The Spirit (film)

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For 2002 Western film, see Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron.
The Spirit

Theatrical release poster
Directed by Frank Miller
Produced by Michael Uslan
Deborah Del Prete
Gigi Pritzker
Written by Comics:
Will Eisner
Screenplay:
Frank Miller
Starring Gabriel Macht
Samuel L. Jackson
Scarlett Johansson
Eva Mendes
Dan Lauria
Sarah Paulson
Paz Vega
Stana Katic
Jaime King
Louis Lombardi
Music by Score:
David Newman
Song:
Christina Aguilera
Cinematography Bill Pope
Editing by Gregory Nussbaum
Distributed by Lions Gate Entertainment (US/UK)
OddLot Entertainment
Columbia Pictures (select countries)
Warner Bros. (Japan)
Release date(s) December 25, 2008
Running time 102 min.
Country United States
Language English
Budget $53,000,000
Gross revenue $38,395,030[1]

The Spirit is a 2008 American comic book adaptation, written and directed by Frank Miller and starring Gabriel Macht, Eva Mendes, Sarah Paulson, Dan Lauria, Paz Vega, Jaime King, Scarlett Johansson, and Samuel L. Jackson. The film is based on the newspaper comic strip The Spirit by Will Eisner. OddLot and Lionsgate produced the film.[2] The Spirit was released in theaters in the United States on December 25, 2008, and on DVD and Blu-ray on April 14, 2009. Despite being a commercial and critical failure, it has earned a small cult following due to its rather zany mix of genres including film noir, slapstick, film style, and tongue-in-cheek humor.

Contents

[edit] Plot

 The plot summary in this article is too long or detailed compared to the rest of the content. Please edit the article to focus on discussing the work rather than merely reiterating the plot. (June 2009)

In a cat-filled mausoleum in Central City, Denny Colt (Gabriel Macht), also known as the masked vigilante and detective the Spirit, receives a phone call from Detective Sussman (Dan Gerrity) about something big going on near an old shipwreck in the mudflats, something that the Spirit’s arch-nemesis, the Octopus (Samuel L. Jackson) may be involved in. Worried about a possible leak, Sussman tells the Spirit he wants the information kept from the rest of the police for the time being. The Spirit dons his costume and sets off into the night, traveling across the rooftops of the city while delivering a voice-over soliloquy about the city being his one true love, until he hears a woman being mugged in an alley below. He manages to save her, receiving a knife wound that would otherwise prove fatal, but seems to not even notice. Upon seeing this the woman asks, “What are you?” Afraid of such a question, the Spirit runs away. He catches a ride from Officer Liebowitz (Frank Miller) and the pair head toward the flats.

At the swampland, Sussman witnesses a beautiful femme fatale, Sand Saref (Eva Mendes), rising out of the water and initially appear to shoot Sussman multiple times. Shortly after the Spirit and Liebowitz arrive and find the near-mortally wounded Sussman, however, a flashback reveals that it was really the Octopus who shot him in an effort to recover two identical chests underwater. Sand and her husband Mahmoud (Eric Balfour) tried to flee with both chests, but the Octopus shot at them, wounding Mahmoud and snapping the line connecting the two chests together. Sand escaped leaving one chest behind, which the Octopus then retrieves from the murky depths.

After the Octopus kills Liebowitz by ripping his head off, he sends three of his cloned henchmen, Ethos, Pathos, and Logos (all played by Louis Lombardi), away with the chest with the intention of being alone to take on the Spirit. The Octopus’s accomplice Silken Floss (Scarlett Johansson) drives up, running over Pathos in the process, and departs with the cargo, expressing her thoughts that the Spirit and the Octopus will “be at it all night.” The two enemies do indeed take part in a long and highly stylized fight involving them mostly grabbing random blunt objects from out of the muddy water and bashing each other with them, including a toilet and a nine-foot-long lug wrench. A still quite alive Pathos shows up and shoots the Spirit, however, ending the battle and putting the hero down for the count, but not before the Octopus claims that he and the Spirit share a connection due to their capability to take such great amounts of punishment. The Octopus and Pathos leave as police helicopters arrive.

