Crappy Spirit(s)

Hey all...I just had to blog about this. I went and saw The Spirit today. Now I've been a fan of Will Esiner's pulp inspired sometimes campy and slapstick strip since I was 13 but this is the flashy Hollywood bling bling smash em' up have Samuel (Mutha Fucka) Jackson in it Modern version.  The other selling point is that it was directed and written by Frank Miller which should not only give it instant Geek-cred it should also appeal to purists because of his respect for and personal friendship with Will Esiner.

Ah..no.

I'll start by saying what an incredible piece of dog shit this movie is. Don't get me wrong I knew that going in but I was at least willing to look past the casting of Sam Jackson as the Octopus...a character never seen in the comic strip save for a gloved hand once in a while. It should in principle have done well as it has a good looking square jawed leading man... several hot babes such as Eva Mendez for eye candy and all the digital backgrounds,limited color pallet and cut scenes that made people go gaga for films like 300 and Sin City. 

Honestly I wanted to walk out before the title credits as the scenes of The Spirit running across power lines and telephone cables looked terrible and the addition of sneakers to the traditional suit and hat looked retarded. The first fight scene between the spirit and the octopus was so asinine and slap stick I realized that we had hit rock bottom and that Eva Mendez's naked ass shot was probably the movie's high point. OK I'm too harsh...the costumes were really well designed and very good visually. I'm not going to say the film was shot well but it was shot typical of Miller's film with lots of dramatic lighting. There were also many homages to past comic creators as well as some of Esiner's other work sprinkled throughout the film. I appreciate Miller's attempt to include these little Easter eggs even if it's for comic fans but in my eyes he squandered much of the good will and clout he created with Sin City.

It's a shame really when I think that the late 80's TV movie with Sam (Flash Gordon) Jones is the best representation of this character on film. I'd rate this film on par with Daredevil. It's not the way you want to follow up last years Iron Man and Dark Knight....hell it's not even as good as the Hulk. 

Let's hope Watchmen is better....but I'm not hoping too hard.