English - (18SG) - 25 December 2008 - Stylish ActionDistributor: LionsGate
Running Time: approx. 98 minutes
Running Time: approx. 98 minutes
Director: Frank Miller
Producer: Michael Usain
Writer: Will Eisner (comic), Frank Miller
Casts: Gabriel Macht, Samuel L. Jackson, Scarlett Johansson, Eva Mendes
Producer: Michael Usain
Writer: Will Eisner (comic), Frank Miller
Casts: Gabriel Macht, Samuel L. Jackson, Scarlett Johansson, Eva Mendes
Plot: Adapted from the Will Eisner's graphic novels, "The Spirit" tells the story of a man who fakes his own death and fights crime from the shadows of Central City. The Octopus, who kills anyone who are unfortunate enough to see his face, has other plans - to wipe out the entire city. The Spirit tracks this cold-hearted killer while facing a bevy of beautiful women who either want to seduce, love or kill the masked crusader.
My Verdict:
Green Tea says:
Frank Miller is the master of graphical adaptation of comics into a silver screen. Look at his marvelous work with 300 or Sin City. Hooray but we don't quite get it for this one, unfortunately. The Spirit resembles works from those movies but lack in consistency and natural stylish flick we hope for. With regards, the movie did fare terribly, with too vast of room for improvement and make-over.
The assemble of casts may not as interesting as the one we have in Sin City. Putting a lot of B-listers here did little to do make the movie wonderful. Gabriel Macht as the title role is on par but not convincing. Samuel L Jackson this time is the arch-nemesis of The Spirit himself - the wicked Octopus. The pretty Scarlett Johanson is the sexy associate and secretary to Octopus, while Eva Mendes plays the love of The Spirit's childhood. I thought that the acting was pretty dry and ineffective. Add in the poor dialogue factor especially with the weirdo Octopus keeps on repeating his intention to RULE the world and how he and The spirit are the same. Gabriel is underact while Samuel is overact - how contrary they are. Seriously that's all his point and beginning to get agitated by it.
The story also suffered some comical un-stylishly cut and unorganized action that are retarded and non-sense. The plot lines of The Spirit are lack in humanly emotional elements, as if the characters are meant to be woody. The presentation of 300 is different - stylishly created but they are a bunch of 300 Spartan warriors with "emotion". The bunches of vigilantes in The spirit are nothing more than a bunch of losers looking for idiotic moment on silver screen perhaps.
There was not much to explain about the origin or the life of Denny Colt before his encounter as The Spirit - merely a 2 minutes cardboard visual of his death and revival. The sub-stories are poorly designed and do not seem to intersect at any point of all. For instance, what is the purpose of having Plaster of Paris in the story - making slices of laughter or simply a distraction of chopping The Spirit himself. Another one, Sand Saref in the marshland - is she a superhero as well or simply just a good diver that steals stuff? So what significant impact she had on the final epic distorting fight if she is a superhero? None.
Acting is not nicely done, story is a pain in the ass, but kudos to the effects anyway. The atmosphere it try to create to surround the mystical world of The Spirit works well but the story screwed it all. Computer-generated graphical movie seems to have reach a new level but I'm not sure how this movie will affect aftermath!!
The assemble of casts may not as interesting as the one we have in Sin City. Putting a lot of B-listers here did little to do make the movie wonderful. Gabriel Macht as the title role is on par but not convincing. Samuel L Jackson this time is the arch-nemesis of The Spirit himself - the wicked Octopus. The pretty Scarlett Johanson is the sexy associate and secretary to Octopus, while Eva Mendes plays the love of The Spirit's childhood. I thought that the acting was pretty dry and ineffective. Add in the poor dialogue factor especially with the weirdo Octopus keeps on repeating his intention to RULE the world and how he and The spirit are the same. Gabriel is underact while Samuel is overact - how contrary they are. Seriously that's all his point and beginning to get agitated by it.
The story also suffered some comical un-stylishly cut and unorganized action that are retarded and non-sense. The plot lines of The Spirit are lack in humanly emotional elements, as if the characters are meant to be woody. The presentation of 300 is different - stylishly created but they are a bunch of 300 Spartan warriors with "emotion". The bunches of vigilantes in The spirit are nothing more than a bunch of losers looking for idiotic moment on silver screen perhaps.
There was not much to explain about the origin or the life of Denny Colt before his encounter as The Spirit - merely a 2 minutes cardboard visual of his death and revival. The sub-stories are poorly designed and do not seem to intersect at any point of all. For instance, what is the purpose of having Plaster of Paris in the story - making slices of laughter or simply a distraction of chopping The Spirit himself. Another one, Sand Saref in the marshland - is she a superhero as well or simply just a good diver that steals stuff? So what significant impact she had on the final epic distorting fight if she is a superhero? None.Acting is not nicely done, story is a pain in the ass, but kudos to the effects anyway. The atmosphere it try to create to surround the mystical world of The Spirit works well but the story screwed it all. Computer-generated graphical movie seems to have reach a new level but I'm not sure how this movie will affect aftermath!!
The Ratings...........
CAST - 1.5 stars
CAST - 1.5 stars
STORYLINE - 1.0 stars
CINEMATOGRAPHY - 3.0 stars
EFFECTS - 3.5 stars
an overall>> 2.0 stars