Fernando Schiavi
Great master of comics and after co-direct "Sin City Sin City (2005)" alongside Robert Rodriguez, Frank Miller, that one day has written Robocop 2 (1990) and Robocop 3 (1993), returns to his first toward the ground, this time adapting a story published in the newspaper, written by Will Eisner.In Central City, the rookie cop Denny Colt is murdered but returns from the dead as the detective known only as The Spirit. His biggest rival is the villain known as Octopus. Another known is the femme fatale Sand Saref, discovering two Bauss in a lake nearby. She tries to get away with this charge but Octopus of the strings that can be united and with one of the boxes with Saref taking the second can.The plot, bordering on the absurd, revolves around two chests containing the greatest treasures of the Argonauts (yes, Greek mythology), the blood of Herakles demigod and the Golden Fleece. The first is coveted by Octopus for it to become an immortal god and can dominate the world and since he and Spirit had the same serum injected into the body, Spirit would have to be killed so that no longer existed no one could compete with Octopus in order to rule the world. On the other hand, we have the obsession of international jewel thief Sand Saref, Spirit of youth ex-girlfriend when he was still known as Denny Colt, before being pronounced dead in his life as a police officer. The plot will develop until all the characters have their crossed destinations - as mandated by the predictable formula followed to the letter the script.Miller brings many of the features of his earlier work, Sin City, and bumps into old mistakes. On the one hand, Miller maintains almost monochrome photography, giving a visual noir production, highlighting the colors only at key moments or emphasizing only the red color in certain action scenes, the film piece in your script that seeks to provide a climate darker and more threatening all the time, but is lost at times when forcibly try to insert comedy (there is a bad extreme joke and not as black humor serves to wear the villain and his helper Nazis during a scene of human experience and torture with Spirit - something dispensable), failing to try to generate an escape to the viewer, and well know by the audience and catchphrases. That is, as a talented designer and knows exactly what to do. Miller, next to the director of photography Bill Pope, know to create a striking visual, looking like it had been designed by the artist frame by frame, but looks are not everything. Unlike Sin City, which had a more serious and dark narrative, here the script is very caricature and does not maintain the pace, alternating visual moments and interesting action with scenes that generate pure boredom.There is no shortage in this adaptation are useless discussions between the hero and the Dolan Police Commissioner (Dan Lauria) - which is angry with the way Spirit leaves the police out of the actions and the concern of his involvement with his daughter Ellen ( Sarah Paulson) - theoretically comic scenes between Octopus and his cloned henchmen (all experienced by Louis Lombardi) in opposite caricatured seriousness of his Silken assistant Floss moreover, these scenes seem more have come out of a Looney design Tunes than a Machiavellian villain who intends to be threatening. We also see Spirit seducing any woman who appears on the scene to demonstrate the seductive aspect of the character.The cast is indeed a serious problem, the result of an inexperienced director on the scene. Each character has different characteristics and end up clashing in whole. Gabriel Match that does not compromise as Spirit, who seduces not only women but the general public. On the other hand, Samuel L. Jackson gives himself totally to exaggeration, putting this Octopus, which in comics is a menacing and mysterious villain, as a caricature character who seems to have stepped out of a cartoon. In turn, the veteran Dan Lauria, the eternal father of Kevin's "Wonder Years" goes almost hit the scene. Eva Mendes (beautiful and sexy) plays the mysterious Sand Saref, which was the best developed female character, making us doubt his moral at all times. The other characters are shallow, poorly developed and a waste. Scarlett Johansson as the villain assistant Silken Floss, Stana Katic as police newcomer Morgenstern, Paz Vega as the insane killer Plaster of Paris, Jaime King as Lorelei, the angel of death, and Sarah Paulson as Dr. Ellen Dolan, the "true love" hero. If characters are under-utilized, the female cast is filling male eyes, no doubt.The soundtrack of David Newman, composer of "The Flintstones: The Movie (1994)" and "Ice Age (2002)," is one of the things that stand out in the technical aspect. Newman knows measure a more mysterious and gloomy soundtrack with the action scenes. Gregory Nussbaum's edition is problematic in some respects. The film lacks pace, and it is also helped by the script in some extremely descriptive times and breaking the rhythm of the action on the screen.One of the most visible aspects is the lack of rhythm and attractive scenes that show the hero skills and something threatening in his villain. The action does not correspond and the end is fast, poorly developed and still leaves loose ends for a possible continuation. Frank Miller, unfortunately, delivers an extremely irregular work. If the technical aspects until everything works, it leaves much to be desired in the narrative aspect and in its cast. THe Spirit is certainly an interesting work on the graphic novel and deserves another chance in the big screen.
Eddie Cantillo
The Spirit(2008) Starring: Gabriel Macht, Scarlett Johansson, Samuel L. Jackson, Eva Mendes, Paz Vega, Jaime King, Dan Lauria, Sarah Paulson, Stana Katic, Frank Miller, and Eric Balfour Directed By: Frank Miller Review I'm gonna kill you all kinds of dead. This is not just the worst comic book movie ever made.This is one of the worst films I have ever seen.The Syle was very unnecessary it does nothing to service the characters, nothing to service the plot, service the story, it does nothing but be a distraction from the fact that the film has nothing to offer. That's all it does and it pisses me off because of all the great things I hear about Sin City(2005). Heck this style could easily work for a freaking Batman movie. But for this it did nothing except made a mockery of how ingenious that style was on film. Frank Miller just looked a t Robert Rodriguez and smacked him in the face with his penis. The writing is so terrible and it was said in a review that Frank Miller can not write women unless their freaking whores, and its so freaking true. Unless their dressed in like a slutty fashion or being sluts their is nothing their. Because every damn women in this movie is made to be eye candy. Even Eva Mendes who they try to pas off as a bad ass assassin and they use her for eye candy every two seconds. And I can't take it seriously. The acting in the movie is beyond, beyond,beyond atrocious and Samuel L. Jackson Oh my God. Sam Jackson is so terrible in this I mean his delivery for his shitty dialogue is atrocious. You want to know how lame the action scenes are in this movie. You ever heard the phrase they threw everything but the kitchen sink, Samuel L. Jackson throws a freaking kitchen sink at The Spirit in this movie. He throws a kitchen sink. Frank Miller a man who has given me my favorite version of Daredevil and the freaking Dark Knight returns, he gave you Sin City! This man is such a talented writer I do understand that this is first screenplay but this man has been writing comics for years and believe it or not but their is not much difference in writing a screenplay for a comic book and a movie. So he has no excuse their. I freaking hated this movie I'm giving the Spirit a half out of five.
