Easy on The Spirit's

Saw the highly anticipated The Spirit.
Reviews have been positively terrible and box office earnings in the US glum. The Spirit is about rookie cop Denny Colt who returns from beyond the grave as The Spirit, a hero whose mission is to fight against the bad forces in Central City. The cast is wicked cool with Gabriel Macht as the title character, Eva Mendes as Sand Saref, Jaime King as Lorelei Rox, Stana Katic as Morgenstern, Samuel L Jackson as super-villian The Octopus and Scarlett Johansson as evil sidekick Silken Floss aka the best name ever.

Consensus? The plot is ridiculous. The dialogue is as corny as a crate of Dorritos. The action scenes are laughable. Infact, my instincts are telling me it’s a bad film but I just can’t help love it. The whole film is kitsch beyond belief and is essentially so bad, it’s good. Don’t get me wrong, the visuals are beautiful. The Spirit is ingeniously brilliant to look at and goes beyond the initial groundwork seen in Sincity. Frank Miller is the director and people will be more familiar with him due to his reputation as a ground breaking graphic novelist. His version of Batman titled The Dark Knight Returns is largely credited with reinvigorating the winged crusaders comic book series and graphic novels Sincity and 300 were both hugely popular and spawned film adaption’s. I honestly don’t know how Frank Miller was able to sell the concept of The Spirit to studios because the ridiculousness of it obviously stems from the source material. I put down the films existence down to Miller’s previous work doing so well on the big screen. This definitely has the feel of an exploitation film and the trademarks are there: deadly babes toting deadly weapons, indulgent action sequences and an insane plot. Therefore I can understand why mainstream audiences and critics wouldn’t respond to this, the same way they didn’t respond to Grindhouse products Planet Terror and Death Proof. The only lyrical song featured in the film is called Falling In Love Again and is belted out by Christina Agulira who gives a seductive, Marilyn Monroe-esque performance during the end credits. Importantly, Miller also gives a shout out to Robert Rodriguez in the `thank-you’ credits (Movie Mazzupial #1 favourite director) who taught Miller how to direct and operate camera equipment. For a good laugh and sheer entertainment value I recommend The Spirit. Be sure to leave a portion of your brain at the door though and don’t question the dialogue! Notable mentions also need to go to the costume designer because the outfits of the femme fatales are mind-blowing (just like Mendes and Johansson’s lady humps).

Note: I also adore the fact that Miller credits the cat that appears in the film as Arthur the Cat: Himself in the credits.

Best Lines:

The Spirit (to Octopus): I'm gonna kill you all kinds of dead.

Comissioner Dolan: Is every goddamn woman in this goddamn hell hole out of her goddamn mind?
Morgensten: No, sir. We're just equipped.