The Spirit is awoken by his lover Dr. Ellen Dolan (Sarah Paulson), daughter of Police Commissioner Dolan (Dan Lauria). On his feet and appearing to be in perfect health despite his gunshot wounds (something which has occurred seemingly many times before), the Spirit refuses Ellen’s orders to be admitted to the hospital. As Ellen then tends to Sussman, the Spirit is shocked to notice a gold locket in the cop’s hand; a piece torn from Sand Saref’s neck earlier. Secretly retrieving the locket which he recognizes immediately, the Spirit is berated by Commissioner Dolan, the only person who knows the Spirit’s true identity, for the loss of two officers thanks to going after the Octopus without permission, diligence, or regard to the other police. Following their argument, the Spirit laments over the Octopus’s words about the two of them, as well as his past life as a rookie cop and lack of understanding of what he has become since apparently returning from the dead as a clearly immortal being.

The Spirit looks at Sand Saref’s locket, containing pictures of himself, Denny Colt (Johnny Simmons), and Sand (Seychelle Gabriel) as teenagers, and tells the story of what transpired between them to one of his cats. The two grew up together in Central City and Denny bought Sand the locket as a gift to satisfy the girl’s love of diamonds and other such “shiny things”, including the Golden Fleece of Jason and the Argonauts. They lived happily until Sand’s father, a beat cop, was accidentally shot dead one night in a struggle between a mobster and Denny’s uncle, a washed-up (and presumably alcoholic) boxer who then committed suicide. In her fury, Sand told a news reporter that she hated cops. The statement lead to her and Denny fighting about Sand’s materialistic leanings as well as her expressing hatred for the city and disillusionment of being too good for it and Denny. Fleeing to Europe, she was never seen or heard from again for over fifteen years. But with her back in Central City, the Spirit’s interest is obviously piqued and he concludes that her desires of youth have blossomed into a criminal career.

The next morning, in their secret lair deep underground, the Octopus and Silken Floss open the chest they retrieved only to discover that it does not contain the mysterious Blood of Heracles as expected, but another unseen treasure that produces an otherworldly glow. Incandescent with rage, the Octopus exaggeratedly slaughters three of four more cloned thugs including Ethos, and Floss orders the fourth, Logos, to commit seppuku. Logos lets the Octopus know about Sand’s involvement in the mixing up of the chests and the villains decide a trade is in order between them and Sand as she has what the Octopus wants and vice-versa. In the meantime, the Octopus intends to kill the Spirit. Elsewhere, Sand and Mahmoud visit the office of a high-class fence named Donenfeld (Richard Portnow), whom Sand had paid to locate the underwater treasure she wanted, which turns out to be the Argonauts’ Golden Fleece. However, it is implied that Donenfeld gave up the treasure’s location to the Octopus as well to ensure his family’s safety despite having an affair on his travels. For selling her out, Sand transfers Donenfeld’s payment into another account, then persuades the fence to shoot himself. Before departing, Sand “signs” the crime scene with a photocopy of her rear end.

At St. Alice’s Hospital, the Spirit has indeed been put in Ellen’s care but has nonetheless fully regenerated good as new. He nearly seduces Ellen, but she has a clearer understanding than expected of the Spirit’s tendency to fall in love with every women he meets and that there is very little chance of them ever being truly happy together. Commissioner Dolan angrily enters with young rookie cop Morgenstern (Stana Katic) and calls the Spirit away to a case.

The case turns out to be Donenfeld’s murder/suicide by Sand, whose history as one of the world’s most successful jewel thieves Dolan and Morgenstern relay to the Spirit, both unaware of his past life with the suspect. Morgenstern believes that Sand suffers an Electra complex and Dolan explains that the hundred-million dollars Sand transferred from Donenfeld went toward a shipment of top-of-the-range flak jackets for the police force. The Spirit finds the photocopy of Sand’s derrière and Dolan, noticing his reaction, realizes that the Spirit must know Sand and is withholding information. The Spirit, however, continues to deny ever having heard of Sand and angrily storms out of the building, ordering Morgenstern to find him a lead to the Octopus.

