The Spirit (DVD)

The Spirit is the latest movie movie to utilize the widely popular CGI backdrops made famous in films like Sin City and 300.  These two movies have one common thread, that is they are based on the graphic novels of Frank Miller.  The Spirit, however, is Miller’s take on the work of comic writer-artist Will Eisner.  It also marks Miller’s first solo foray into the world of directing. In Sin City, he co-directed with Robert Rodriguez. 300, while based on Miller’s original work, was directed by Watchmen visionary Zack Snyder.  How did Miller fare in his solo directorial debut?  Read on..

Let me start off by saying that despite the many visual similarities between the two movies, The Spirit is NOT Sin City 2. In fact, other than Miller having worked on both films, the two really have nothing in common other than a slightly similar visual style.  The Spirit is the story of a mysterious masked crime fighter of the same name (Gabriel Macht) with  amazing regenerative and healing abilities. He is pitted against his arch nemesis The Octopus (Samuel L. Jackson), as the two race to recover a missing package whose contents have the potential to doom the entire city. There are a few more details thrown in there, but that is pretty much the entire story.

I don’t have much experience with the source material other than reading a few issues, but let me just say that the movie version is definitely Miller’s interpretation of the Spirit mythos. While it isn’t exactly a bad interpretation, he takes a great deal of liberties with a lot of the characters, from their origins to their actual characteristics. This is actually quite forgivable, as Miller’s version seems more tailored for the big screen.  The problems arise in Miller’s overall presentation.

The Spirit as a movie, seems disjointed, clunky, and at times very difficult to watch. A majority of the dialogue seems forced and contrived. While I understand it is a comic book movie, it is hard to imagine people talking the way they do in this flick. The film also suffers from a bit of an identity crisis.  It wants to be gritty and violent one minute, the next it becomes cartoonish with action sequences that would make Wile E. Coyote and the Roadrunner proud.  Not to mention the mysterious time period in which it all takes place. The comics had a 30’s detective noir vibe to them. This is carried over in the film in terms of the dialogue and the costumes, yet all of a sudden this continuity is disrupted when one of the characters breaks out the latest Verizon camera phone or initiates an online bank transfer.  While it is never clearly stated what era this all takes place in, it is a bit distracting to see text messages while talking about “dames” and “chasing skirts”.

The cast is a bit of a mixed bag. Gabriel Macht, as the Spirit, does a decent job given the shoddy dialogue he has to work with. He embodies the good clean cut wholesome hero type perfectly. Eva Mendes, as The Spirit’s childhood love interest turned foe, Sand Seraph, looks hotter than ever, until she speaks. This is a shame since she is a great actress, but she really seems uninspired by her dialogue to the point that her delivery just seems flat. Scarlett Johansson is pretty good as The Octopus’ sidekick, Silken Floss.  Again her dialogue isn’t all that great, but she adds just enough attitude and sarcasm to her character that it manages to come off pretty good.

This brings us to the biggest, baddest, name of the cast Mr. Samuel L. Jackson as The Octopus. In the comics, the character of The Octopus is a master of disguise, able to assume the identity and persona of nearly anyone. This device is cheapened a bit in the film and simply becomes a vehicle to allow Jackson to dress up in a wide variety of absurd costume choices, from a rice patty farmer to a Nazi military officer.  Despite the numerous costume changes, he is essentially still Samuel L. Jackson. He plays The Octopus in typical Samuel L. over the top fashion. You never quite get the impression that the Octopus is an insane villain as much as he is an angry, loud, boisterous one. While Jackson’s raised voice and bulging eye acting style is excellent in most movies, it just seems a bit out of place in this one. We have seen him far more menacing and crazy in many of his other films. It’s a shame that we don’t see much of that here, in a role in which he is given free reign to just go wild in.  Don’t get me wrong, he was pretty crazy, but for an actor who is known for being over the top I really expected him to let it all loose here.

All of these problems seem minor by themselves, but as a whole they really detract from the entire experience. With Sin City, Miller had Robert Rodriguez’s expertise and knack for pacing to help things along. This movie really highlights the lack of input provided by Rodriguez. Don’t get me wrong, The Spirit is one of the most visually impressive movies in a long time. Miller definitely has an eye for presenting and framing his scenes. There are specific visual images that will remain in my consciousness forever from this movie. However, the product as a whole lacks the glue that binds and holds most good movies together. I have heard comments that, as a result of this movie Frank Miller will never be allowed to direct another movie on his own again. I don’t think the movie is that bad, however with all the resources devoted to making this film and the potential it had, I expected a lot more. This movie is worth a rental for some cool eye candy and amazing visuals, however don’t expect too much beyond that.