RSS
Home
Capturing the Holiday 'Spirit?'
Print
Email
RSS
Subscribe
The Spirit
I don't believe I have ever walked out of a theater more torn about a movie than when leaving the theater after seeing The Spirit. My movie critic selves were in complete and total conflict with each other. The camp loving, B-grade movie addict in me was saying, "You wait and see, ten years from now this is going to be one of those crazy cult classics." The professional critic in me was shouting over that about how the film is a jarring mish-mash of comic book camp, pulp fiction writing and themes that are far too dark for either. I was seriously just plained confused.
The Spirit marks Frank Miller's, its screenwriter and director, first foray into truly writing and directing an entire film on his own. His previous two films, 300 and Sin City, were both helped along by other writers and directors. Like those two films, this one is based on a comic book, but unlike the previous two Miller has never had anything to do with the comic that the film is based on. The Spirit was created by comic legend Will Eisner in the 1940s and established many of the norms of comic book writing we see today. Recently DC comics has started to publish new Spirit comics, but Miller has nothing to do with them.
I bring this up because Miller, with his darker themes and misogynistic attitude, seems like an odd choice for the often laid back hero who battles the evil Octopus with the consent of Central City's police. It seems like the two would clash terribly, and they do. Miller tries to infuse a Sin City style and darker trends into the film, but at the same time keep things campy and lighthearted. The two ideas crash somewhere to the darker side of dead center and the film can never really pick itself up again after the first ridiculous fight between The Spirit (Gabriel Macht) and Octopus (Samuel L. Jackson), finally exploding in a glorious pile of "WTF" when Octopus captures The Spirit and gives his glorious victory speech while wearing a Nazi outfit. It doesn't matter if Miller ripped it directly from the the panels of the comic itself, It just doesn't make any sense.
Stylistically the film is incredibly interesting to look at, despite the fact that it is never really clear why some scenes are full on black and white while others are simply washed out colors. If Miller has a knack for anything it is making iconic images that stand out on screen. His silhouetted Spirit is incredibly fun to watch, even if you aren't sure what the movies going for.
It doesn't help that the screenplay must read like a comic book. Most of the dialog would read wonderfully on the pages of the comic book, but when it is flowing out of a heroes mouth in a rambling monologue the words just become silly and almost insignificant. The Spirit's opening and closing speeches about the city being his love are almost laughable and, unlike Sin City, there's not enough style or panache to compliment the cheesy speeches and dead pan one-liners.
This all being said, I didn't not enjoy myself. The Spirit tries hard enough that watching the movie isn't a total bust, but it is that immense effort to try to be something -- anything -- that turns the film into a confused little piece of visual nothingness. Like I alluded too before though, today's confusing pieces of nothingness can truly be tomorrow's underground classic.
Recent Reviews: The Wrestler, Gran Turino, Seven Pounds
Related Articles:
Add a Comment