The Spirit remains unable to fully believe that Sand could ever become a criminal and sets out to find her, checking various luxury hotels to locate her based on the photocopy. Finally tracking her down, he prepares to arrest her but is caught off-guard by her standing fully nude before him. He also sees that Mahmoud has died due to tasting the Blood of Heracles. With Sand not recognizing the Spirit as the presumed-dead Denny, she is stunned when he reveals his knowledge of her looking for the Golden Fleece. Sand becomes angry and unwittingly shoves the Spirit through the window, sending him plummeting many stories down the side of the high-rise. His trenchcoat stops his fall when it snags on the horn of a gigantic ram statue on the outside, but he is stuck hanging there and can only watch a confused Sand depart. Trying to think of a way out of the situation, the Spirit receives a call from Morgenstern. She did indeed find him a lead: Pathos, shot dead earlier, was found near the mudflats with his shoes covered in industrial salt. The Spirit manages to save himself and runs away vowing to find and kill the Octopus.

Morgenstern’s tip allows the Spirit to deduce that his nemesis is headquartered under the Feiffer Industrial Salt plant. After taking down several clones, he enters a sewer tunnel and comes face-to-face with Floss, who kisses the Spirit as a distraction for her to inject a knockout agent into his neck. Elsewhere, Ellen and Commissioner Dolan argue over whether the Spirit comes across as a menace or “something the world needs” and reflect on happier times when Denny was still alive and romantically involved with Ellen, who still remains unaware of the Spirit being Denny.

In the Octopus’s lair, the Spirit awakens to find himself tied to a dentist’s chair and surrounded by Nazi paraphernalia. A beautiful belly dancer sensuously dances behind a curtain, prompting the Spirit to break the fourth wall and claim to recognize her as the strangest woman he has ever encountered. It is revealed to be Plaster of Paris (Paz Vega), a psychotic assassin hired to kill the Spirit. The Octopus dramatically enters, shortly receiving a phone call from a fellow crime figure with a message from Sand — an exchange of the Golden Fleece and the Blood of Heracles has been arranged at the city projects. The Spirit demands to know what the Octopus’s teasing about them being “two of a kind” really means and the Octopus proceeds to tell the story of their existence by awakening the Spirit’s memories of being gunned down in the line of duty in his (literal) previous life as a cop. The Octopus also describes his own past as a coroner who watered down pharmaceuticals and thus had a lucrative drug trade. But money was never enough; he wanted immortality. His and Floss’s experimentation on the subject eventually led to the creation of a serum (something of a scientific equivalent to the Elixir of Life) that could grant immortality or, at least, nigh indestructibility. Denny’s corpse was used as the Octopus’s desired human test subject and awoke that night in his casket, broke out of his grave, and went to see Commissioner Dolan. He decided that everyone should still believe his death, but by taking a new identity he could continue to fight crime as a spy for the police. The experiment a success, the Octopus injected himself and the arch-enemies were born.

The Octopus and Floss go on to explain the history of the mystical Blood and once it is regained, he intends to drink it and expand his immortality one step — becoming a god. But first he intends to finally kill the Spirit by having Plaster slice him up into tiny bits, but she instead cuts him loose when he reminds her of a previous romantic encounter. The Spirit then gives the Octopus a beating, ending on the Octopus being crushed under a large Reichsadler eagle statue, and escapes the lair with Plaster. They kiss, only for her to impale the Spirit on her sword.

Bleeding profusely he stumbles down to the city docks, but collapses into the water where he gives in to his demise and confronts the beautifully ethereal Angel of Death, the siren Lorelei (Jaime King), who has endlessly haunted the Spirit’s sleep throughout the entire film, as he is the only man to have ever wrongfully escaped death. His hallucinations of her lead to surreal images of her taking him where he truly belongs, thus causing him to start drowning in real life, but he manages to gather his senses and remember Ellen, Sand, and the city all needing him. As the Spirit breaks free and swims to the surface, Lorelei vows vengeance.

The Spirit is found and put into Ellen’s critical in the hospital, but abruptly awakens cursing the Octopus. Dolan is fed up with the Spirit’s obsession with the villain, but is willing to listen to the Spirit’s plan to achieving victory. At the projects, Sand and her lastest husband/henchman fly in with the Blood of Heracles and meet Floss and a clone carrying the Golden Fleece. After a four-way standoff observed by Dolan and Morgenstern, Sand attempts to convince Floss to get out of serving the Octopus before he kills her, but Floss claims to be acting out of a twisted gratitude for the Octopus, who will pay for her Ph.D when his scheme for immortality is a success. The two criminals transfer the treasures and both minions are shot, at which point the Octopus emerges from his truck and asks Floss for the vase. Unable to take a side, Floss decides to abandon the Octopus and drives off as the Spirit suddenly appears some distance away on the street.

