I take all the AICN reviews with a grain of salt but the trailers for this Frank Miller-directed, pretentious looking comic book CGI fest (a la SIN CITY) look godawful to the point where I believe these comments.

The early word is beyond bad...

http://www.aintitcool.com/node/39470

THE SPIRIT is the ONLY comic book I would seriously consider picking up if I saw a treasury or boxed set collection, and I just knew Miller would screw it up. It is SO cinematic, SO perfect for movies, and I think I actually believed for a minute Miller wouldn't try to turn it into SIN CITY 2.

The TONE is SO important to an adaptation of THE SPIRIT. In one issue of the Kitchen Sink releases, for example, you'd have something whimsical, something as hard-edged as Eisner's A CONTRACT WITH GOD, an Ebony story...the variety was such a major part of this. It's not like comics (and TV shows) that are serious and have a "lighter" episode now and then, this thing was always a surprise because the mood was ALWAYS changing, and yet it held together as this unique crime fighter in a film noir world.

Damn, this material is perfect for the movies. I don't think I will see it in the theater even out of curiosity--the comics are so specific that only Eisner could have done an adequate translation to film.

Eva Mendes + Scarlett Johansson = I will see this eventually.

Monterey Jack wrote:Eva Mendes + Scarlett Johansson = I will see this eventually.

Same here. But it does not look good, admittedly.

In all the hoopla about Frank Miller and 300 and SIN CITY people forget he also co-wrote both ROBOCOP 2 and 3.

It seems like something of THE SHADOW clone (the radio show)- that's just what I get from the trailer. Anyway, I know they are very popular but graphic novels never appealed to me, so none of the graphic novel films appealed to me either. I don't know if I'm missing out or not.

THE SPIRIT isn't a graphic novel. It's what was quaintly called in less-pretentious days a "comic strip".

JSWalsh wrote:THE SPIRIT isn't a graphic novel. It's what was quaintly called in less-pretentious days a "comic strip".

Ah- my misunderstanding. Thanks for clearing that up!

My goodness what a disaster, on every conceivable level. Whatever did work on 300 and SIN CITY had to have been the result of Rodriguez and Snyder, respectively -- the film is grotesque, badly choreographed, poorly written and indifferently performed.

Outside of a few effective David Newman cues, this one may be worse than its bad reception indicated.

Wow, a movie that makes Superman IV: The Quest For Peace look like Superman.

Poor Edgar.

EDIT: on the bright side, no Media Ventures involvment, although David Newman's servicable score isn't up to his lively work on The Phantom.

I struggled with writing something about Newman's score and ultimately chose not to. A very uneven work, it had a few nice passages but loads of really poor, ineffective cues at the same time (that harmonica had to go, lol). Not sure if it was Miller's problem or what not, but it was definitely a disappointment.

And yes, SUPERMAN IV is a better movie. I actually stand behind that.

All this disaster talk makes me realize I have to watch this thing now. I have a sick fondness for movies gone wrong.

AndyDursin wrote:
And yes, SUPERMAN IV is a better movie. I actually stand behind that.

That level of suckitude is pretty much unfathomable to me. In any event, thanks for the warning.

Castile wrote:All this disaster talk makes me realize I have to watch this thing now. I have a sick fondness for movies gone wrong.

So do I, but not this one. THE HAPPENING is the kind of bad movie that boasts a clip reel full of embarrassing, unintentionally funny moments. THE SPIRIT is so depressing, so mind-numbingly awful -- the kind of thing that isn't "so bad it's good," it's just plain rotten.

But it's what happens when you give a guy like Frank Miller total creative control. I'm guessing it'll be the last time it'll happen (God forbid they let him make BUCK ROGERS -- this movie ought to be all the ammunition they need to pull the plug on that idea!).

That level of suckitude is pretty much unfathomable to me. In any event, thanks for the warning.

Don't get me wrong -- IV is terrible, but at least I never felt the urge to shut it off. And it wasn't depressing. It was just inept (and enjoyably so, some of the scenes and FX are so embarrassing I have to confess I find it to be a quite watchable mess).

What really bothered me about THE SPIRIT was the tone. One minute Miller attempts some pseudo-'40s "amusing comedic banter," the next he has Samuel L. Jackson take The Spirit's cat companion and mutilate it, leaving its eyeballs in the sink.

If this is Miller's idea of funny, it's pretty sad. As it is, I would never read trust another person, ever, who actually recommends it to anyone.