Review: The Spirit

Year: 2008
Director: Frank Miller
Screenplay: Frank Miller
Starring: Gabriel Macht, Samuel L Jackson, Scarlett Johansson, Eva Mendes

Click here for the synopsis

So I guess it's about time to watch my first movie of the year and I decided on The Spirit. The film has not only been blasted for it's marketing, but has been critically destroyed by almost every reviewer even by critics who are fans of it's director/writer Frank Miller. It hasn't fared much better on the imdb either. But with this said there has been some glowing user comments every so often.

I find myself usually siding with movies like this. I don't know why, I just do. Especially if I watch them a few weeks after the opening release date, when the hype dies down and you can try and watch the film for what it is. In watching The Spirit I released that the marketing for the film was horrendously misguided. Sin City this ain't. In fact apart from the way the movie is filmed and it's creator, the movie doesn't have too much in common with Sin City.

The first major difference is the tone, while Sin City was tough, gritty, ugly film. The Spirit has a camper feel. It's more reminiscent of The 60's Batman Movie. it's over the top, it knows it's a movie and wishes to be a frothy mix of heroism, boards, guns and humor. I have no problem with that and neither do the fans of film.

I do have a problem with; awkward scenes, bland humor, weak acting, irritating dialogue and a dull story. At times I could see a semi-interesting film with The Spirit but I don't think Miller has found it.

The Spirit wants to be all out campy fun. That's fine. But in order to come across well you need conviction, you need chemistry, you need to characters to come alive. When I watch something like The Spirit I don't expect Oscar winning material but I do want a sense of fun. However Miller's direction of scenes left me cold. Scenes go on too long, past the point of the jokes being funny and the point being made. Case in point the first encounter between The Spirit and Octopus. Their first fist fight is not only excruciatingly long but also exceedingly dull. In fact it places the film on the wrong foot (it's not that far into the movie) as the share length of the scene slows any sort of momentum which is desperately needed for a film such as this one.

Much of the film is like this. Directed and written with no build up of excitement or tension. The McGuffin's that the characters are looking for are just not interesting enough to be talking about at length but the characters drone on, nattering on and on (with their awkward dialogue) but not engaging in any shape or form. We'd hope that if this was the case then Miller will pull out all the stops with the action of the film and while he doesn't go down the MTV action route (editing every half second) he doesn't bring forth any set pieces of interest. We get some fist fights some gun fights but they're forgotten very quickly. It doesn't help that the lead characters can't "die" in any conventional way. So like Superman the only way we would fear for our hero is down to an extremely outlandish element of plotting.

Miller tones down some of the more interesting aspects of his film with his tired plotting (to add to his stale direction). The story is not only wafer thin but narrative is set so low that when we finally get to the end...it plays off like an afterthought. Nothing arcs, nothing pulls us in, the film starts and ends on the same level. I'm extremely surprised that aspects as the love triangle that lies in the movie is rarely utilized to it's utmost level. It's a crying shame when you can't bring out an explosive outcome of a love triangle that includes a woman as stunning as Eva Mendes.

But then saying that it's not that Mendes is the most compelling actress. Gorgeous lady but a naff actress. This brings me on to the acting...Considering the tone Miller wanted to convey it's a shame he casts the film with people who don't seem to share the same vision. Gabriel Macht gives a stiff display and gives off little or no presence. This is his movie but he does nothing to show it. In fact the Kudos goes to Samual L Jackson. Jackson invokes the spirit of all the 60's batman villains rolled into one with some shaft added for good measure. It's extremely over the top but once again Jackson shows that he loves the roles he plays and can inject entertainment where there is none. His presence is missed whenever he is not on screen.

Scarlett Johansson gives an odd performance, however it's more watchable than what people have said. Mendes is merely Eye Candy (the same goes for Paz Vegas) and while I love the look of her. I could easily use my laptop to knock one out if I was that desperate. Sarah Paulson and Dan Luria share some ok (abeit generic) scenes together, but it seems that everyone has trouble sharing the screen with Macht. He doesn't have any convincing chemistry with anyone within the film. Miller said himself he found it hard casting the role but with Macht he struck out. i say this but Miller's direction of the film is far from perfect.

I really wanted to like The Spirit but I found it to have too many faults. Fans will argue that people "didn't get it" and should "switch off their brains". I knew what Miller wanted to do, I didn't place much thought into my review of the film (as you can see from the writing), I just didn't like it.

Byron ponders over S. Darko

I am a big Donnie Darko fan. I remember watching it at the cinema just before everyone went crazy about it in Britain. I watched it another 5 times in 5 different cinemas and almost killed myself to get the Region 1 DVD before the to find out more about the wunderkind Richard Kelly and his amazing film.....

I then watched the Richard Kelly written Domino as well as Kelly also wrote and directed. I have now decided that the young "Wunderkind" is an uneven nutjob....a warning...your fave filmmakers should have made more than one film lol.

Donnie Darko is still one of my favorite films. The original theatrical cut had the perfect balance of mysticism and emotion for me. Gyllenhall's fantastic lead performance, a solid supporting cast, Kelly's seemingly assured direction and strangely heartwarming story....

But I digress. Because this blog entry is about the even more bizarre entity named S. Darko.
S Darko is the sequel to Kelly's original film. The only thing is...Richard Kelly isn't involved and the only cast member left in the film is Daveigh Chase. Chase played Samantha Darko (the youngest sibling) in the first film and is now the lead (and hot btw and this girl was the ghost in the ring!)