The Octopus repeatedly unloads on the approaching Spirit with progressively bigger guns, finally downing him with a pair of four-barreled shotguns. Dolan’s SWAT team then storms the area, along with attack helicopters, and opens fire on the Octopus who shoots back with two gargantuan machine guns as all the cloned thugs are riddled with bullets. The carnage ends when Morgenstern uses a huge combination RPG to blow off one of the Octopus’s arms and Dolan shoots him in the head as Ellen arrives, but the Octopus simply pops out the bullets. He runs to the Blood of Heracles and prepares to drink it, but Sand shoots the vase just in time. The Spirit then reappears, revealed to have been wearing one of the new police flak jackets for protection, and uses a grenade to blow the Octopus to smithereens as Sand swiftly uses the Golden Fleece to shield herself and the Spirit from the explosion.

The showdown over, the Spirit gives Sand the locket back and embraces her in a passionate kiss as Ellen looks on feeling betrayed. The old flames bid each other goodbye and the Spirit convinces Dolan to let Sand go in gratitude for saving the world, though the Spirit is grudgingly told that he "had something to do with it". He then tries to patch things up with Ellen, but she has become wise to and possibly even accepting of their relationship always being so fractured. Elsewhere, Floss discovers the Octopus’s severed finger crawling toward her and drives off with it and the final two clones, Adios and Amigos, left to wonder what she is to do with her life now but she has another plan to recreate The Octopus. At dawn, the Spirit stands triumphant on a rooftop with his cat, still not entirely certain who or what he is, but peacefully concluding his narrative about the only love he can ever truly have being the city.

[edit] Cast

  • Gabriel Macht as Denny Colt / The Spirit: An ambitious and formerly eager young cop killed on the job, who under mysterious circumstances is reborn as a masked crimefighter with an eye for the ladies.[3] Determined to still keep his beloved city safe, he works with Central City's police force from the shadows. Miller had required actors who wanted the starring role to audition, and Macht was able to attain the role in August 2007.[4]
  • Samuel L. Jackson as The Octopus: A former coroner turned psychotic supervillain who plans to bring all of Central City to its knees and will kill without discretion anyone unlucky enough to stand in his way. Jackson was Miller's first choice for the role and was cast in May 2007.[5] Jackson, Miller, and the costume designer went through the various scenes of the film to design elaborate costumes for the Octopus to wear — to the point that in every scene he appears in his look is different than the one before. They include a samurai robe complete with a wig, a full Nazi SS uniform, a Western duster influenced outfit with a ludicrously out-of-proportion cowboy hat, and a costume consisting of a Russian-esque hat and a fur-lined coat influenced by 1970's blaxploitation pimps. When asked about the change from the Octopus just being recognized by a pair of gloves in the comics to the various costumes, Jackson stated "It's just an opportunity to be larger than life to take the Octopus's theme of dressing the way he feels everyday, or having a theme to his day to day life and making some sense with it. And hopefully the audience will take the ride with us."[6]
  • Scarlett Johansson as Silken Floss: A femme fatale secretary and perversely innocent accomplice to the Octopus, only slightly more sane than he is.[7]
  • Eva Mendes as Sand Saref:[8] The Spirit's childhood sweetheart, who perennially seduces and marries wealthy men, has them killed, and uses their money to fund criminal exploits in a constant pursuit of a life of the highest luxury and influence over the criminal underworld. She is also a tragic anti-heroine, with her policeman father accidentally murdered, causing her to have a hatred of police and Central City, and break up with aspiring cop Denny Colt. In the movie her character shares characteristics with P'Gell from The Spirit comics. The actress told director Frank Miller that she wanted to work with him on The Spirit before she had seen a script for the film.[9]
  • Sarah Paulson as Ellen Dolan: The police commissioner's daughter and a top surgeon who considers it her duty as the Spirit's current flame to keep him healthy and alive (much to her father's chagrin).[3]
  • Dan Lauria as Commissioner Eustace Dolan: The hard-boiled and commanding police commissioner of Central City and the Spirit's father figure.[3]
  • Stana Katic as Morgenstern: A spunky rookie officer and skilled sharpshooter who idolizes the Spirit.[3]
  • Louis Lombardi as Phobos, Logos, Pathos, Ethos, Bulbos, Huevos, Mangos etc.: The Octopus's thuggish and moronic, yet highly resilient cloned henchmen.[3]
  • Jaime King as Lorelei: A phantasmic siren and the Angel of Death waiting to take the Spirit, who must continually force himself to resist her.[10]
  • Paz Vega as Plaster of Paris: A sexy French belly dancer and assassin in the employ of the Octopus, she wields tri-pronged throwing knives and a sword[10]
  • Seychelle Gabriel as Young Sand Saref
  • Johnny Simmons as Young Denny Colt[3]

