The Phoenix Network:
 
 
 
About  |  Advertise
 
Features  |  Reviews

Review: The Spirit

Awful on every level
By PETER KEOUGH  |  December 23, 2008
0.0 0.0 Stars


VIDEO: The trailer for The Spirit

Since we've now reached late December, it's safe to say that Frank Miller's The Spirit is the worst movie I will see all year.

I am not familiar with the Walt Eisner comic hero, and so I say this not because the film ruins a cult favorite but because it is awful on every level. Okay, the images, reprising the pseudo-noir-expressionism of Miller & Rodriguez's Sin City (in a PG-13 version), can be distracting. But the voiceover narration, the expository dialogue, the witless banter, and the portentous piffle bury them. It's like the corniest TV Batman episode ever made.

Gabriel Macht has all the charisma of the W.B. Mason guy in the title role of a cop brought back from the dead and now a superhero fighting evil, whose incarnations include Samuel Jackson as Octopus and Scarlett Johansson as Silken Floss, the both of them putting in the worst performances of their careers — which is saying something. What really broke my spirit? A set-up for a sequel and the promise to "start from scratch."

  Topics: Reviews , Frank Miller , Frank Miller , Scarlett Johansson ,  More more >
  • Share:
  • RSS feed Rss
  • Email this article to a friend Email
  • Print this article Print
Comments

ARTICLES BY PETER KEOUGH
Share this entry with Delicious

 See all articles by: PETER KEOUGH

MOST POPULAR
RSS Feed of for the most popular articles
 Most Viewed   Most Emailed 



Sunday, December 28, 2008  |  Sign In  |  Register
 
thePhoenix.com:
Phoenix Media/Communications Group:
TODAY'S FEATURED ADVERTISERS
Copyright © 2008 The Phoenix Media/Communications Group