Frank Miller's "The Spirit" Reviewed (Possible Spoilers)

[DarKush]

I saw this today. Not as bad as I thought it would it be. Frank Miller definitely takes the Sin City style for the film, but he tells a fairly straightforward story, not fragmented like Sin City.

The cast wasn't bad. Samuel L. Jackson was completely over the top and loving it, but I think he conveyed a greater sense of menace than Jigsaw-who played his character much straighter in the last comic book movie I saw.

Scarlett Johansen really didn't serve any purpose rather than to look good, and to throw out the occassional one-liner. It reminded me of the Batman cartoon from the 60's, with her and the Octopus's other henchmen (All played by Edgar from 24).

The guy playing the Spirit did a pretty good job, and Eva Mendes never looked hotter. There was a lot of overacting, and bad dialogue in this film, but I'm assuming a lot of that was on purpose.

It's a wierd, loopy film. Definitely didn't take itself as seriously as any of the other comic book films that came out this year.

 

[Shuley]

The acting and dialogue was fine,problem was there is no real concept of a plot,and just fell flat on it's face.Nice film to look at but that's about it.

 

[Tron Bonne]

I was very half-and-half with the whole movie. I enjoyed it and all, but I felt there was just way too much in the plot and I don't think it all meshed.

The visuals where great and the women where quite hot. No. Way hot. Maybe even, dare I say, too hot.

Overall, I can see this as something I'll revisit but I think it's more because I feel very polarized by it as opposed to me really liking it. Doubt I'll buy it, but I may rent it or something when it hits DVD/Blu and see what I think after that.

I would recommend a watch of it, but just don't coming in expecting...anything. I mean, really, some of the stuff in there was absolutely out of nowhere I think

 

[Midnyte_Sun]

I sat through 1 hour of the movie and walked out with my friend..went to customer service center, got our money back and saw another movie.

This movie was just horrible. Crappy dialogue coupled with annoying characters makes for a very dull movie experience.

I'm not sure what I was expecting from this movie, but this definitely wasn't it.

 

[Bat Attack]

It reminded me of Warren Beatty's Dick Tracy film if anything. The story was all over the place and went NOWHERE.

 

[bullets]

There were only a handful of scenes that i enjoyed . Mainly the childhood flashback and the confrontation with Mendes where it showed her amazing bum . I did get some of the jokes but the tone of the film was awkward . It would be a parody one minute and then attempt to take itself seriously. It didn't fit and for some reason I felt bored even during the action . I wouldn't fault the cast because they tried to work with it . However the dialogue seemed out of place between Octopus and Spirit as if they were from different time periods.
I think The Spirit will become accepted for what it is . It's not a horrible movie becuase there are things you could find to like about it but it's definately not a solid film.

 

[Red Mask]

I finally saw it on cable. It's among the worst comicbook films I've ever watched. (Right along with Elektra.) The dialogue was not cool, and the special effects were ridiculous.

2/5

 

[Kevin Roegele]

In ten years, people will look back on The Spirit and realise it only got made because comic book flicks were so popular at the time.

I kinda like it. It's not a good movie, but it is an intresting and unique experiment.

 

[S.A.A.D.]

I still think it's pretty good,but do think,that the direction is weird. I mean I don't know what to think of it.

 

[Brother Jack]

It was horrible. I have no clue what Miller was thinking, but then I've felt that way about the man for a while now.

 

[Octoberist]

I kinda question SAAD's taste in movies

 

[rogue trooper]

It is a film "strictly" for comic fans, imo. There is no middle ground with this movie; you either like it or you don't. I look at the film as Frank Miller's very own personal take on The Spirit. If you look at it from that perspective, the film can work. An "Elseworld" Spirit story, if you will.

We'll just have to wait and see how time will treat this film in terms of creating a cult following. Right now it's very early for that to happen.

 

[Kevin Roegele]

The Spirit is a very funny joke on film studio producers who throw money at whatever is popular (Frank Miller, comicbook flicks, Sin City) without realising what the end result will actually be.

 

[CrimsonMist]

It is a film "strictly" for comic fans, imo. There is no middle ground with this movie; you either like it or you don't. I look at the film as Frank Miller's very own personal take on The Spirit. If you look at it from that perspective, the film can work. An "Elseworld" Spirit story, if you will.

We'll just have to wait and see how time will treat this film in terms of creating a cult following. Right now it's very early for that to happen.

