The SpiritWhen some friends of mine and I went to go see The Spirit on Christmas of 2008, we were expecting the second coming of Sin City, another work of graphic novel to film gorgeousness by the legendary Frank Miller, filled with tough action, sexy dames, and hard-boiled heroes. The Spirit has this, true...but at its core, it's a comedy. About fifteen minutes into the movie, the opening filled with some silly stock tough guy lines, moving into a knock down, drag out brawl between the titular Spirit (Gabriel Macht) and his nemesis, The Octopus (Samuel L. Jackson). We felt something was off; when The Spirit hurls a literal kitchen sink at The Octopus...well, we got it then.
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In essence, The Spirit comes across like a bizarre cross between a dark, gritty noir comic, a golden-era serial, and a Looney Tunes cartoon all in one. This strange combination of slick and absurd can be galling to some, but I found the bizarre humor to be enjoyable in its zaniness. For instance, The Octopus employs a bevy of mentally-impaired cloned henchmen, with ridiculous names branded on their shirts, like "Pathos" and "Huevos", and so on, all played by the same actor. The henchmen all deliver some genuinely comical lines that underpin the goofiness of the film, which is frankly a welcome relief in some ways from the overly predictable timing of perfectly paced jokes in many other superhero movies. Counterpoint to The Octopus is his scholarly assistant, Silken Floss (Scarlett Johansson), "the most beautiful woman ever," according to the henchmen (cloned by her, I should say), who is also nutty and irritable, but serves almost as a kind of "manager" for the manic Octopus...there's a neat kind of "Boris and Natasha" vibe lurking under there. The Spirit is the alter ego of former cop Denny Colt, who at the beginning of the film is responding to a crime in progress. When he discovers that his childhood sweetheart--whom he parted with on bad terms--is back in town and implicated in a recent robbery of two very important antiquities of myth. Sand Saref (Eva Mendes) is the femme fatale with an "Electra complex", as observed by one of the new cops on the beat, since her father (a cop) was killed while on duty, and as a result she vowed to make her fortune away from Central City, although she makes her return to capture this crucial score. But when The Octopus gets his tentacles on part of her treasure, he begins to scheme how to make a deal to secure his real interest in the relics.
Adapted from the comic strip by Will Eisner of the 1940s and beyond, The Spirit is something of a caricature of the serials of that era, something that resembles a kind of off-kilter Dick Tracy a la Sin City. But The Spirit has a lot of unusual characterizations that make him different than many other heroes. For instance, he has the predilection to fall in love with nearly every woman he meets, much to the chagrin of his official girlfriend, Dr. Ellan Dolan (Sarah Paulson), who has to patch him up after each of his exceedingly violent outings against The Octopus. The Spirit also seems to have a kind of relationship with cats, creatures that prowl the streets for prey, nimble and agile...perhaps they represent a metaphor--The Spirit certainly does not appreciate what happens to Muffin, so maybe he just likes cats. The Octopus and Silken Floss often dress in elaborate, yet incongruent, costumes like set design for an elaborate play--everything from samurai gear to full-blown Nazi apparel. Silken Floss even later comments to Sand Saref that the idea is that she's doing this for the fun and to look cool doing crimes. Over the movie, The Spirit is haunted by the presence of a wraith-like entity that coaxes him across the distant shore, a shadowy maiden named Lorelei (Jaime King), who moves as if underwater. It is implied that Lorelei is the spirit of death, and that in time, Denny must return to her fold...but not today, not while crime still rears its ugly head in his city.
Recommended for: Fans of comic book adaptations that share many stylistic choices with the likes of Sin City, but read more like Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck. Strange, weird, and at times uproariously funny, The Spirit fills a unique role among comic book movies.
Adapted from the comic strip by Will Eisner of the 1940s and beyond, The Spirit is something of a caricature of the serials of that era, something that resembles a kind of off-kilter Dick Tracy a la Sin City. But The Spirit has a lot of unusual characterizations that make him different than many other heroes. For instance, he has the predilection to fall in love with nearly every woman he meets, much to the chagrin of his official girlfriend, Dr. Ellan Dolan (Sarah Paulson), who has to patch him up after each of his exceedingly violent outings against The Octopus. The Spirit also seems to have a kind of relationship with cats, creatures that prowl the streets for prey, nimble and agile...perhaps they represent a metaphor--The Spirit certainly does not appreciate what happens to Muffin, so maybe he just likes cats. The Octopus and Silken Floss often dress in elaborate, yet incongruent, costumes like set design for an elaborate play--everything from samurai gear to full-blown Nazi apparel. Silken Floss even later comments to Sand Saref that the idea is that she's doing this for the fun and to look cool doing crimes. Over the movie, The Spirit is haunted by the presence of a wraith-like entity that coaxes him across the distant shore, a shadowy maiden named Lorelei (Jaime King), who moves as if underwater. It is implied that Lorelei is the spirit of death, and that in time, Denny must return to her fold...but not today, not while crime still rears its ugly head in his city.
Recommended for: Fans of comic book adaptations that share many stylistic choices with the likes of Sin City, but read more like Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck. Strange, weird, and at times uproariously funny, The Spirit fills a unique role among comic book movies.