Sony Entertainment
R4 DVD
Writer & Director Frank
Miller
Based on the comic book
series by Will Eisner
Reviewer: Bob Estreich
The Spirit (Gabriel Macht) was once a cop
who was killed in a shooting. He has returned from the dead, with superhuman
powers of recovery. He fights crime in the City he loves (“She's
my sweetheart, my play thing”), mostly with
his fists in the old-fashioned superhero tradition. As a result he gets shot
and beaten up a lot.
The Octopus (Samuel L Jackson) is an evil
criminal mastermind, also near-superhuman. The Spirit and The Octopus seem to
enjoy their protracted but non-lethal battles. The Spirit is not popular with
the Police Commissioner, who regards him as a bit of an out-of-control cowboy
and a womanizer. His daughter has a crush on the Spirit, which may explain his
disapproval.
Octopus is trying to get the Blood of
Heracles, which will give him special powers and immortality. It has been
stolen by the Spirit’s ex-childhood sweetheart, Sand Seraf. Octopus would also
like to kill the Spirit as there is really only room for one superhero in the
City.
Death is always close to the Spirit,
tempting him to “give it up” and join her. She, it appears, also has a crush on
the near-immortal Spirit. The Spirit is finding her blandishments more
appealing each time he has a near-death moment.
The Spirit lays a trap for the Octopus and
Sand, backed up by an overzealous and overarmed policewoman who, as usual,
appears to be falling for him. She also, however, has a passion for big guns.
“That cannon could take out the Moon….Is every goddam woman in this goddam
world out of her goddam mind?” The final showdown will sort out many of these
problems – who will finish up as the Spirit’s true love?
The film lovingly preserves the comic
book’s moody look, in fact it’s more like an animated comic book than a true
film. Filming is, although in color, done in such a way that it looks like
colorized black and white – stark and contrasty with only occasional splashes
of color. It sets the scene of the dark, dirty, snowbound City perfectly. This
City is not your bright, active Spiderman-type city but a place of alleys,
docks, and wastelands. The period in which it is set is a little confused –
elderly Trimotor aircraft share space with modern attack helicopters, but this
somehow only adds to the slightly period look of the film.
The film also manages to preserve the
comic’s irreverent sense of humor. The Spirit’s introspective ponderings are
set off well by Samuel L Jackson’s almost lovable Octopus. Some of the Spirit’s
best lines are when he is talking to stray cats. This is a great film. If you
yearn for the old-style true superheroes, look at this one.
The DVD includes the usual “Making of”,
storyboards for an alternative ending, and a commentary track. When it is
released in May it will be available on DVD or Blu-Ray.
This review will appear in Volume 2 No.3
(2009) of the digital and print edition of Synergy Magazine.
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