Frank Miller and DC Comics president Paul Levitz also have cameo roles in the film. [11]

[edit] Production

[edit] Development

In the early 1990s, producer Michael Uslan obtained the rights to Will Eisner's 1940s newspaper-supplement comic book series The Spirit for a live-action film adaptation. The producer promised Eisner that he would not permit anyone who "didn't get it" to work on the project. Two ideas pitched to Uslan were to put the Spirit in a costume and to have the Spirit really be a resurrected dead man that possessed supernatural powers.[12] Screenwriter John Turman, a comic book fan, expressed interest in writing the script.[13]

In July 2004, financier OddLot Entertainment acquired the rights to the film. OddLot's producers Gigi Pritzker and Deborah Del Pete began a collaboration with Uslan, working at Batfilm Productions, to adapt the story. Eisner, who was protective of the rights to his creations, said that he believed in the producers to faithfully adapt The Spirit.[14] In April 2005, comic book writer Jeph Loeb was hired to adapt The Spirit for the big screen,[15] but the writer eventually left the project. Later in April, Uslan approached Frank Miller at Will Eisner's memorial service in New York City several weeks after Miller's Sin City was released in theaters, interested in initiating the adaptation technique with Miller's film for The Spirit.[16] Miller had initially hesitated, doubting his skill in adapting The Spirit, but ultimately embraced his first solo project as writer-director.[12] As Miller described his decision-making, "The only thought in my mind was, 'It's too big — I can't possibly do it.' And I refused. And about three minutes later as I was at the doorway, I turned around and said, 'Nobody else can touch this,' and I agreed to the job on the spot".[11]

In July 2006, the film trade press reported Miller would write and direct the film adaptation for The Spirit ; Miller and the producers publicly announced this at the 2006 Comic-Con International in San Diego, California.[17] Miller said that he was putting together a film treatment that included large parts of The Spirit strip panels. As Miller described the project, "I intend to be extremely faithful to the heart and soul of the material, but it won't be nostalgic. It will be much scarier than people expect".[17] Miller plans to film The Spirit using the same digital background technology that was used for Sin City and 300.[18] The film would also copy specific shots from the comic, similar to Sin City.[19]

In February 2007, Miller completed the first draft of the screenplay, and began work on a second draft.[20] Principal photography was initially slated to begin in late spring 2007.[17] Miller also plans to begin filming Sin City 2 in late spring,[21] but Uslan indicated that filming for The Spirit will begin before Miller starts Sin City 2.[16] Following the casting of Gabriel Macht as the Spirit in August 2007, filming was re-slated for the following October.[4]

[edit] Filming

Filming began in October 2007. Filming took place in Albuquerque Studios in New Mexico.[3] The Spirit was shot using Panavision's Genesis digital camera.[22] The films release was originally scheduled for January 16, 2009, but on May 6, 2008, it was announced that the release date would be moved up to December 25, 2008.[16]

The film contains a number of references to Eisner collaborators and other comics personae. These include "Feiffer Industrial Salt", alluding to Spirit ghost writer Jules Feiffer; "Iger Avenue," named for Eisner & Iger partner S.M. "Jerry" Iger; "Ditko's Speedy Delivery," named for Steve Ditko, a comic book artist and writer; and Donenfeld and Liebowitz, characters played by Richard Portnow and Frank Miller, respectively, and named for two of DC Comics' founders, Harry Donenfeld and Jack Liebowitz.[23]

