mediocre. He's just plain bad. So, what possessed the studio to gamble several millions of dollars when Robocop 2 and 3 should have been all the proof they need that one shouldn't waste more than the cover price of a comic book on this man's dubious talents? I'd like to think it was drugs instead of just plain stupidity, but I somehow doubt it. There's several good reasons why they waited until Will Eisner was dead before making this. Do yourself a favor, take my word for it, and don't waste your time and money finding out what those reasons are for yourself.

Spirit was marketed to be the next Sin City or 300 which makes you think of hardcore action not quirky humor or PG-13 What most people hate about this movie I found awesome Yes, one liners were cheesy. Yes, Samuel Jackson is in every movie ever. Yes, the acting was over the top. Yes, the film looks like Sin City. Yes, I loved this movie. Its so bad, its good. The one liners, the acting, and the style all made it feel like the comic strip. The plot was a little thin but they had the back story catchup so you still get the whole movie experience. The only major downfall I see to this movie is the PG-13 but thats why the DVD will be amazing. You will know if you love/hate this film within the first 10 minutes so go see it and if you hate it, walk out fast so you get your money back.

I love the interview with Lorenzo Semple Jnr, screenwriter for 'Flash Gordon,' when he suggests that the film would have been a big hit if only they'd been able to market it as a movie that would be a cult classic in thirty years. He goes on to explain what the core problem is: A cult film, by definition has fanatical supporters ... just not a lot of them. Those who 'get' the film will keep it alive forever, but Joe Moviegoer won't care if he ever sees it again. And so I turn to 'The Spirit,' a film which has similar qualities to 'Flash Gordon': bad enough to be awesome, tongue firmly in it's cheek and gentle satire in it's hand. 'The Spirit' manages to be wondrous and infuriating. A visual feast, Frank Miller was the perfect choice to bring the film to life. On the other hand, the dialogue is often so cheesy and the characters so over the top that the movie never allows you to be lulled into that wonderful moment of forgetting that you're watching a movie. There isn't a single character in the movie who talks like a real person. They all talk like, well, comic book archetypes: gruff commissioner, megalomaniacal super villain, brilliant evil assistant, sultry femme fatales, loyal and uninteresting love interest, and on and on. Take Samuel L Jackson's character, 'The Octopus' for example. It is a character that Jackson was born to play and Sam throws every ounce of his endlessly entertaining and over the top style into the character. It works and he plays the part brilliantly because he takes ridiculous dialogue and ridiculous material and has wild amounts of fun with it. The cast, by and large, follow his lead. Scarlett Johansson is hilariously withering with her acerbic barbs to The Octopus' clone lackeys, all of whom are played with deadpan wit and verve by Louis Lombardi. It is hard, in fact, not to feel some pity for Gabriel Macht who has to play Bud Abbott to a cast of rollicking, scene-chewing Lou Costellos in an over-acting competition. It all works wonderfully if you're willing to view the film as, uncharitably, being unintentionally funny or more genuinely as a gentle lampoon of comic book films by one of the great figures of the graphic novel genre. Frank Miller takes 'The Spirit' and has great fun with it. It is quirky at times, ham-handed at times, but lovingly made. A brilliant Noirist, Miller actually has much better luck in 'The Spirit' in moments of levity. The noir angles of this film don't work unless designed as a kind of self-righteous satire. The noir feels forced and dramatic moments are mercilessly skewered by the corny dialogue that a helpless Gabriel Macht delivers with straight-laced determination. 'The Spirit' has the look of 'Sin City' and the heart of 'Flash Gordon.' When it works, it works well, but the film is a terrible mess whenever it is trying to be serious. So is it worth the ride? I think so if you go in with the proper expectations. There's not really anything new visually if you've seen 'Sin City' or '300' -- both Miller works of course -- but that didn't make them any less interesting to me. Plenty of humour where it may or may not have been planned and the potential to be a cult classic. This is the kind of movie you can best enjoy in the company of friends and a cold six pack. Look for diamonds and you're looking for too much. And if nothing else, Eva Mendes has never looked better on film than she does here. That's got to stand for something, right?