I had high hopes for The Spirit, Frank Miller's adaptation of Will Eisner's classic comic strip. Actually, the original Spirit incarnation is a little hard to describe. Technically, it is a comic BOOK, but it was distributed free in newspapers across the country each Sunday from 1940-1952. It's one of the few such hybrids, but we're only in the first paragraph of this review and already I confess...I digress.
I mean, why wouldn't I have high hopes? One of the industry's top talents--Frank Miller--a comics legend in his own right--adapting one of the most legendary comic talents' signature character to the big screen. The good news is The Spirit is a stunning film, visually. The bad news is it lacks almost all of Eisner's wit and charm.
The plot--what there is of it--revolves around he blood of Heracles, the son of Zeus. Supposedly the blood will make both The Spirit (Gabriel Macht) and his nemesis, The Octopus (Samuel L. Jackson) become immortal if they drink it. But first they have to find it. Miller does an interesting thing with The Octopus, tying him to Denny Colt's origin. (Moves like this are admittedly not always popular with comics fans. When Tim Burton made the Joker the person who killed Bruce Wayne's parents, it was regarded by some as heresy. I'm not sure The Spirit is going to generate that much interest to be considered heretical.) Seems that The Octopus was the morgue doctor when dead cop Denny Colt ended up at his final destination. He injected him with an experimental drug that not only brought him back to life, but made him vertually unkillable. Then The Octopus injected himself with the same drug. Two birds of a feather, and a good portion of the film is filled with Warner Bros. cartoon-like violence while Jackson and Macht try to kill each other.
There's other stuff, too, including a who's who of both Eisner femmes fatale and Hollywood actresses. Totally wasted in glorified walk-ons (and all but unrecognizable) are Jaime King and Paz Vega as (respectively) Lorelai and Plaster of Paris. Eva Mendes is Sand Saref, on which much of the plot swings and sways as much as her butt, which Miller showcases to its most awesome majesty. Sarah Paulson is Ellen Dolan, Colt's ex, The Spirit's current, and even though she's given a real job by Miller (she's a doctor), but how can you respect a woman who can't seem to realize The Spirit is really Denny Colt brought back to life? Scarlett Johansson is Silken Floss, and she seems like the only woman in the cast who's having any fun. The male equivalent is Sam Jackson, who eats up the scenery like a man coming off a hunger strike. Between the two of them--and the film's visual style--they almost make the film enjoyable. As for The Spirit himself, Gabriel Macht is too light-weight to make an impact. Eisner's character was part Cary Grant, part Bob Mitchum. Macht is neither, just a good-looking mannequin who goes the Batman route with a gravelly voice at times. Shot mostly in shadow, it's hard to even figure out what he really looks like.
But the sad truth is Miller's script is too weak. There's a certain arched eyebrow to everything Miller writes these days, whether it be this film or his single current comic book project, All Star Batman and Robin the Boy Wonder. That nudge-nudge, wink-wink quality grates pretty quickly, and The Spirit suffers from it, too. Miller seems to want to substitute that "it's only a comic book and we all know it" feeling for Eisner's signature suspense, charm, and gentle humor. And while visually the movie has almost constant echoes of Eisner's art, it's too dark and gritty to really capture what made the strip so great.
Miller has already been announced as directing another adaptation of a classic comic strip, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century. It'll undoubtedly be another one of these green-screen wonders, where the entire world is created on computers in post-production and inserted behind the actors who play out their roles on almost-bare stages. Visually, it's a cool way to go, accomplishing things you can't possibly emulate in the "real" world (that is, as real as any movie is). But it results in a suprisingly soulless final product. The Spirit, that strip by Eisner that had so much depth and so much soul, has been rendered impotent on the big screen, a victim of too much style and the technology of the day. Eisner did it all with just pen and brush, and much, much better.
Ughs, The spirit is one of my absolute comicbooks heroes and I absolut love Eisners art (means the none-spirit-stuff too)...the women in the spirit are one eyecandy after another and how they hunt poor spirit is absolut funny. Most of them are absolut dangerous..like Lulu`s back in town, ohohoh...so reading about that movie...
Posted by: Pam | December 30, 2008 at 10:51 AM