[edit] Music

The Spirit soundtrack is by David Newman. Producer Deborah Del Prete said in the movie's production and press notes, "We were very fortunate to have a wealth of choices. After seeing samples of the footage literally everyone we wanted to meet with was very excited about taking on the film. The hardest part was having to say no to so many really great music makers. After consideration, the highly accomplished multiple Academy Award nominee David Newman joined the team. Frank wanted elements of the ‘40s jazz sound married with iconic heroic music and even a touch of the spaghetti western. David was able to bring it all home for us."[24] Newman explained, "It's Sand Saref (Eva Mendes) who has the most elaborate of all the themes, because it's based on her relationship with Denny Colt when they were in their teens, well before he became the Spirit. Saref's music ultimately becomes the love theme of the movie. It’s very romantic, almost old fashioned, especially when they finally kiss. Frank Miller and I talked about that scene quite a bit. He really wanted me to 'go for it' – to make their music as romantic as possible. In the end, the Spirit is like a modern day Don Juan, without the psychological ambivalence towards women. He truly loves every woman he meets. It’s part of his makeup. He has a certain naiveté in this respect."[25]

There is an eerie, wordless soprano for Lorelei (Jaime King) that is performed by Newman's 19-year-old daughter Diana, a vocal major at USC.[26]

Christina Aguilera sings a remake of the classic "Falling in Love Again" in the closing credits of The Spirit. The song dates to 1930, written by Frederick Hollander, with lyrics written by Sammy Lerner. The song was originally sung, and popularized, by Marlene Dietrich in the film The Blue Angel (1930). The song was covered by Billie Holiday (1940), Doris Day (1961), Sammy Davis Jr. (1962), and many others.

[edit] Marketing

Gabriel Macht, Frank Miller, Deborah Del Prete, Samuel L. Jackson, and Jaime King at the 2008 Comic-Con convention promoting the film

At the New York Comic-Con on February 24, 2007, director-screenwriter Frank Miller and producer Michael Uslan were scheduled to present a panel for The Spirit,[27] though Miller was unable to attend due to recuperation from hip and leg injuries.[20] Instead, Uslan, fellow producer F.J. DeSanto, and former The Spirit publisher Denis Kitchen presented a panel at which they described the history of the film and the film's progress.[16]

Titan Books produced a making-of book, The Spirit: The Movie Visual Companion by Mark Cotta Vaz, featuring interviews with the cast and crew, photos, storyboards, and production art. It was released November 25, 2008.

The film was rated PG-13 by the MPAA for "intense sequences of stylized violence and action, some sexual content, and brief nudity" making it Miller's first film to be PG-13.[28]

The film was released Christmas Day 2008.

[edit] Reception

[edit] Box office

The Spirit was a box office bomb. The film was released in 2,509 theaters on December 25, 2008. The gross for the opening four-days was $10.3 million, placing 9th in the box office ranking for the weekend.[29] As of May 2009, the film has grossed $19,806,188 domestically and $18,588,842 internationally for a worldwide total of $38,395,030.[1]

[edit] Critical Reception

The Spirit was almost universally panned by critics. The film received a 14% positive rating from 104 reviews on the movie-review aggregate site Rotten Tomatoes[30], and a Metacritic aggregate rating of 30 out of 100, denoting "generally negative reviews", from 24 reviewers.[31] Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times said, "There is not a trace of human emotion in it. To call the characters cardboard is to insult a useful packing material".[32] Ricky Bentley of The Miami Herald said, "Macht manages to meld macho with melodrama to make the Spirit come to life."[33] Frank Lovece of Newsday, a one-time comic book writer, found that, "Gorgeous cinematography and design can't mask the hollow core and bizarre ugliness of this mishandled comics adaptation," and noted that while Eisner's own Spirit was "an average-Joe [...] in a rumpled suit — a vulnerable but insouciant everyman in humanist fables", Miller's Spirit "now has a superpower — a healing factor. Eisner's own spirit must be spinning in its grave".[34] Chris Barsanti of Filmcritic.com stated, "It's a frankly gorgeous effect, liberated by the fact that Miller adapted freely from Eisner's panels -- the two were longtime friends -- to create an organic story instead of slavishly following the master's work," and calling it "one of the year's most refreshingly fun films."[35] Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly, found the movie a "ludicrously knowing and mannered noir pastiche, full of burnt-end romance and 'style', but robotic at its core".[36] Ken Hanke of Mountain Xpress observed, "The film may not move smoothly — Miller’s too fond of 'just damn weird' digressions for that — but it does move and isn’t hard to follow. Its screwiness is deliberate and it’s all a matter of taste."[37]. Jason Heck of The Kansas City Star summed up, "The Spirit is terrific entertainment. It’s a better and a more complete film than Sin City or 300. Having a comic book genius create a comic book movie is a very, very good idea indeed."[38] While A.O. Scott in The New York Times summed up, "To ask why anything happens in Frank Miller's sludgy, hyper-stylized adaptation of a fabled comic book series by Will Eisner may be an exercise in futility. The only halfway interesting question is why the thing exists at all".[39]

