Review of Spawn (1997) by James R — 08 Jul 2011

Al Simmons (Michael Jai White) is an assassin who gets betrayed and murdered by evil government head Jason Wynn (Martin Sheen). Sent to Hell, Simmons is offered a deal by Malebolgia (The Devil). If Simmons becomes his eternal servant and leader of his army in Armageddon, he will be able to return to Earth to see his wife, Wanda. Simmons accepts the offer and is returned to Earth. He awakes, scarred from his death, to find 5 years has passed since his death, and Wanda is married to Al's best friend, Terry, with a daughter. Meanwhile, Jason Wynn has plans to unleash the ultimate bio-weapon.

Michael Jai White acts well and convinces as the leading man. His burnt man make-up, however, just looks silly to take it seriously. Michael Sheen is a tremendous actor, but he really overacts here, while Melinda Clarke's acting makes me think she's just going through the motions, like she doesn't even want to be in this film in the first place.

I feel that John Leguizamo pulls out the best performance of the film, as the psychotic Violator, a demon who takes the appearance of an overweight clown who's mission is to guide Spawn onto the path of evil, so that he can be ready to lead Malebolgia's army. Leguizamo really embodies the character well, managing to give off a few funny quips along the way. Don't expect a psychotic clown of Heath Ledger stylings, this clown's played more for comedic merit, which gets old as the film runs into it's climax. The Violator can also shift from being funny to being annoying as the film runs, especially when he lets out a fart joke or two.

After watching this film, I have come to the conclusion that the films budget all went towards Spawn and The Violators costumes, whilst doing a cheap rush job on everything else. Spawns costume looks cool and quite faithful to the comics, yet it somehow manages to be unconvincing. The Violator has the best appearance in all of the film, with both of his looks being faithful to the comics and managing to look really good. As for the rest of the effects? Well, let's start with Spawn's cape. It's an important piece of the costume, and yet it's not there for 3/4 of the film, it's like taking away Batmans or Supermans cape. But when the cape is on-screen, it's too big and it's glaringly obvious that it's computer generated. Hell is truly designed terribly, i've seen better designed hells in video games from the nineties, and Malebolgia, that's where they fall flat on their face. He's meant to be intimidating and magnificent looking, and yet he looks like an oversized CG muppet, completely unintimidating and overall crappy.

The fights in this film are alright, but you wish they could've spent more time making the fights better. The dialogue is basic. The film tries to be dark like in the comics, but ultimatley comes off as more campy. Let me give you an example, Priest goes to kick Spawn in the nuts, when his belt buckle comes out and bites her foot. Yeah, that really happened. The films got quite a cool soundtrack though, but it feels like more of an example of how they're trying to convince you the films dark. Also, here's a nitpick: why did it take Jason Wynn 5 years to enact his plan?

My main problem with this film is that it's a PG-13 movie. The comic is truly bloody and violent, so the decision to turn the film into something for the young-uns boggles the mind. I mean, the animated series got away with blood, sex and gore, which none of those are present in this film.

Spawn is let down by the bad effects, generic villian, attempts to be dark and it's PG-13 rating, but has a strong main character, a brilliant turn from John Leguizamo, a cool soundtrack, a number of fun moments and great comedy moments (mostly from Leguizamo). If ever there was a character who deserved a dark and gritty reboot, it's Spawn.

If you want to get into the character, however, i'd strongly recommend the half-hour HBO animated series, which won an emmy for outstanding animated program. It's everything this film should've been.