I think this may be the only favorable review anyone will be giving The Spirit, but that’s the way I’ve always been, the outsider looking in. I can kind of understand some of the criticism reviewers have had, but as I said in my previous post, Miller is an acquired taste and his comic books aren’t the traditional hero vs bad guy formula that you would find in Iron Man or The Dark Knight. His is a very stylized world where the visuals out weighs the characters or story. And that is certainly true for The Spirit.
The plot, such as it is involves a cop who died and came back to life and now fights crime as a masked vigilante. His main foe is a criminal mastermind called The Octopus who seems to hold the answer for why The Spirit can’t die and is apparently after a mythical substance that will further his criminal schemes. Also thrown into the mix is the hero’s childhood sweetheart, now a master thief, who has returned to town in search of an ancient mythical artifact.
On this bare bones plot Miller throws around enough eye popping CGI visuals to cause the makers of Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, as well as 300, to gnash their teeth in envious frustration. What makes the visuals stand out is his use of color. Unlike Sin City, where everything was black and white with occasional flashes of color for effect, here the movie is in color, with occasional splashes of bright colors used throughout to mirror the characters’ emotions.
There are also some great images used. The fight between The Spirit and The Octopus in a mud hole early in the film is one of the best comic book style battles ever put on screen with the comabatants hitting each other with over sized wrenches and steel girders. A highlight being when The Octopus slams a toilet on The Spirit’s head and he ends up having his arms pinned by the seat. As The Octopus says, “Everyone knows that toilets are funny.” Even better is a typical Miller scene where the hero is hanging off a building, suspended by the tail of his coat, which is ripping loose. Down below a gathered crowd is yelling for him to jump. He tries to reach a nearby statue but is too far away, so he uses his belt to lasso it, which causes his pants to fall down, just as a glass elevator full of women stop so they can watch. It is funny and suspenseful, and a humiliation Spider-Man never had to contend with.
The acting is all pretty good. Gabriel Macht gives a good performance as the driven, confused, and extremely oversexed hero. Samuel L. Jackson is his usual scenery chewing self.
Dan Luria is perfect as the grumbling Commissioner Dolan. Sarah Paulson does a good job of showing her frustration with The Spirit’s constant philandering contrasted with her love for the man. Eva Mendes is all elegance and sex while showing her conflict between greed and her deeply buried feelings for the hero. Scarlett Johanson as The Octopus’ chief assistant is all sarcastic comments and a contemptuous glares at the people she has to deal with. Interestingly, she and Jackson come off more like a middle aged married couple than a pair of master criminals in most of their scenes at their underground lair.
But the film is stolen by Louis Lombardi’s brain dead henchman clones. All dead behind the eyes goons who stand around smiling idiotically, offering unhelpful suggestions and constantly ending every sentence with the assurance that “We was watching!” Lombardi offers great comedy relief to a very dark film. He supples a slapstick spin on a lot of the black humor that runs through out. When ordered to commit Hari Kari he does so with a big grin on his face and uttering comments like, “Ooh that’ll wake you up in the morning!” and “Am I doing this right? It kind of smarts!”
Comic book fans who admire Eisner’s work on the original comic book won’t care for this film, nor will the casual superhero fan. This film was made by Frank Miller for Frank Miller fans and if you don’t fit into that category, then this is not the film for you.