[edit] Footnotes

  1. ^ a b Box Office Mojo: "The Spirit", accessed May 24, 2009
  2. ^ "Lionsgate conjures 'The Spirit' with Odd Lot Entertainment and visionary filmmaker and graphic novelist Frank Miller". Comics2Film. May 16, 2007. http://www.comics2film.com/b/index.php?blog=17&title=lionsgate_conjures_the_spirit_with_odd_l&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1. Retrieved on 2008-09-18.  (no longer links to article)
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Kit, Borys (2007-09-25). "Miller's 'Spirit' finds love with Paulson". The Hollywood Reporter. http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/news/e3ib429a97580f60ae2166395f1268d6bf8. Retrieved on 2007-09-25. 
  4. ^ a b Fleming, Michael; Diane Garrett (2007-08-02). "Gabriel Macht to star in ‘Spirit’: Sony picks up rights to comicbook adaptation". Variety. http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117969608.html?categoryid=13. Retrieved on 2007-08-03. 
  5. ^ Siegel,Tatiana; Borys Kit (2007-05-18). "Miller sees Jackson as evil 'Spirit'". The Hollywood Reporter. http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/news/e3ie62938636be2f71fecac797ed78e3302. Retrieved on 2007-05-18. 
  6. ^ Adler, Shawn. "Samuel L. Jackson Takes Us through His 'Spirit' Wardrobe", MTV.com "Splashpage", July 26, 2008
  7. ^ Kit, Borys; Tatiana Siegel (2007-08-17). "It's a triple feature for Johansson". The Hollywood Reporter. http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/film/news/e3ided21673370e52a3d7c4c2e9e6e6674d. Retrieved on 2007-08-17. 
  8. ^ Kit, Borys (2007-08-22). "Mendes moved to join 'Spirit'". The Hollywood Reporter. http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/film/news/e3ia314015383aee6d14c4065f49edf632c. Retrieved on 2007-08-22. 
  9. ^ Carroll, Larry (2007-10-10). "Eva Mendes Has 'The Spirit'". MTV. http://moviesblog.mtv.com/2007/10/10/eva-mendes-has-the-spirit/. Retrieved on 2007-10-10. 
  10. ^ a b McNary, Dave (2007-10-08). "Pair joining 'Spirit' squad". Variety. http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117973594.html?categoryid=13&cs=1. Retrieved on 2007-10-08. 
  11. ^ a b Lovece, Frank. "Spirit guide: Frank Miller adapts Will Eisner's cult comic", FilmJournal.com, December 22, 2008
  12. ^ a b Jordan, Justin (2007-02-25). "NYCC, XTRA: "Will Eisner's The Spirit" Panel". Comic Book Resources. http://www.comicbookresources.com/news/newsitem.cgi?id=9802. Retrieved on 2007-02-26. 
  13. ^ Worley, Rob (2003-06-01). "Countdown To Hulk: John Turman talks about Hulk and other heroes". Comic Book Resources. http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=2196. Retrieved on 2008-06-13. 
  14. ^ Michael, Fleming (2004-07-22). "Odd Lot, Batfilm join forces for 'Spirit'". Variety. http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117908165.html?categoryid=1238&cs=1. Retrieved on 2007-02-13. 
  15. ^ Mohr, Ian (2005-04-05). "Loeb will get into 'The Spirit'". Variety. http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117920635.html?categoryid=1350&cs=1. Retrieved on 2007-02-13. 
  16. ^ a b c d McClintock, Pamela (2008-05-06). "Christmas gets Frank Miller's 'Spirit'". Variety. http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117985199.html?categoryId=13&cs=1&query=The+Spirit. Retrieved on 2008-05-. 
