Anyone remember the old Spawn film?

[Brian Braddock]

Or are they simply trying to forget it?

I remember that I simply wasnt impressed with it overall when it came out.

I was a big Spawn fan in my younger, niiave days (back when Image Comics started) and expected big things but thought the movie was a shambles (mainly because of the director, Mark Dippe - but hey, that's what you get when you give a special fx guy with no previous directorial experience the job of helming such a big project!), but recently, all the talk of Micheal Jai White being cast in TDK got me reminiscing about the Spawn movie.

I do remember being impressed with the faithful character designs (Spawn, Clown and Violator etc) and, for the most part, the special effects by ILM (but not the cape), and I remember John Leguisamo annoyin' the hell out of me but I'm wondering if this movie is one of those films that a person could re-visit years later and appreciate it on another level the 2nd time around (?)

Anyone have any opinions? Should I get the directors cut to see if it's any better?


Should I just steer clear of it altogether and remember it for the mess that I think it is?

 

[Kevin Roegele]

It's awful.

The only explanation you need is that it's directed by, not a proper director, but a special effects guy. Who has naturally not directed anything before, or since.

The director's cut is hardly any different, just slightly more violence. The action scenes are very weak anyway.

I'll give credit where it's due; the Spawn costume isn't bad.

That's it.

 

[Addendum]

Roger Ebert's review is pretty funny.

I think he still tokes a little now and again t:

 

[The Chris]

Liked it the first time I saw it, haven't like it since.

 

[Spidey]

I didn't hate it as much as others, but it wasn't one of the greats. Good f/x for its time, I'll say that.

 

[The Chris]

The effects were cool until hell was shown. Wow that sucked.

 

[MaskedManJRK]

Not the best movie in the world, but I can still dig it.

 

[CanaryFan]

Utter crap. The more times you watch it the more you'll find wrong with it!

 

[Kable24]

I saw it in theaters and wasn't impressed. But I have it on dvd and only watched it once.

 

[Kevin Roegele]

Awful, awful film.

 

[The Shredder]

Wasnt too impressed by the film either, loved the HBO animated series that aired during the summer this film made it's debut, but the live action movie left alot to be desired. Effects and suits looked good for it's time I suppose, but it clearly didnt hit one out of the park. And for good reason.

 

[Spidey]

loved the HBO animated series that aired during the summer this film made it's debut

That show was jammin'.

Not really for the young'ns, though.

 

[shapeshifter]

yeah watch the cartoon from HBO. the movie was watered down at best.

 

[Joker]

The movie, IMHO, is pretty much totally representative of Spawn as a whole. It's all style over substance, with no real plot, message, or direction. It seemed more to be trying to get people to say "Wow, that looked cool!" instead of "Wow, that was very well written, acted, and directed." Which I feel is what the entire character is. Todd McHackboy was doodling one day, changed black costume Spider-Man's symbol, gave him a cape, and decided "Hey, I should make a book out of this...hmmm...I guess he can have Ghost Riders powers, but still use guns cause Punisher is hot right now too!" And, the rest is history

 

[Hoedowned]

I thought it was entertaining when i first saw it. But then again B & R (yes, even at age 9 I hated it) had just come out, so anything that wasn't full comic-property-raping was going to be ok in my book. Later I saw it again and realized it was crap.

 

[Kevin Roegele]

The movie, IMHO, is pretty much totally representative of Spawn as a whole. It's all style over substance, with no real plot, message, or direction. It seemed more to be trying to get people to say "Wow, that looked cool!" instead of "Wow, that was very well written, acted, and directed." Which I feel is what the entire character is. Todd McHackboy was doodling one day, changed black costume Spider-Man's symbol, gave him a cape, and decided "Hey, I should make a book out of this...hmmm...I guess he can have Ghost Riders powers, but still use guns cause Punisher is hot right now too!" And, the rest is history

Exactly. Spawn is really an embarassingly immature concept. It's like a bunch f 14-year olds in the 90's came back from a Death Metal concert and tried to make Batman 'more badass'. "What's the story of Spawn?" "I don't know man, but checkout his chains and huge ragged cape!"

 

[Abaddon]

lame as hell, but still better than Steel.

 

[Dr. Fate]

Or are they simply trying to forget it?

I remember that I simply wasnt impressed with it overall when it came out.

I was a big Spawn fan in my younger, niiave days (back when Image Comics started) and expected big things but thought the movie was a shambles (mainly because of the director, Mark Dippe - but hey, that's what you get when you give a special fx guy with no previous directorial experience the job of helming such a big project!), but recently, all the talk of Micheal Jai White being cast in TDK got me reminiscing about the Spawn movie.

I do remember being impressed with the faithful character designs (Spawn, Clown and Violator etc) and, for the most part, the special effects by ILM (but not the cape), and I remember John Leguisamo annoyin' the hell out of me but I'm wondering if this movie is one of those films that a person could re-visit years later and appreciate it on another level the 2nd time around (?)

Anyone have any opinions? Should I get the directors cut to see if it's any better?


Should I just steer clear of it altogether and remember it for the mess that I think it is?

I remember the film. Great production value if I recall it right.

 

[BMM]

Roger Ebert's review is pretty funny.

I think he still tokes a little now and again t:

Haha. Wow. I've never read his review of Spawn. 3 1/2 stars... weird.

 

[the a1ant]

I remember liking the film for it's special effects (the cape was great), although the devil/hell scenes were pathetic. I can't remember if the story was good, but overall it seemed to be a pretty "meh" film. I might buy it just to see how it holds up these days. You can buy it for $3 on Half.com

 

[Kevin Roegele]

You can buy it for $3 on Half.com

Rip-off. I wouldn't take it unless I was paid to.

 

[nocomics]

the movie blew. Only real good thing was some of the special effects. The spawn suit was realy good. I really didn't care for micheal j. white as spawn or least they could of found a better voice to voice over his..

 

[Gilpesh]

I only liked it cause I was young and had no clue what the backstory of Spawn was.

But now that I am older... I don't like it and even haven't learned about Spawn.

 

[deathshead2]

I liked the Spawn movie. It was fun to watch. Oh and last summer I met the guy who worked on the sound effects for the movie. Neat guy.

 

[Superman]

I liked it. It wasn't great but it was kinda fun. John's "Clown" was the best part IMO.