objesguy

This seems to be quite the problem with fans of Frank Miller: fans expect to see one thing and he gives them another. I'll be the first to admit it, I was expecting to see Sin City 1.5 when I bought my ticket to see the Spirit and if you are expecting to see that you are going to be sorely disappointed.

The Spirit is not the next Sin City, Dark Knight, Spider Man or X-Men. It is tongue-in-cheek, over the top, half-satire and half-insanity bottled into an hour and a half of screen time. When I came out of the movie theater I was like "What did I just watch?" unsure to believe that was the movie I came expecting to see. The movie I expected to see sucked, didn't happen. That said, I was pretty happy with what I didn't expect to see.

First off, this is a comic book movie and you need to know Miller emphasizes "comic". There is no two-sided characters, deep writing like Batman the Dark Knight Returns. No, this is to movies what Dark Knight Strikes again is to his comics: old-school, clear as crystal, heavily exaggerated heroes, villains, and dialog. It is everything what Comics used to be before Miller smashed it with DKR. Now, he's going back this time with the Spirit, who in all honesty, was similar to what he was in Eisner's comic: a typical, one-dimensional comic book hero.

And that I enjoyed. It was refreshing and bold to see Miller try something he knew most people weren't going to want to see. I had a feeling it would go down this road after I saw the first trailer which emphasized the women and knew that I wasn't going to see Sin City 2, no matter how much it looked like it. Yeah, the dialog, the story, and even the characters were stupid. But that's the satire of everything. Comics aren't always supposed to be philosophical, that's what novels and authors like Balzac are for. Comics are supposed to entertain any way possible and Miller does that with the Spirit.

That being said, this movie has flaws. While the art and style of the film is superb, it is inconsistent at times and without any clear theme--In sin city, only certain things were colored and for reason, Spirit doesn't have that, the details seeming random (like the shoes) rather than meaningful. Also, Miller tends to drag in dialog, sometimes being too contemplative and hyper-wordy when he really doesn't need to be. Yet Miller is not a born director, he's a comic book writer and artist and if he had been given a director with more experience like in Sin City, I'm sure he could have pulled off his rookie mistakes a whole lot better.

But then again, maybe that's why Miller directed this, because no director would have the kind of confidence to carry out Miller's vision of the Spirit. I'm sure producers were fuming in their pants when they saw the first cut, saying "what is this garbage? We want Sin City 2!" Is it as good as Sin City, 300 or any other comic book movie recently? Maybe, maybe not, it depends if you like comics. Those who don't will hate it, those who do will at least appreciate the effort. In these days, when comic book movies try to teeter both lines, its refreshing to see a director go all in, even if it may be suicidal.

First off, if you've seen the Outsiders, prepare to be surprised and blown away. If you've seen That Was Then, This Is Now, be prepared to be surprised and blown away times 100. Rumble Fish is a completely different animal from Coppola's previous Hinton novel adaptation as well as the overly 80's poppish TWTTIN. What we get instead is a mature, gritty, sad and heartbreaking rendition of Rumble Fish, one that keeps the spirit of the movie, but breathes new life into it like never before. Believe me, i thought the Outsiders was as good as it got as far as SE Hinton novels, but Rumble Fish, well...it's in another league, far surpassing anything The Outsiders could accomplish.

First off, the reason Rumble Fish excels so well is because of its mature story. The Outsiders was about good kids being mislabeled by society, well Rumble Fish is more about a kid misreading society itself. Coppola accurately and vividly captures through Black and White film (Bravo to Coppola for doing so, despite probably a lot of grief given to him by the studio), the struggle of Rusty James and his obsession to resurrect gangs to the prominence that they once were when he was younger. Matt Dillon is excellent, portraying Rusty James' lost delusional character, who is unable to cope with the realities of the world, even as it comes crashing down around him. In the end, after James' fall, you feel sympathy for him, his character as well as his situation.

However, while Dillon is solid, nobody steals the show like Mickey Rourke. Rourke is absolutely incredible, it's safe to say that it was movies like this that makes it a shame Rourke didn't make more out of his acting career. Rourke's character of the Motorcycle Boy is the opposite of Dillon: neurotic, quiet, aloof and almost cynical with society and the world itself. Your always wondering about the Motorcycle Boy, throughout the movie, wondering what his next motive is or who he really is. Of course, you do figure it out at the end, but i won't spoil it for you. Yet Rourke's performance is one of the best of his career and deserves extreme recognition even though it doesn't because of the lack of popularity of this movie.

Like the Outsiders, lots of big-name actors make their appearance when they were very early in their career. Nick Cage, Lawrence Fishburne, and the late Chris Penn all appear in this movie. Furthermore, if you're a guy, you should rent or see this movie (it's free on Encore On-Demand) for the smoking Diane Lane. If you thought she was pretty in The Outsiders, she'll absolutely make your jaw drop in this. She's absolutely gorgeous.

This is one heck of a movie. My only gripe with it is that it's a bit confusing in some parts, and what seems like important parts either get too quickly resolved or unresolved at all. Yet that is more a problem with the book itself, rather than the movie, which faithfully recaptures the book in almost every way. However, despite it's confusing nature, this movie is a must for every nostalgic film fan. It's the heart and soul movie from Coppola that shows this was the real SE Hinton film he put everything into and not The Outsiders like many believe. Watch Rumble Fish, it won't disappoint any Se Hinton let alone any viewer period. It's absolutely vivid and spellbinding.

Rating: 8/10

I saw the Criminal on Palm Pictures VOD and i must say, while at first I was skeptical, I thought it was a fantastic movie that unwounded perfectly with many twists and turns along the way. Each scene gets better and better and the story only gets more confusing but in a way that works towards its advantage rather than the opposite. Once the movie ended, I was just stunned, in almost awe of the film I saw, for everything will come unraveling at the end and doing so in a fantastic way to boot.

The acting I admit was a bit mediocre. The main character was decent, but his acting wasn't award worthy by any standard. The other cops do an okay job as well, with the male police officer being the best, but overall this won't win any awards for acting (note to director: the American girl was awful! She shouldn't be allowed to act ever again!). However, what really wins over is the plot. It does a good job revealing little hints throughout the movie e.g. Usual Suspects to provide the viewer with a grasp of what's going on. But viewer be warned, when you think you know it all, you'll be in for a real surprise. Believe me, i thought this movie was going to be a real cookie cutter noir film. It's much more than that, you just have to be patient with it.

Is The Criminal the film of the decade? Probably not. But it's one hell of a ride. After thirty minutes in you'll be so immersed in the story you might forget all about the mediocre acting. With a great plot, intense action, and unbelievable suspense, The Criminal is one of those surprise films that should get recognized more in the states but probably won't. It's definitely more refreshing than the usual Michael Bay garbage we're used to here.