Blog Review: "The Spirit"

Director: Frank Miller
Produced by: Gigi Pritzker, Deborah Del Prete, Michael Uslan
Screenplay: Frank Miller
Starring: Scarlett Johansson “Silken Floss”, Samuel L. Jackson “The Octopus”, Gabriel Macht “Denny Colt/ The Spirit”, Eva Mendes “Sand Saref”

"The Spirit" of Purgatory

Sometimes, after an arduous week full of incompetent co-workers and mind-numbing work, the urge will arise to choke the nearest bone-headed-looking person. Instead of serving time for such a crime, many people find an outlet in television or movies. "The Spirit", based off Will Eisner’s graphic novel of the same name, is good for no other purpose than a mild case of such an urge.

Able to heal from any wound or brake in his body, The Spirit is a stubborn, womanizing, vigilante/ex-cop (it’s not worth explaining) who works with the police department to bring down his nemesis, the city’s head drug dealer, The Octopus. The opening introduction scene is well crafted with state of the art CGI and blue-screen magic. We are immediately consumed in contrasting black and white silhouettes with our only focus on The Spirit’s lonely red tie and his voice-over explaining to us his paradoxical love for his city. But this is where the promise in the film ends. Our next baptism comes in a mud/tar-pit full of God-awful one-liners and a seemingly pointless (and ultimately actually pointless) drawn out semi-physical, semi-trash-talk brawl between The Octopus and The Spirit. Only twenty minutes into the film we’re half way into the grave of boredom.

Normally a puppet-master at inducing ultra slow-motion fight scenes that some consider especially violent, and others genius, The Spirit’s PG-13 rating definitely hindered Miller’s usual selling point in his films. Without superb and groundbreaking action sequences to rely upon, Miller was forced to turn to character development. Unfortunately for the studios, a high budget film was not the setting for such a trial in development, and obvious failure. Like the ailing city in which the film takes place, the ideal fiery passion between Mendes and Macht smolders in the cold snow. Macht found himself in a role that his director failed to- direct. Mendes attempts to emulate the dark, violent, and sexy performance of Rosario Dawson in "Sin City", but ends up overacting and showing her bare backside for a poor film.

For many, including myself, much of the pull for audiences in seeing this film came from the featuring of Samuel L. Jackson and Scarlett Johansson. Jackson has been great in numerous cult-classic films with his zeal for the bizarre and fun, which is why I see why he signed onto the film. In the context of the ridiculous nature of the film and characters, Jackson succeeds in being affable and believable in his portrayal of a witty, criminal mastermind. On the other hand, Johansson, who played Jackson’s side-kick, made me feel out of place with her unconvincing and uncomfortable display of slightly-psychotic sexiness.

The acting failed in its attempt at purposeful overacting for emphasis of fictional characters. The CGI overpowered and attempted to control the mood and tone in the film, but failed due to its appeal to a PG-13 rating, and outside of the average fight scenes, there was no redeeming quality to the plot. Overall, being that today is a good day; I rate the film 5/10.