THE SPIRIT

 

"My City..."

Central City is his City. He lives it, breathes it and protects it and when his city needs a hero it is him that responds to the call. As The Octopus (Jackson) and his wickedly efficient assistant Silken Floss (Johansson) turn the city into chaos and the world's best jewel thief Sand Saref (Mendes) returns to the dark streets of Central City to take her most treasured prize, Commissioner Dolan (Lauria) turns to the City's sworn protector, The Spirit (Macht).

The comic book adaptation stepped into a new dimension when 'Sin City' was released in 2005 but can a movie using same technique make the same impact?

When comic book/graphic novel legend Frank Miller stepped behind the camera with Robert Rodriguez for 'Sin City', the pair created a new way of bringing comic book stories to the silver screen. The film looked like the actual frames from the graphic novels, recreating them exactly the screen using the same small colour pallet. This looked amazing and set a new standard that films like '300' and '30 Days of Night' following suit by recreating the frames from the graphic novels that inspired them. The problem is with 'The Spirit' is, unlike those previously mentioned movie, Frank Miller has not taken the technique and pushed it further.

Based on the comic book series written by Will Eisner and adapted for the screen by Frank Miller, 'The Spirit' is the story of Denny Colt, a young police officer in Central City who is killed in the line of duty only to escape the angel of death, Lorelei Rox and return to become the City's protector, it's Spirit. Now unable to die, whatever the criminals of the City throw at him, the masked man fights for justice and to bring down Central City's most notorious criminal, the Octopus. A great premise for a comic movie, especially with the 50s look of the original material but unfortunately Miller mixes in too much from the modern world, such as computers, helicopter gunships and mobile phones which makes the movie a little bit of a miss-mash of styles.

The cast do have fun with their roles however, turning most of their characters into almost pantomime-like caricatures. Samuel L. Jackson is completely over the top as the chief villain The Octopus, as is the beautiful Scarlet Johansson as his sidekick Silken Floss. Eva Mendes is suitably cast as femmefatal Sand Saref and there are good supporting performances from Sarah Paulson as Dr. Ellen Dolan, the woman who always puts The Spirit back together again, Dan Lauria as Commission Dolan, Jaime King as the angel of death, Lorelei Rox but Louis Lombardi is completely annoying as the Octopus' cloned foot soldiers. The relatively unknown Gabriel Macht makes the biggest impact however, playing The Spirit. This will be a breakout role for the actor and one that should propel him to greater things as he has those leading man good looks and presence.

'The Spirit' is far too similar to in look and feel to Frank Millar's previous effort 'Sin City'. With almost pantomime-like performances and characterisations, a story that isn't the most original and a strange mix of the modern and the old fashioned make this a real mix bag of success and downright failure. It will be interesting to see if Millar can direct a movie that is not a comic book or graphic novel adaptation however, as it is clear that the man has a real visual style.

PICTURE & SOUND

The Blu-Ray disc presents the movie in High Definition wide screen 2:40 up to 1080p, with Dolby TrueHD 5.1 surround sound.

BONUS FEATURES

Audio Commentary with director Frank Miller & Producer Deborah Del Prete
The writer/director and his producer provide an informative and chatty commentary for 'The Spirit'. The pair talks about the historical impact of the character and his creator Will Eisner, the approach of the movie. With key scene secrets revealed showing how they established the hero and villain, this is a commentary that fans should enjoy and one that Frank Miller fans should revel in.

Green World (22.53 mins/High Definition)
Writer/Director Frank Miller, producers Deborah Del Prete, Michael E. Uslan and Gigi Pritzker, senior visual effects supervisor Stu Maschwitz and stars Gabriel Macht, Eva Mendes, Scarlett Johansson, Paz Vega, Stana Katic and Samuel L. Jackson take you behind the scenes of the making of 'The Spirit'.

Miller on Miller (15.57 mins/High Definition)
The master comic book writer/artist/director talks about his career, the influence of New York, his comic history and his mentor Will Eisner Alternate

Storyboard Ending with voice over from Gabriel Macht and Samuel L. Jackson (2.37 mins/High Definition)
Watch this storyboarded alternative version of the ending with the lead actor and the villain providing the voices for their characters.

History Repeats (15.27 mins/High Definition)
Writer/Director Frank Miller and producers Deborah Del Prete and Michael E. Uslan talk about creating the Will Eisner style and transferring that to the silver screen.

Theatrical Trailer (2.22 mins/High Definition)
Watch the preview of the movie that showcased the film online and in theatres.

OVERALL

The Blu-Ray treatment for 'The Spirit' is one that fans should enjoy. While there isn't much in the way of features that take advantage of the new technology, they are all presented in HD and the commentary track is well worth a listen.

BLU-RAY

Sin City

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2009