Review of The Spirit (2008) by Rash H — 17 Aug 2010

You would never know at first glance that this film would be so terrible. It appears to be is beautifully shot and has to its advantage some top notch set design. On the down side you have so many distractions on the foreground you never really get to admire the backdrop of the city. "The Spirit" then is a rare fuck up, whose pitch perfect atmosphere is blocked out by countless mistakes created by the obtuse source material itself.

Frank Miller clearly has no idea what is expected of a filmmaker, despite a candid eye for comic book aesthetics. The actors in front of the green screens have no guide lines, unsure if they're supposed to be setting up a "Three Stooges" gag or offer the kind of slick noir feel we got from "Sin City", a masterpiece by all comparisons. In "The Spirit" nothing really fits together.

Samuel Jackson comes off as a cartoon character, yelling incoherent one liners that you would be ashamed to repeat in public ("Toilets are always funny!"). Mendes is fitting eye candy but completely unlikeable. The protagonist is a clear cut Dick Tracy rip off with special effects keeping his tie in the wind and his fedora tilted in cool, shaded slants.

The actor playing the Spirit looks like a dumbfounded Robert Lowe and that's a hard gig to play.

The film does offer some really random mise en scene, from an inexplicable karate segment to a Nazi flag waving belly dance sequence that has little explanation for its inclusion. I'm not familiar with the source material but I have no desire to look for reissues after this crap fest.

In the end, the film is all over the place. The acting is just awful. The dialogue provides less than amusing one liners, one after the other. Actors who have no idea where the fuck they are most of the time or what is supposed to be hapenning around them.

"The Spirit" is to "Sin City" what "Cool World was to Who Framed Roger Rabbit?". It deliberately attempts the same tone but ultimately is just a cheap immitation. Frank Miller should be more careful with the narratives he puts together, learn how to edit a scene to give it some sense of gravity. The man rebooted Batman for christ sakes in the comic world, he should be able to handle a single detective story...

...or maybe it's unfilmable. The Octopus is simply not a character you should mention in the 21st century, it's dated and silly.

In the mean time, watch "Dick Tracy".