The Spirit (2008)
Gabriel Macht, Samuel L. Jackson, Sarah Paulson
Adapted from the legendary comic strip, "The Spirit" is a classic action-adventure-romance told by genre-twister Frank Miller. It is the story of a former rookie cop who returns mysteriously from the dead as the Spirit to fight crime from the shadows of Central City. His arch-enemy, the Octopus has ... (read more) Adapted from the legendary comic strip, "The Spirit" is a classic action-adventure-romance told by genre-twister Frank Miller. It is the story of a former rookie cop who returns mysteriously from the dead as the Spirit to fight crime from the shadows of Central City. His arch-enemy, the Octopus has a different mission: he's going to wipe out Spirit's beloved city as he pursues his own version of immortality. The Spirit tracks this cold-hearted killer from Central City's rundown warehouses, to the damp catacombs, to the windswept waterfront--all the while facing a bevy of beautiful women, who either want to seduce, love or kill our masked crusader. Surrounding him at every turn are Ellen Dolan, the whip-smart girl-next-door; Silken Floss, a punk secretary and frigid vixen; Plaster of Paris, a murderous French nightclub dancer; Lorelei, a phantom siren; and Morgenstern, a sexy young cop. Then of course, there's Sand Sarerf, the jewel thief with dangerous curves. She's the love of his life turned bad. Will he save her or will she kill him?
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PG-13, 1 hr. 43 min.
Directed by:
Frank Miller (II)
Release Date: Dec 25, 2008
DVD Release Date: Apr 14, 2009
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Flixster User Reviews
This movie sucked so bad the Producer said," Wait I was drunk, I thought it was a joke, don't put my name on that SHIT!!!!". HAHAHAHAHA!!! This movie gets negative 3 stars.
Watch Sin City for the good stuff!!!!
Frank Miller does it again with his nonchalant and graphically intriguing style. Tops Sin City by far.
I have such mixed feelings about this movie.
It went from cheesy to smart/cynical to cheesy again.
The best part was the song in the end credits. ican'tbelieveit'schristinaaguileraholyshit! @_@
When I heard that there was a movie based on The Spirit, one of the best comics EVER coming out, I peed my pants with excitement. When I learned it was being written and directed by Frank Miller, I cried with horror. For those of you who are not comi... (read more) When I heard that there was a movie based on The Spirit, one of the best comics EVER coming out, I peed my pants with excitement. When I learned it was being written and directed by Frank Miller, I cried with horror. For those of you who are not comic nerds like me, Frank Miller was a graphic novel genius in the 80's and 90's, who has produced a string of terrible books since then.
Anyway, the idea of Mr. Miller touching Will Eisner's opus freaked me out. However, my friends and I still went to see it. Now, to be fair, Gabriel Macht wasn't terrible, neither were Scarlett Johansson and Eva Mendes. Samuel L. Jackson was good as always, and his clone henchmen were hilarious. Frank Miller's script and directing were dreadful though. I cringe just remembering them. The action scenes were rushed, the set design was dumb, and this movie prooves that the Sin City style Miller loves should only be used in Sin City.
I know I said the actors weren't bad, but they looked embarrassed just to say such stupid, STUPID dialogue. I initially thought Miller was going to revise the classic strip, but he raped and murdered Eisner's creation. SKIP IT!!!
An embarassment of a film. It's a sin that so many amazing actors were involved. Clearly Robert Rodriguez was the real genius behind Sin City.
Splendid computer effects with a star-filled cast amounts to a repeat of "Sin City", in more than one ways. Not as good, but still enjoyable - if only at times. Perhaps you can treat it as a comic strip (for those that are not very demanding...), and... (read more) Splendid computer effects with a star-filled cast amounts to a repeat of "Sin City", in more than one ways. Not as good, but still enjoyable - if only at times. Perhaps you can treat it as a comic strip (for those that are not very demanding...), and simply enjoy the ride.
Take "Dick Tracy", mix it with "Batman", add in a little "Sin City", and you get a fun movie, with Sam Jackson giving the wildest and most hilarious performance as the Octopus.
i expected a really shitty film, but in fact i got quite a decent one.
Jackson`s character was hilarious. a fun and visually interesting film.
Fuck Frank Miller and his overheated noir ideals. The hero is a black hole of nothing and the lines really terrible ("I'm going to kill you all kinds of dead"). The only thing going for this film is all the attractive women trotted out for display, f... (read more) Fuck Frank Miller and his overheated noir ideals. The hero is a black hole of nothing and the lines really terrible ("I'm going to kill you all kinds of dead"). The only thing going for this film is all the attractive women trotted out for display, fetishised for their bodies like Mendes' "perfect ass" or Johansson's cleavage. Frank Miller is like Russ Meyer in this regard but minus the fun, the wit, the charm, the humanity and anything else that stops a movie from being a boring waste of time.
hard for me to rate this one. This is probably the strangest, most random, ridiculous movie I have ever seen. The stylized comic book violence was too much for me. I don't believe it's good when violence is glorified with no purpose. That's what the ... (read more) hard for me to rate this one. This is probably the strangest, most random, ridiculous movie I have ever seen. The stylized comic book violence was too much for me. I don't believe it's good when violence is glorified with no purpose. That's what the spirit portrays. Not to mention that the spirit himself is a complete ladies man and kisses almost every girl he meets. (plus almost every girl is wearing clothes that don't leave much to the imagination.) Any seen with "death" was spiritually upsetting. But it was unlike any movie I have ever seen. And I did appreciate the random humor. It made me laugh. It also was visually engaging. But a movie riddled with objectionable content and strange spiritual themes was not worth the laughs and interesting experience.
Graphic comic. Frank Miller. Heavy CGI. Sound familiar? Unlike Sin City, these actually got more in the way of the story than it did in Sin City. The look and feel of the film were actually characters. They added drama. In this case, they got ... (read more) Graphic comic. Frank Miller. Heavy CGI. Sound familiar? Unlike Sin City, these actually got more in the way of the story than it did in Sin City. The look and feel of the film were actually characters. They added drama. In this case, they got more in the way of the story. The story itself was not bad nor were the presentation of the characters, but the playing with the effects did not adhance the story. I did enjoy the movie, but I would not call it very good.
Critic Reviews
More interested in being a technical marvel than a coherent story.full review
As it went on, I discovered that it had a kind of appealingly dumb, playful quality.full review
What is most striking about The Spirit is how little pleasure it affords, in spite of its efforts to by sly, sexy, heartfelt and clever all at once.full review
Ultimately, it's a long, incoherent mess of a film, enlivened only the the sure knowledge that the great Will Eisner's original is available to one and all at your nearest comic-book shop.full review
Macht's weary, fatalistic take on his heroic duties is right out of the Batman mold, while Jackson's Octopus seems little more than The Joker without all the face makeup.full review
As one of the film's characters might say, there's bad. There's really bad. There's ridiculously bad. And then there's The Spirit bad.full review
It's black-and-white with red all over, but The Spirit is as thin as the newsprint from which it springs.full review
It's not easy to make a thriller that's both incredibly convoluted and intensely boring, laboriously narrated yet befuddled, but Miller -- creator and co-director of Sin City -- triumphs on all counts.full review
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