Disagreed. The film, regardless of what it is, comic film or not, is just a terribly made film with horrid acting and a terrible script. It's a 103 minute movie that could be condensed into 20, and nothing would be lost. It's just a bad example of film making in general.

 

[rogue trooper]

Fair enough. To each his own.

 

[C. Lee]

This movie was so bad and wrong it almost made me cry.....I can accept and enjoy a movie being bad when it is low budget, fan made, made before modern technology and values and the like....but a big budget good actor laden modern movie made as bad as this one is just heartbreaking.

 

[Wesley Dodds]

Worst comic book flick ever made.

And that's all I have to say about that.

 

[Octoberist]

it works 'okay' as an Elsewhere comic but I've always thought that a comic movie adaptation's job to be

a.) Entertaining (obviously)

b.) Gateway for new fans who may purchase books

With b.) the movie represents the comic to the mainstream. While it may differ somewhat due to the nature of being on a different medium, the spirit and integrity should be intact.

I think Iron Man did it, along with both Burton and Nolan's Batman films. X2 did it.

Frank Miller's The Spirit, X3, Wolverine, and Fantastic Four did not. The Spirit is very misleading. Now if The Spirit by Miller was just a graphic novel, that's fine. But since this is the first (and only) interpretation of the character on the big screen, he failed. Badly.

 

[NinjaTurtleFan]

"DICK TRACY" > "The Spirit"

Seriously, this movie is soooo unwatchable. A literal suckfest. "Super Mario Bros." is more watchable than this and that's not a great movie either. Everything is all over the place, Sam Jackson's Octopus is weird, ScarJo and Eva Mendes and all the other girls are just there to be backdrop eye-candy, and the plot is stupid.

 

[Octoberist]

dick tracy is underrated

 

[OctaviusINC]

I love the Dick Tracy movie. I'd like it even more if it was 15 minutes shorter. It drags a bit. But still good stuff.

But The Spirit drags a WHOLE lot more. I love The Spirit. He's one of my favorite characters. I've read a lot of Eisner's stuff, all of Darwyn Cooke's stuff, and most of the new series. The movie rarely captured the "true" spirit of the character awesome. It wasn't as bad as I thought, but if it would've been done right, I guarantee Spirit would be as big as Iron Man or Hulk. I'm still pissed at the fact that Pixar was originally supposed to make an animated Spirit movie 10 odd years ago. Now THAT would've been awesome.

 

[Gunga Diner]

I feel like the film is an incredibly awkward mix of attempts to stay true to the attitude and parameters of the comic and active attempts to piss on Eisner's grave. What's frustrating is when you see brief glimpses of potential. Gabriel Macht is clearly a talented actor, David Newman's score almost makes it feel like a movie, and god knows the source material gives you a lot of possibilities. But Frank Miller doesn't know the first thing about how to make a movie. It feels like a really awkward fanfilm directed by a director who had no clue how to stage actors, edit, shoot a scene, or make a compelling image.
And the CGI is so ****ing excessive that the whole movie feels lifeless and ugly. Maybe the movie would've had a chance in hell if the script had been given to another director who could A, take liberties with the script (and make it more true to the comics) or B, make a movie. There are moments in the movie where I couldn't believe that nobody stepped in to say "Frank, this will not make for an interesting or entertaining scene"

It's almost poetic. The comic took a frowned-upon art medium used for cartoons and added a distinct feel of grit, humanity, and reality. The movie took a respected medium and took reality and made it feel like a cartoon.

 

[OctaviusINC]

Gunga Diner, you speak the truth sir.

It's like you scooped out my opinion of the film straight from my head and threw it on this forum. My thoughts exactly.

 

[ico]

I quite enjoyed it. But then I was expecting it to be complete turd, and so didn't really have any room to be dissapointed.

It did have a few select moments of decency, and I actually enjoyed the excessive CGI. It gave the whole film an almost "moving-comic", fantasy world feel. In general though, the film did just feel... strange in parts. The opening in particular, with the dragged on fight between Spirit and Octopus. Seeing as I didn't know anything about the Spirith mythos, during the entire fight I was just thinking "... what is this?"

ScarJo was hot though.

 

[ChickenScratch]

I'm a huge junkie for Digital Backlot or Green Screen Movies or whatever term you wish to use for them. It's a technique that really lends itself to world-building and even though the movie was for the most part disappointing, I still enjoyed it as an excersize in the technique.