Review of The Spirit (1987) by Colin A — 15 Feb 2010

Good movie. I think it has gotten a bad rap because a lot of people went in expecting something along the lines of "Sin City" only to be greeted by a parody of film noir-style narration and campy comic books from the 1950s.

The thing is, however, is that what you do get is not that bad. Through a combination of silliness and dark humor, it usually manages to create pretty entertaining situations. The best person in the whole movie is Samuel L.

Jackson; many of the scenes that that feature his character, the Octopus, are so random (or as he would say "damn weird") that you cannot help but laugh at the absurdity of it all. The biggest flaw that the movie has is that it tries to be both campy and serious at the same time.

This has been the death kneel for many films of this sort (most infamously "Batman and Robin"), but it still manages to walk the fine line, even though it trips along the way. There are also a couple of scenes that are drawn out and should have either been neaten up or cut out altogether, particularly during the last thirty minutes or so.

Still, while it is not on the same level as "Sin City" (or really on the same field for that matter), it is good for a fair number of laughs. I recommend it.