Spirit

I must say that I was somewhat excited when my friend told me she got us tickets to the premiere of "The Spirit", especially since I've never been to a real premiere. It was an entertaining experience, all except for when the film was rolling.

I liked Sin City a lot, and I thought 300 was intriguingly well made and quite entertaining. Let's just say that compared to 300, "The Spirit" entertains more like Howard the Duck. The entire film seems like a total farce, an unfortunate mockery of Miller's unique style himself. It has been a very long time since I've seen a film with such little (to no) heart, and hardly any soul. I must say that Sarah Paulson gave the greatest performance by far of anyone else, as the Spirit's unconventional doctor. She is the sole source of any feeling or depth in the film. Macht was also at his best in the lead role when sharing scenes with Paulson, otherwise, he barely filled the part. I don't know if that was his fault however, given that the character himself was depicted with very little depth overall. I never read the graphic novel, but I'm going to go ahead and guess that this doesn't do it justice. How can I say that? Because novels build key characters into "people" that you care about, whether you hate them or love them, the characters stimulate your mind on some level or another. This is far from the case in this film. There is very poor development of the characters, which the majority of potential watchers are unfamiliar with. Sam Jackson has unfortunately chosen another terrible role, as the non-intriguing villain, the Octopus. Jackson however does give us some of his crazy wild eyed antics that we've grown to accustomed to, although his character falls flat for the most part, especially considering his opposite on the screen, Scarlett Johansen. It almost seems as if Miller was asleep on the set when her scenes were shot. She's THAT bad in this film, with a deeply sub par android-like performance. Eva Mendes did what she could to somewhat save the film from being a complete and total joke, although it's pretty close to being just that. She plays the bling digging female lead opposite Macht. Now quite possibly the most annoying character(s) ever portrayed on film are the Octopus's cloned henchmen, which were frighteningly reminiscent in annoyance levels of.......... dare i say it... Jar Jar Binks. My four year old nephew would surely find some entertainment value there.

This film ultimately succumbs to its poor writing and direction, which are almost cleverly masked by the signature visual style of Miller, which is hypnotizing at times. Unfortunately, it's hardly hypnotizing enough to mask the true, soulless identity of "The Sprit".

• Crimsonica

I was very excited about The Spirit because I am a big fan of Sin City and was looking forward to see Frank Miller in action again. Also, the cast seemed to be a great lineup. However, it doesn't matter how good the actors are if the plot and script are lame, and I am here to tell you -- I don't even think the likes of Anthony Hopkins and Meryl Streep could have saved The Spirit for this reason.

I kept waiting for the story to intrigue me and for the characters to develop. I watched a couple of people walk out of the theater about an hour through... Finally, I checked the time (never a good sign when you're watching a movie), only to discover that the movie was nearly over, and there would be no chance for redemption.

Aesthetically, The Spirit was interesting, but I couldn't help feeling like I'd seen it all before. The cinematography and graphics were pretty much a carbon copy of Sin City. I expected to see similarity (Frank Miller's style is distinct, after all), but not identical visual imagery.

Bottom line, I rarely see movies in the theater because it's expensive! For three people, we spent over $50 in downtown Seattle for this experience, and it was so disappointing. I hate to waste that much money on such a poorly written, boring movie. My recommendation is to skip The Spirit altogether (really, the plot and script are that bad). But if you're really curious, save your money and rent it when it comes out on DVD.

"His soul stretched tight across the skies/ That fade behind a city block . . .' T. S. Eliot, Preludes

Because writer Frank Miller knows a bit about comic books, his solo directorial debut (He co-directed Sin City with Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino) is a feast of comic book campy dialog, outrageously curvaceous women, and a reborn hero, Spirit, whose abs compete very nicely, thank you, with those women's notable parts. It's all about the mythological struggle of good and evil with visual delights and a bunch of bright dialog.

Denny Colt (Gabriel Macht) is a former cop, recently dead, come back as Spirit, an avenger trolling the city for the very alive bad guys, especially Octopus (Samuel L. Jackson), who kills indiscriminately, especially those who dare to look at his face (As he hits Spirit over the head, he says, "Come on! Toilets are always funny!"). Mostly his plan to wipe out the city holds Spirit's attention.

