The Spirit review

I’m not sure where or what Frank Miller was going for with this film. I think many will see this as a Sin City knockoff but I can only wish that was the case, because the film feels like a series of superhero Saturday Night Live skits strung together. I was hoping for a cool, pulp noir film, stylized, and hopefully, bringing this hero into our modern age. Remember the Shadow? I was hoping it was going to be like that only better, but The Spirit may not be a film we want to remember in 2008, the year of the superhero film.

I don’t really know where to begin with what’s wrong with the film. On paper, it might’ve sounded like it would work, but what we got is a mess. It’s like that teenager who means well, but for whatever reason his or hers room is just a mess. Miller is known for his writing skills; unfortunately he might’ve bitten off too much with writing and directing this movie.

I was expecting from the trailer, from the marketing campaign, to see a dark, crime noir superhero film and that’s what we should’ve got. I know nothing of the source material, apparently a great graphic novel from Will Eisner, but this could not be his vision. We get a ton of over-the-top comical scenes that are unfunny, and one with the Octopus as a samurai that stops the film dead. In fact, most of the comedy elements hurt the film, especially the dumb-as-a-nail henchmen the Octopus uses.

Next up is the ludicrous acting. Sam Jackson can ham it up and still be a riot to watch. I think his performance here really pushes it to irritating, although because only Sam Jackson can do this we buy it. He did need to turn it down a notch. Scarlett Johansson, Eva Mendes, and Gabriel Macht are okay but all of their characters are bland. It comes from, (gasp) the writing. Everything is painted in bug strokes, there’s no intimacy with these characters. We don’t know much about them and in return we don’t care. Essentially, noir characters are the typical dirty cop, femme fatale, and coil villain, but here they are just archetypes. They weren’t interesting one bit.

The film relies on its style and if the script was better, the style would’ve really added to the film. Yes, there are some breathe-taking shots, but what it all comes down to is style-over-substance, that old topic. Nothing ever really clicks as it is all patched up like a 100 minute version of a SNL skit with just the same over-acting, bold, silly dialogue as they do on that show to produce a laugh. The Spirit produces only a groan.

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