  17. ^ a b c McClintock, Pamela; Ben Fritz (2006-07-18). "Odd job for Miller". Variety. http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117947038.html?categoryid=13&cs=1. Retrieved on 2007-02-13. 
  18. ^ Moro, Eric (2006-11-09). "Exclusive: Frank Miller Talks The Spirit". IGN. http://movies.ign.com/articles/745/745055p1.html. Retrieved on 2007-02-13. 
  19. ^ Carle, Chris (2007-02-24). "NYCC 07: The Spirit". IGN. http://movies.ign.com/articles/767/767757p1.html. Retrieved on 2007-02-25. 
  20. ^ a b Gopalan, Nisha (2007-02-23). "With NY Comic Con kicking off, it's (Frank) Miller time". Entertainment Weekly. http://popwatch.ew.com/popwatch/2007/02/its_been_the_ca.html. Retrieved on 2007-02-24. 
  21. ^ Spelling,Ian (2007-02-23). "Miller: Sin 2 Is Ready To Go". Sci Fi Wire. http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire/index.php?category=0&id=40259. Retrieved on 2007-02-26. 
  22. ^ "The Orphanage Brings VFX And DI Processes Together With Film Master". broadcastbuyer.tv. 2008-04-09. http://www.broadcastbuyer.tv/publish/New_Contracts_24/The_Orphanage_Brings_VFX_And_DI_Processes_Together_With_Film_Master_15639.shtml. Retrieved on 2008-04-10. 
  23. ^ Lovece, FilmJournal.com sidebar: "The Annotated Spirit: A Guide to the Movie's In-joke References"
  24. ^ Cochran, Jay. The Spirit Production Notes & Images, ENI, November 8, 2008
  25. ^ "E-Notes: Composer David Newman Is Visited By The Ghost Of 'The Spirit' Past", iFMagazine, January 1, 2009
  26. ^ Burlingame, Jon. Sound bites: David Newman, Variety, December 17, 2008
  27. ^ "NYCC Announces More Special Guests; Important Deadlines". Comic Book Resources. 2007-01-29. http://www.comicbookresources.com/news/newsitem.cgi?id=9495. Retrieved on 2007-02-13. 
  28. ^ "Latest MPAA Ratings: #119". 2008-08-27. http://www.ropeofsilicon.com/article/latest_mpaa_ratings_119. Retrieved on 2008-08-29. 
  29. ^ Gnerre, Andrew. Marley & Me Enjoys a Record-Breaking Christmas, Movie Maker, December 29, 2008
  30. ^ Rotten Tomatoes.com: "The Spirit"
  31. ^ Metacritic.com: The Spirit
  32. ^ Ebert, Roger. The Spirit (review), Chicago Sun-Times, December 23, 2008
  33. ^ Ricky Bentley. "The Spirit | Treatment does comics crimefighter justice", The Miami Herald, December 24, 2008
  34. ^ Lovece, Frank. The Spirit (review), Newsday, December 24, 2008
  35. ^ Chris Barsanti. "The Spirit", Filmcritic.com, December 25, 2008
  36. ^ Gleiberman, Owen. The Spirit (review), Entertainment Weekly, December 23, 2008
  37. ^ Ken Hanke. The Spirit, Mountain Xpress, December 31, 2008
  38. ^ Jason Heck. The Spirit review: a dazzling visual style, The Kansas City Star, December 24, 2008
  39. ^ Scott, A.O. "Returned From the Dead, Ducking Villains and Vixens", The New York Times, December 25, 2008

[edit] References

[edit] External links

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Superman and the Mole Men (1951) • Batman (1966) • Steel (1997) • Road to Perdition (2002) • Catwoman (2004) • A History of Violence (2005) • Constantine (2005) • V for Vendetta (2006) • The Spirit (2008) • Watchmen (2009) • Jonah Hex (2010)
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Batman/The Spirit · Darwyn Cooke  · The Spirit
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