The Spirit

Frank Miller is a notorious comicbook artist whose work is characterised by stark visuals and a flare for ultra-violence. It was only a matter of time before Hollywood began to plunder his back catalogue of creations. ‘300’, ‘Sin City’ and even the gritty tone of ‘the Dark Knight’ were all ripped from Miller’s pages. They transferred easily to the cinema, with devastating box office success. Confident, Hollywood turned to Miller to adapt Will Eisner’s cult comic ‘the Spirit’ into their next big hit. He failed miserably.

The Spirit is an immortal masked avenger who spends his nights prowling the roofs of his crime ridden city, looking for wrongs to right and dames to rescue. At every turn he faces his nemesis, a diabolical crime-lord known as ‘the Octopus’. So far so good (and so Batman), but unfortunately here’s where the fun stops. The film isn’t just bad, more unforgivable than that, it’s dull.

In two dimensions, the comics at least had a quirky charm, but this is obliterated by the transfer to the big screen. The sight of our stoic hero actually skipping along the tops of buildings is unavoidably ridiculous. The film’s plot is equally absurd and features a worrying mix of pseudo-science and ancient Greek mythology. Is our hero a ghost, a god or just a man? Only one thing is certain, after twenty minutes you’ll have given up even trying to care.

Much of the blame lies with the film’s appallingly mundane leading man Gabriel Macht. His monotone monologues gradually gnaw the fun out of all the films cartoonish visuals. Supposedly smart one-liner s, are left ruined by an agonisingly wooden delivery. Miller’s decades of making comics has clearly left him ill equipped to direct real people. Perhaps he had aspirations of turning bad acting into some form of parody, but the film’s just not clever or subtle enough to be satire.

It’s tragic to see someone as emphatically cool as Samuel L. Jackson trapped in such a monumentally mediocre film. He might be the only man alive who can make Kangol hats and tartan trousers look stylish, but even he can’t save this mess. Though at least for his sake, he looks like he had fun trying. It’s also a pity to see the smouldering efforts of Scarlett Johansson, Eva Mendes and a whole host of dangerous damsels go to waste. Poor little vixens.

‘The Spirit’ feels like it should have been made 20 years ago, in the dark ages when comicbook movies were just embarrassing and silly. Back then, superhero movies were like pornography; their awful acting and camp innuendo was a guilty pleasure, only to be enjoyed in private. It's sad to see them reduced to this yet again.

‘The Spirit’ is out on DVD and Blu-ray now, but if you buy it then they’ll never learn...