The Spirit (2008)
Directed by Frank Miller
Rookie cop Denny Colt returns from the beyond as The Spirit, a hero whose mission is to fight against the bad forces from the shadows of Central City. The Octopus, who kills anyone unfortunate enough to see his face, has other plans:g to wipe out the entire city.
9 connections found
View:
9 connections, in both directions
What critics compared The Spirit to
The nominal director, Robert Rodriguez, does very little to the film other than facilitate it; the honorary directorial credit he gave to Miller (without which we would maybe not have Miller's putrid 2008 film of The Spirit , a film that blindly copies Sin City's aesthetic with an incomparably worst script and performances) admits as much, and the fact that the one scene "guest-directed" by Quentin Tarantino is indistinguishable from the rest of the film other than having a slightly looser performance from Benicio Del Toro speaks to how little personality the movie actually possesses that it didn't borrow from Miller.
Adapted from Will Eisner's classic comic by "Sin City" and "300" creator Frank Miller, "The Spirit," opening in theaters today, is far too hollow to be in such dire need of transparency.
But we’ve gotten past the idea that movies are merely comics that move, and we’ve gotten past the notion that even a comics master like Frank Miller -- whose work was the basis of the films 300 and Sin City -- must automatically be a great filmmaker.
When Frank Miller made his directorial debut with 2005's " Sin City ," he left it to more seasoned co-helmer Robert Rodriguez to do the heavy lifting.
Miller, a comic book writer and artist himself, who created “Sin City” and co-directed the film version of it, has made a mess of “The Spirit.”
I’m not at all sure that Tim Miller’s Deadpool is any more transgressive than Frank Miller’s much maligned The Spirit (2008) — it is definitely less stylized and stylish — though it is certainly more popular.
Sarah Paulson (2008's " The Spirit ") is quite good in her own right as elder sister Lucy, her relationship with her sister a war between true empathetic concern and bitter contempt, while John Hawkes (2010's " Winter's Bone ") is memorably assured and slimy as insincere, opportunistic cult leader Patrick.
(There are some dream sequences with Famke Janssen as Jean Grey encouraging him to hurry up and die so he can join her on the other side, à la Lorelei in Frank Miller’s much maligned 2008 flick, The Spirit.)
Advertisement
It's an entertaining, even touching film, but the fictional Jamie's underhanded sales practices are used for laughs over outrage and his chief rival, Eli Lilly's Prozac king Trey (Gabriel Macht, "The Spirit," "Whiteout"), is equally romantic rival as business.
This ranks up there with some of the worst comic book films ever made including 2015’s Fantastic Four, Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance, and The Spirit .
Seven Pounds was directed by Gabriele Muccino, who previously guided his star to an Oscar nomination for 2006’s The Pursuit of Happyness.
It fits into a long line of visually audacious Hollywood gambles: In success you wind up with a sleeper that few see coming, like “300” (or, if you strike the bull’s-eye, a phenomenon like “Avatar”), but the ones that miss — “The Spirit,” “Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow,” “Sucker Punch” — tend to tank hard.
Advertisement
Jennifer Aniston (2008's " Marley & Me ") and Scarlett Johansson (2008's " The Spirit ") steal their scenes as two of the more complicated internal characters.