Movie: The Spirit

The-spirit-poster

How bad was the The Spirit?

You could compare it to a bad community theater performance, but I had my share of those in the past and the people in it usually know they're in a stinker. So that really doesn't apply.

You could compare it to a high school performance, but the creators of that performance at least realize that they have a lot to learn about the craft and strive to better themselves.

The closest comparison I can come to for this movie would be kids playing in the backyard. The storylines are made up from whole cloth, and veer from one style to another based on what the kids think are cool. The players find the fantasy they create greatly entertaining, but everyone else would be bored.

Not only is The Spirit the worst comic book movie of all time (Howard the Duck, Batman and Robin, you may stop fighting for that title) but ranks as one of the worst movies of all time.

One of the major complements of Frank Miller's comic book storytelling was that it was "cinematic". I guess Miller took this to mean that he could put anything on the screen and it would be brilliant. He was wrong.

This film is more a collection of scene connected by a flimsy plot. The style goes from high camp, to Looney Tunes;like action, to Douglas Sirk-like melodrama to typical comic book fare. Each style shift is jarring and slaps the audience in the face.

There is no dramatic flow to the film. Miller gives us nothing to make us feel for the characters or care whether they live or die. He paints them in only the broadest of terms, and we never for once gain enough for us to become emotionally invested in them as people.

And, you get the feeling that Miller really wanted to make a Batman film, had no shot at doing that, and decided to shoehorn The Spirit into that. It really didn't work.

Samuel L. Jackson, Scarlett Johansson, and Eva Mendes gave some of the worst performances of their careers. Jackson was hamming up constantly and chewing up scenery everywhere he went. You'd think that Johansson would be able to do a femme fatale role in her sleep, but her take was just trying to talk lower. It was like a five year-old trying to talk like a big girl. And Mendes lacked the emotional depth her role called for.

No that the acting was all bad. Gabriel Macht did well in the lead role and Dan Lauria did well as Commissioner Dolan. You get the impression that since these guys were "smaller names," Miller was able to guide their performances more but was too star struck to do the same for Jackson, Johansson, and Mendes.

There are some shots of visual brilliance here and there, but most of them are inserted where they really don't belong which ruins their effectiveness.

I could complain about this movie all day. Heck, I can devote an entire blog post to Miller's using a photocopy of a woman's ass as a plot point. But it won't change the overall result. This movie is a failure on just about all levels, and should be avoided at all costs. Hopefully, this film ends Miller's career and serves as a wake up call for the creator.