The Spirit Movie Blurb by Shale January 1, 2009 Well, I finally got around to watching the last of the movies on my to-see list for this holiday. I love to see the artwork from comix put on screen, the richness and excess that can be accomplished as if some artist were making each overdrawn panel. I loved Frank Miller's 300 and Sin City for that reason, the visuals were right out of an artist's mind and off the newsprint. I should have liked this movie for the same reason, but didn't really care that much for it. The comic book artwork was there on screen in full motion and beautifully done. My City Screams But, somehow I could not connect with the corny dialogue from the gritty, dark inner city detective fare of the 1950s. The clichéd attraction of every woman to The Spirit (Gabriel Macht) wears thinner than a '60s James Bond movie. Somehow I could not get into this period piece and to me the artwork was all there was to it. The Spirit For those who don't know the story, Denny Colt as a teen had a girlfriend, Sand Saref whose father is killed. She goes all material and splits up with the too-good Denny and leaves Central City to find wealth and jewelry by unscrupulous means. Denny becomes a cop, gets killed and somehow cheats death by coming back as The Spirit (all explained in flashback in due time) and Sand Saref (Eva Mendez) returns to the city. Sand Saref Spirit has a nemesis, Octopus (Samuel L. Jackson) who runs the crime scene (of course) and has an accomplice, Silken Floss (Scarlett Johansson). The cops can't handle Octopus who seems as indestructible as Spirit as seen in a fight scene between the two. However, even with the unreal pounding that comic book characters take in those fight panels; this just seemed too over the top to be enjoyable. That and all the women swooning over Spirit, which he plays right into it. His doctor friend, Ellen Dolan (Sarah Paulson) is obviously in love with him but turn her back and some other woman is at his lips. There is his old flame and bad girl Sand Saref and a mysterious death-entity, Lorelei (Jaime King). Even a rookie female cop, Morgenstern (Stana Katic) has eyes for him. Again, I should have liked this movie. It was visually stunning and I even liked the way they merged the 1950's style with modern devices such as cell phones and computers. Spirit even wears a coat and red tie and his '50s style hat but with conspicuous sneakers. Those touches I really liked. Wish I could have enjoyed the movie more.
One of the worst movies I've ever seen in my entire life. This movie was made simply for profit and nothing else... and I'm sure it succeeded. The acting is atrocious, the dialogue is embarrassing and at no point do you care about anything that has anything to do with what's going on this movie.
IDK, I just watched a DVD of House of Wax (2005). Got it for $3 so at least I didn't waste money at the movie - and I did have fast forward to skim thru it. Don't know if I could call The Spirit "worst" by comparrison.
I would've saw this opening day had it not been released on Christmas...I plan on catching it on DVD, and I think it looks pretty good.
