The Spirit (2008)

Rookie cop Denny Colt returns from the beyond as The Spirit, a hero whose mission is to fight against the bad forces in Central City.

Director:

Frank Miller

Writers:

Frank Miller (screenplay), Will Eisner (comic book series)

Stars:

Jaime King, Gabriel Macht, Samuel L. Jackson

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Jaime King	...	Lorelei
Gabriel Macht	...	Spirit
Dan Gerrity	...	Detective Sussman
Arthur the Cat	...	Himself
Kimberly Cox	...	Damsel in Distress
Brian Neal Lucero	...	Thug 1 (as Brian Lucero)
David Brian Martin	...	Thug 2 (as David B. Martin)
Larry Reinhardt-Meyer	...	Officer MacReady
Frank Miller	...	Liebowitz
Eva Mendes	...	Sand Saref
Eric Balfour	...	Mahmoud
Samuel L. Jackson	...	Octopus
Louis Lombardi	...	Pathos, etc.
Scarlett Johansson	...	Silken Floss
Sarah Paulson	...	Ellen

Storyline

Down these mean streets a man must come. A hero born, murdered, and born again. When a Rookie cop named 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 who has other plans. He's going to wipe out the entire city. The Spirit tracks this cold hearted killer from the city's rundown warehouses, to the damp catacombs, to the windswept waterfront all the while facing a bevy of beautiful women who either want to seduce, love or kill the masked crusader.

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Plot Keywords:

hero | kicked in the face | impalement | glove | necklace | 

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Taglines:

I'm gonna kill you all kinds of dead.

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Genres:

Action | Comedy | Crime | Fantasy

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of stylized violence and action, some sexual content and brief nudity

Details

Official Sites:

Lionsgate [us] Official site [jp]

Country:

USA

Language:

English French

Release Date:

25 December 2008 (USA)

Also Known As:

Will Eisner's The Spirit

Filming Locations:

Albuquerque Studios - 5650 University Boulevard SE, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$60,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

£1,351,370 (UK) (2 January 2009)

Gross:

$19,781,879 (USA) (16 January 2009)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Lionsgate, Dark Lot Entertainment, OddLot Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

103 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital DTS SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Frank Miller uses comic book authors as company names in the film, for example 'Feiffer'. Another (Ditko, a reference to Steve Ditko) appears on the side of the truck driven by Silken Floss.

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Goofs

The soles of The Spirit's signature Converse-style shoes switch back and forth between black and white. This is intentional and matches how Frank Miller would draw the shoes. When the bottoms are featured, they are white. Otherwise the shoes are black on black.

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Quotes

The Spirit: I've known some pretty strange women in my time but this one, she's got the final word on strange.

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Crazy Credits

In the opening credits, the title of the film is the very last thing shown. Typically, the title appears early in the credits, and "directed by" is the final credit.

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Connections

References Sin City (2005)

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Soundtracks

"Deutschland Uber Alles"
Performed by Captain Helmut Witten and the German Airforce Band
Written by Joseph Haydn
Courtesy of Legacy International

User Reviews

A real review from someone who saw it - no spoilers - just my opinion

I must say that I was somewhat excited when my friend told me she got us tickets to the premiere of "The Spirit", especially since I've never been to a real premiere. It was an entertaining experience, all except for when the film was rolling.

I liked Sin City a lot, and I thought 300 was intriguingly well made and quite entertaining. Let's just say that compared to 300, "The Spirit" entertains more like Howard the Duck. The entire film seems like a total farce, an unfortunate mockery of Miller's unique style himself. It has been a very long time since I've seen a film with such little (to no) heart, and hardly any soul. I must say that Sarah Paulson gave the greatest performance by far of anyone else, as the Spirit's unconventional doctor. She is the sole source of any feeling or depth in the film. Macht was also at his best in the lead role when sharing scenes with Paulson, otherwise, he barely filled the part. I don't know if that was his fault however, given that the character himself was depicted with very little depth overall. I never read the graphic novel, but I'm going to go ahead and guess that this doesn't do it justice. How can I say that? Because novels build key characters into "people" that you care about, whether you hate them or love them, the characters stimulate your mind on some level or another. This is far from the case in this film. There is very poor development of the characters, which the majority of potential watchers are unfamiliar with. Sam Jackson has unfortunately chosen another terrible role, as the non-intriguing villain, the Octopus. Jackson however does give us some of his crazy wild eyed antics that we've grown to accustomed to, although his character falls flat for the most part, especially considering his opposite on the screen, Scarlett Johansen. It almost seems as if Miller was asleep on the set when her scenes were shot. She's THAT bad in this film, with a deeply sub par android-like performance. Eva Mendes did what she could to somewhat save the film from being a complete and total joke, although it's pretty close to being just that. She plays the bling digging female lead opposite Macht. Now quite possibly the most annoying character(s) ever portrayed on film are the Octopus's cloned henchmen, which were frighteningly reminiscent in annoyance levels of.......... dare i say it... Jar Jar Binks. My four year old nephew would surely find some entertainment value there.

This film ultimately succumbs to its poor writing and direction, which are almost cleverly masked by the signature visual style of Miller, which is hypnotizing at times. Unfortunately, it's hardly hypnotizing enough to mask the true, soulless identity of "The Sprit".

• Crimsonica