Spirit's voice-over narration about the city may not be T. S. Eliot, but it has poetry about it as Spirit extols the city's feminine qualities that make it his girl. Well, that's a bit of a stretch because Spirit spends a good deal of time seducing most of the skirts he meets with a special eye for childhood sweetheart Sand Saref (Eva Mendes), now a notorious global jewel thief and implicated in murders in Spirit's own Central City:

The Spirit: "There probably isn't a law in the books that you wouldn't break." Sand Saref: "Do I look like a good girl?"

The comparisons with Sin City are inevitable but not difficult because Miller seems to be approaching Spirit as visually more stylized and plot less complicated. Even the narration and dialog are minimized and more exaggerated, but to good effect.

Spirit is one of the best movies of the year: an imaginative take on a comic book character that visually stuns and verbally amuses.

Can't ask for more than that this Oscar year.

wasn't quite sure what to expect from this one,, not being a real comic book fan I decided that I would give it a chance, second, I wasn't expecting Sin City, which by the looks of the boards most of you were. Samuel Jackson did a great job in this movie,, Gabriel Macht was wonderful as our hero, and Eva Mendez sexy as ever. our hero is in charge of doing good in the city and saving as many people as he can,, there are lot's of people who would rather not have him around Central City, especially the loathsome Octupus,, play by Samuel Jackson,, there are lot's of sexy women in the film,, good action, thrills, suspense , a lot of the good vs evil theme, I like the whole approach the movie took,, it takes you on a mythical journey to somewhere where you can only imagine,, a lot of people bash this movie because it's not like Sin City, well so what,, I didn't want it to be that movie,, this is a decent movie,, worth watching,, won't win any Oscars, but I really don't think that it was attempting to.

Scene: a foot with a face on it is merrily hopping around a countertop. Meanwhile a slutty nurse is talking about economic strategies of a criminal organization. Three identical idiots are watching on with titillation. The boss is hunched over the foot with great consternation, repeating "That's just damn weird."

WTF??

Who here grew up on comic books, raise your hands. The dork madly flailing in the back would be me. In order to appreciate this film it requires some familiarity with the comic book medium and its ability to take us into an utterly bizarre, senseless and oftimes brainless world. Situations are surreal. Dialogue is snippy, contrived and just a snicker away from utterly ludicrous. That's what comic books do, and this film is one of the most faithful adaptations I've seen.

Those who criticize this movie for "bad script", "bad acting", etc would have a point if we were talking about some snotty, pretentious too-cool-for-mainstream flick, but no, this is the opposite: pure fun. I mean, jeez, when the bad guy pauses in the middle of a tense battle to talk about eggs... or when he gets into a debate with one of his henchmen over the job's healthcare benefits, how can you NOT have fun?? Instead of expecting an action film, you should go into it expecting something more like "Airplane!" and I guarantee you'll have a great time & some big laughs. Like when one guy commits hara-kiri with a samurai sword and says "Am I doing this right? It sorta smarts." OMG LOL. And there's plenty more where that came from, but I won't spoil it.

Both Samuel L Jackson & Scarlett Johansson as his deadpan sidekick deliver top-notch comedic performances with pinpoint timing. Set against a wickedly incongruous backdrop of "film noir" where madcap comedy is definitely against the rules, "The Spirit" presents us with one of the greatest bipolar contrasts since "Catch-22" (the greatest deadpan action flick ever).

And just a word about contrast, I'm sure that's part of Frank Miller's intent, seeing how the film is full of biting visual contrasts. I won't even go into how masterfully he brought the comic book visuals to life; you just gotta see it.

If you like witty, tongue-in-cheek, dark comedies, then this is the film for you. A lot of action films are peppered with wit & humour, but this is one of the few that crosses into outright comedy, and it does a great job. If you like this film, keep an eye out for the Japanese flick "Cutie Honey", another great, artistic, campy romp which was misunderstood by audiences and overlooked.

If any of what I've said resonates with you, I strongly urge you to run down to your local Blockbuster where you can find this film in the $2 bargain bin, watch it & get in early on the cult following. It may be 10 years before people come to appreciate what Frank Miller did here, but you can say, "I told you so!"