Lower Decks

The Spirit (PG-13)
Opened December 25th, 2008

Going into the theater, I knew next to nothing about The Spirit aside from what was shown in the many trailers I saw on television and promotional photographs floating around the Internet.  I was aware that it was based on a Will Eisner comic strip (although for some reason I was under the mistaken assumption that it was from the 1930s and set in the Wild West) and that it was directed by Frank Miller (who also directed Sin City, which I enjoyed).  In other words, there were no expectations on my part about who the movie would respect the source material and thus no expectations that could be dashed. So when I say The Spirit was a very, very disappointing movie, it has nothing to do with anger on my part as a fan of Eisner’s strip.

My disappointment with The Spirit has to do with the stilted dialogue, painful acting, chaotic atmosphere and confusing mix of live-action and animation.  Was The Spirit supposed to be a dark and serious movie about crime and violence or a cartoony blend of intentional parody and cliche?  I didn’t know while I was watching the movie and I don’t know now.  If the former, The Spirit was an abject failure. If the latter, I simply can’t understand why there seemed to be such an effort to paint the movie as deep and/or complex.

I’m not going to sit here and say I hated The Spirit, because I didn’t, or that it is an awful movie, because it isn’t.  As a fun, popcorn flick The Spirit delivered.  Aside from the opening battle between The Spirit and The Octopus (which was difficult to follow and played too much for laughs) the fight scenes and explosions were enjoyable, especially the final, massive encounter between Central City’s police force and The Octopus and his goons.  And all the women were beautiful which is always a plus in a movie like this (or any movie, for that matter). I do question the rationale behind the skimpy outfit worn by Eva Mendes (as Sand Saref) during the final confrontation.

Some of the acting was, to put it kindly, suspect. Gabriel Macht was adequate as The Spirit but the deep voice made him sound like a poor man’s Christian Bale. If that’s his normal voice I’ll concede the point. But if the low register was intentional on the part of the producers to make The Spirit seem more menacing, it came across as forced. Samuel L. Jackson, bless his heart, seemed woefully out of place as The Octopus, who to say the least was over-the-top. As an aside, is there any logic behind The Octopus being called The Octopus? Did we ever see him with eight of anything — or mention a need to have eight of anything — aside from the shotguns at the very end of the movie? And what about his obsession with eggs? What was that about? But I digress.

Dan Lauria was superb as Commissioner Dolan and Sarah Paulson worked well as his daughter, Doctor Ellen Dolan (her character did seem somewhat unnecessary). Eva Mendes didn’t have all that much to do as Sand Seref but when she did appear on screen she was fine (the same can’t be said for Seychelle Gabriel, who played Young Sand, and overacted to excess). And I haven’t got a bad word to say about Louis Lombardi as Pathos and his ilk. Their comic relief did a lot to push  The Spirit towards cartoony rather than dramatic, however.

Scarlett Johansson (as Silken Floss) and Stana Katic (as Morgenstern) were the standouts, milking their minor roles to exquisite perfection. Katic’s eager go-getter of a rookie police officer was the perfect counterpart to Lauria’s hard ass commissioner.  Whether it was getting trapped in a revolving door or busting out an over sized gun with obvious delight, Katic was wonderful.  As for Johansson, every line was delivered with just the right inflection to make me wonder what she was doing partnered with The Octopus.  Silken’s conversation with Sand during the exchange scene in which Silken revealed she simply enjoyed the work was very well done.

I can’t really comment on Jaime King’s performance because I really didn’t understand what was going on with Lorelei Rox. Obviously, she was supposed to represent Death and The Spirit is being chased by Death due to coming back from the death. Why wasn’t Lorelei after The Octopus as well? Was she a figment of The Spirit’s imagination?  Who knows.

In short, The Spirit was a movie that couldn’t make up its mind about how it wanted to be received. The use of animation with no apparent rhyme nor reason simply reflected the larger issue.  As is often the case with movies of this nature, however, it all comes down to expectations.  Will fans of Eisner’s comic strip enjoy The Spirit?  My guess is no they won’t.  And anyone looking for a coherent storyline or characters they’ll understand probably won’t like it either.  But as a movie to watch with some popcorn and no high hopes, The Spirit has its merits.  And that’s the best thing I can say about it.