My City Sleeps
This makes Superman Returns look like Citizen Kane!
I went to go see the Spirit on Christmas day. I was in a rather cheerful mood, because not only was it Christmas, but I got to spend the day at my leisure as I finally got the day off. My cheerfulness ended there, however. Cheer was replaced with anger as I exited the theatre disappointed and outraged. Yes, I will repeat genuine outrage. Frank Miller can hold his own in the comics industry, and Eisner as we all know is a legend and has created a remarkable character in the Spirit, so what happened? From the beginning the movie did not even attempt to acknowledge the audience. No effort was made to establish any sort of plot. The visuals, while interesting did nothing to revive the lackluster story. No wait– there was no story. The origin story of Denny Colt becoming the Spirit was the only saving grace, but therein lies the problem, there was not anything to get me involved in the film. And don’t get me started on the appeal to the highbrow class of movie-goer, who would attempt to draw meaning on the various imagery throughout the film. If someone was deciphered the meaning behind the ethos, pathos, logos clones, or the significance of the blood of Heracles, please…get back to me because I don’t get it. I don’t think I want to. This film could have been legendary like its creator, but as the director has said, he did not make this film for the fans. If Miller had focused on the fans, we might have had a fitting tribute to a man who devoted most of his life to this industry, instead of an over-the-top, look-at-me ego trip which is nothing more than a waste of film. I give this flick a two out of ten. The actor playing the Spirit was good in a few scenes, but that’s about it. For more reviews of (hopefully) better movies check out http://www.moviereviewreport.com/
January 7th, 2009 at 5:29 pm
Some tidbits about my experience: about 8 people walked out, some sarcastic clapping at the end, followed by laughter. Miller is a comic genius, but this was clearly not his medium. I don’t see how anyone would be interested in a Spirit comic book after seeing this movie. 2 out of 10 is being nice. Oh, and go to Wikipedia and look up Buck Rogers. This is straight from the article- “Frank Miller has been slated to write and direct a new motion picture with OddLot Entertainment, the production company which worked with Miller on The Spirit.” Better get a petition started now.