Seen on: December 26, 2008

The players: Director: Frank Miller, Writer: Frank Miller, Cast: Gabriel Macht, Samuel L. Jackson, Scarlett Johansson, Eva Mendes, Sarah Paulson, Jaime King, Paz Vega

Facts of interest: Based on the graphic novels by Will Eisner.

The plot: After returning from the dead, former cop Denny Colt battles crime in Central City as the Spirit.

Our thoughts: I was really looking forward to the big-screen adaptation of Will Eisner’s graphic novel series “The Spirit,” but what I ended up seeing didn’t fulfill my expectations at all. Frank Miller’s solo directorial debut should have been an amazing ride, but in the end, it’s nothing but a boring mess that looks great but fails to entertain.

In the film, Gabriel Macht stars as Denny Colt, a rookie cop who returns from the dead to battle crime in Central City. Besides assisting the police in catching burglars and other culprits, he spends most of his time tracking down the Octopus (Samuel L. Jackson), a ruthless killer whose ultimate goal it is to become immortal and take over the world.

Let me first start with what I liked about “The Spirit.” The film’s visual style is pretty close to the imaginative look of “Sin City,” which I always enjoy watching on the big screen. Even though it doesn’t really offer us anything we haven’t seen yet, the strong contrast between the dominant black and white and the various shades of red, blue and green turn the movie into a visually pleasing experience.

Unfortunately, that’s it with the good stuff. Visual aspect aside, “The Spirit” is a massive failure, with disastrous dialogue, a boring story line, thin characters and a bunch of unimpressive action sequences ruining what could and should have been a blast. Oh yeah, I was also annoyed by the Spirit’s constant narration, which is more repetitive than intriguing.

The big feud between the Spirit and the Octopus is by far not as suspenseful as it may seem at first, and besides a couple of tiresome fistfights, the only thing the two engage in is one ridiculous conversation after another. I mean, I don’t know about you, but I still can’t get passed how stupid the dialogue in this movie sounds like most of the time.

Most of the women in the movie certainly look awesome, but they too fall victim to the shallow lines the script supplies them with. Eva Mendes and Sarah Paulson turn in decent enough performances, but I just couldn’t help but laugh at Scarlett Johansson’s silly appearance and her weird character. Also starring is Jaime King as Lorelei, but her role is pretty much wasted.

Freaky quote: “I'm gonna kill you all kinds of dead." – Gabriel Macht

The final word: I honestly don’t know what else to say about this film. Some people may actually like “The Spirit,” but I found it incredibly hard to stay focused on what went down on the big screen. It’s too bad really, because it all sure looks fabulous enough. Let’s hope Miller will redeem himself with “Sin City 2.”

Article by Franck Tabouring