The Spirit

"His soul stretched tight across the skies/ That fade behind a city block . . .' T. S. Eliot, Preludes

Because writer Frank Miller knows a bit about comic books, his solo directorial debut (He co-directed Sin City with Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino) is a feast of comic book campy dialog, outrageously curvaceous women, and a reborn hero, Spirit, whose abs compete very nicely, thank you, with those women's notable parts. It's all about the mythological struggle of good and evil with visual delights and a bunch of bright dialog.

Denny Colt (Gabriel Macht) is a former cop, recently dead, come back as Spirit, an avenger trolling the city for the very alive bad guys, especially Octopus (Samuel L. Jackson), who kills indiscriminately, especially those who dare to look at his face (As he hits Spirit over the head, he says, "Come on! Toilets are always funny!"). Mostly his plan to wipe out the city holds Spirit's attention.

Spirit's voice-over narration about the city may not be T. S. Eliot, but it has poetry about it as Spirit extols the city's feminine qualities that make it his girl. Well, that's a bit of a stretch because Spirit spends a good deal of time seducing most of the skirts he meets with a special eye for childhood sweetheart Sand Saref (Eva Mendes), now a notorious global jewel thief and implicated in murders in Spirit's own Central City:

The Spirit: "There probably isn't a law in the books that you wouldn't break." Sand Saref: "Do I look like a good girl?"

The comparisons with Sin City are inevitable but not difficult because Miller seems to be approaching Spirit as visually more stylized and plot less complicated. Even the narration and dialog are minimized and more exaggerated, but to good effect.

Spirit is one of the best movies of the year: an imaginative take on a comic book character that visually stuns and verbally amuses.

Can't ask for more than that this Oscar year.

I must say that I was somewhat excited when my friend told me she got us tickets to the premiere of "The Spirit", especially since I've never been to a real premiere. It was an entertaining experience, all except for when the film was rolling.

I liked Sin City a lot, and I thought 300 was intriguingly well made and quite entertaining. Let's just say that compared to 300, "The Spirit" entertains more like Howard the Duck. The entire film seems like a total farce, an unfortunate mockery of Miller's unique style himself. It has been a very long time since I've seen a film with such little (to no) heart, and hardly any soul. I must say that Sarah Paulson gave the greatest performance by far of anyone else, as the Spirit's unconventional doctor. She is the sole source of any feeling or depth in the film. Macht was also at his best in the lead role when sharing scenes with Paulson, otherwise, he barely filled the part. I don't know if that was his fault however, given that the character himself was depicted with very little depth overall. I never read the graphic novel, but I'm going to go ahead and guess that this doesn't do it justice. How can I say that? Because novels build key characters into "people" that you care about, whether you hate them or love them, the characters stimulate your mind on some level or another. This is far from the case in this film. There is very poor development of the characters, which the majority of potential watchers are unfamiliar with. Sam Jackson has unfortunately chosen another terrible role, as the non-intriguing villain, the Octopus. Jackson however does give us some of his crazy wild eyed antics that we've grown to accustomed to, although his character falls flat for the most part, especially considering his opposite on the screen, Scarlett Johansen. It almost seems as if Miller was asleep on the set when her scenes were shot. She's THAT bad in this film, with a deeply sub par android-like performance. Eva Mendes did what she could to somewhat save the film from being a complete and total joke, although it's pretty close to being just that. She plays the bling digging female lead opposite Macht. Now quite possibly the most annoying character(s) ever portrayed on film are the Octopus's cloned henchmen, which were frighteningly reminiscent in annoyance levels of.......... dare i say it... Jar Jar Binks. My four year old nephew would surely find some entertainment value there.

This film ultimately succumbs to its poor writing and direction, which are almost cleverly masked by the signature visual style of Miller, which is hypnotizing at times. Unfortunately, it's hardly hypnotizing enough to mask the true, soulless identity of "The Sprit".

• Crimsonica

Big fan of Sin City, big fan of 300, bigger fan of Watchmen. The Spirit was sadly a big let down for me. The visuals and art direction were amazing, strong cinematography, very "Roger Rabbity" sorta feel with the rotoscoping of some scenes, his tie, shoes, backdrops etc. The script was supposed to have this sorta old school Raymond Chandler sorta film noir sorta feel to it and it just didn't hit it.

Cheesy liners, a lot of the acting felt as if it was rushed, and some of the scenes were just very...awkward and boring to say the least. I went to a 10pm showing of it tonight and there was only about 20people in the theater. Halfway through everyone except me and my company left to "get their money back." Blah, hope Watchmen isn't as much of a let down :/ Totally not worth the 10bucks a ticket unless your a die hard DC fan and have actually read the Spirit comics, if not then its kidna not worth seeing, unless your friend has it on DVD and your high and need a good movie to pass out to.

Also does anyone else find that whenever they watch a movie with Samuel Jackson in it now, ever since Snakes on a Plane you just cant friggen take him seriously anymore? Its like every time he says a line or has some sorta goofy quote I just laugh in my head. ARG okay peace

I really wanted to like this but the main actor who played the Spirit was just plain awful. And everyone acting was dreadful, the writing is dreadful and the direction is dreadful. Maybe Frank Miller wanted that actors to Over act and over act they did BIG TIME. Sam L. Jackson is so over the top that it was painful. We were laughing at some scenes not because it was that funny, it was just that embarrassing. The first fight scene (not giving anything away), that the Octopuss had with the Spirit was force and confusing and so out of place and completely uninteresting.

This movie is STYLE over SUBSTANCE. And it's hugely disappointing from the guy that was part of The 300 and Sin City. I guess every good person have their bad movies. I think perhaps Miller wanted the characters to be cartoonish. At one point, I wouldn't have been surprised to see an anvil drop on someone's head, thats how ridiculous this movie was. Perhaps one has to be a fan of the comic book... (or graphic novel in some circle) in order to truly enjoy this. I went with three other friends and 3 out of 4 of use thought it was awful and the other person just said, "it wasn't that bad".

That voice over of the spirit was just bothersome the entire movie. I was thinking... please, for the love of god, shut him up. The Spirit's voice over is irritating like Jock itch.

Now for the other actors, Eva Mendes is as beautiful as always and at one point I heard at least 10 independent dayums go out like some said it once at the grand canyon and you got 9 echos... .DAYUM! dayum dayum dayum dayum...

The other ones didn't get to do anything, except there are moments of irritating joy in the Octopuss' creations. The Spirit gets a 4 out of 10 for not actualizing the film that it could have been. It is a pass.

I was very excited about The Spirit because I am a big fan of Sin City and was looking forward to see Frank Miller in action again. Also, the cast seemed to be a great lineup. However, it doesn't matter how good the actors are if the plot and script are lame, and I am here to tell you -- I don't even think the likes of Anthony Hopkins and Meryl Streep could have saved The Spirit for this reason.

I kept waiting for the story to intrigue me and for the characters to develop. I watched a couple of people walk out of the theater about an hour through... Finally, I checked the time (never a good sign when you're watching a movie), only to discover that the movie was nearly over, and there would be no chance for redemption.

Aesthetically, The Spirit was interesting, but I couldn't help feeling like I'd seen it all before. The cinematography and graphics were pretty much a carbon copy of Sin City. I expected to see similarity (Frank Miller's style is distinct, after all), but not identical visual imagery.

Bottom line, I rarely see movies in the theater because it's expensive! For three people, we spent over $50 in downtown Seattle for this experience, and it was so disappointing. I hate to waste that much money on such a poorly written, boring movie. My recommendation is to skip The Spirit altogether (really, the plot and script are that bad). But if you're really curious, save your money and rent it when it comes out on DVD.