So I checked out the synopsis which reads:

S. Darko takes place in the summer of 1995, seven years after the original film. It follows Donnie Darko's younger sister, Samantha (Daveigh Chase), who, in the wake of his death, has found herself at age 17 with a broken family, mired in feelings of insignificance. She and her best friend Corey (Evigan) set off on a road trip to Hollywood in a bid to 'make it big', but their journey is cut short when their car breaks down unexpectedly, leaving them stranded in a small desert town. When a meteorite happens to crash-land nearby, Samantha is plagued by bizarre visions telling of the universe's end and it appears that their breakdown was part of some grander plan. When she finds out she was actually adopted by the Darkos, and that she is in no way related to Donnie, she must face her own demons and, in doing so, save the world and herself

Now I don't know about you but in reading this full synopsis....doesn't this kinda fuck up the original film somewhat? I don't want to sound like the sad fanboy geek here...however in making Sam Darko a step-daughter....it kinda fucks with a lot of plot points of the original story. Kelly's film was far fetched in a few of his ideas (the man's quite an original filmmaker but he over reaches) but when it came to the family dynamic of Donnie Darko he got it right. In listening to the commentary he even hints that other members of the family hold similar symptoms and that it flows through the bloodline (i.e The Dad is an insomniac too etc). But despite the hints that flow through the movie. The film is about Donnie and about him being the chosen one so to speak.

Kelly's film is written in such a way that despite how ambiguous the film is to many. It wraps up quite neatly. People around the character have a "feeling" about him and are connected for reasons they are not short about but Donnie is the balance. Maybe it's just me but it works that he's the Jose Mourinho of the bunch, the special one if you will.

Passing the mantle like they have to the younger sister (a step sister btw) seems so cheap to me. It renders the end of the first film almost pointless in the grand scheme of things....unless....

The film wasn't called S Darko. Is it just me or is the only reason it's connected to Richard Kelly's 2001 film is so it could get green lighted? Sure fans of DD would complain that S. Sparko would be very close to their cult favorite but if you look at the synopsis the film is quite salvageable without the Darko name. In placing the Darko name on the film, it's lodged the Darko universe within the movie as well, and considering that no one who was involved in the first film is one this one it just seems false.

Ok I'm rambling slightly. However we all know that when we watch this movie side by side S Darko won't have any resemblance to Donnie but will throw in the Donnie name and backstory to try and appear hip, cool and cult. Bit of a shame.

Crank 2 Trailer released

So I checked out the Crank 2 red band trailer....after the long (for a trailer) montage of swearing....what we get is more of the same crazy shite that was seen in the original movie. However the two directors have decided to go even more over the top than before and it doesn't look too bad. I did have my doubts about the second film after how the first film ended (quite a perfect closed ending to be honest).

The link for the trailer is here.

So while I took the first film far too seriously the first time I watched it, after a DVD rewatch I enjoyed it a lot more. The second film ups the stakes in bat shit insanity and I reckon I'll find this sequel will be far more enjoyable than some of the other larger budgeted follow ups released this year (I am talking about Transformers 2 here).

BUT! I just checked out the Crank 2 blog website and for some reason the filmmakers decided to place Geri Halliwell in the movie....So with this said Micheal Bay will probably win again in the hot woman in action film casting.

Review of the year: 2008

Well 2008 is almost over and 2009 is gearing itself up to be a quite a good movie year. Hopefully I will locate more cash and go to the movies more often than I did in 2008. However with the credit crunch (read: cute word for recession) rearing it's ugly head, this seems unlikely!

However with it all said and done I still managed to check out enough movies to have a top five list of films and that's all that matters. I also have a bottom 3 list of movies that I found unbelievably dreadful. Why only three? Because films that sucked hard should not have an equal amount of reading time as films I actually enjoyed.

Also, none of the films on either list are in any sort of order as I don't see the point.

So without further ado:

BYRON'S FAVE FIVE FILMS OF THE YEAR (2008 UK CINEMA RELEASE)

No Country for Old Men:

A meditation of fate and a truly quality Neo-western

Cloverfield:

The Monster movie re-vamped with a sprinkling of Blair Witch for the youtube generation.



There Will Be Blood:

PTA's most mature offering to date with a power house performance by Daniel Day Lewis

The Dark Knight:

There's no introduction needed. You knew this would show up somewhere.




Juno:
A sweet and simple coming of age film, which suddenly became a figure of hate for being successful.

THE WORST FILMS I WATCHED THIS YEAR (UK CINEMA RELEASE 2008):

Jumper:

The usually reliable Doug Liman gives us; not only a bad movie but half a bad movie.




Awake:

Dreary Thriller with no surprises and Hayden Christensen AGAIN!

The Happening

Zooey and Mark running...from nothing....for 90 minutes...fucking tragic.

Roll on next year!

Man doesn't get mad...he gets shooty

A small newspaper article caught my eye yesterday. I had a quick search on the internets and found an article covering more about it courtesy of Total Film. For those who are too lazy to read the hyperlink....Basically James Joseph Cialella Jr got so pissed off at a father and son talking during a screening of The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button*, he decided to pop a cap in the dads ass (well arm).

Now while we all hope the father recuperates and gets well soon....

WHO THE HELL HASN'T WISHED THEY CAN DO SOMETHING SIMILAR IN A CINEMA?!??!!?!?

Seriously. As a cinema goer and ex cinema worker, the chances of getting an usher (usually a skinny student*) to help you can be quite limited. To add to this some people take the absolute piss when at a cinema. Talking during the ads and trailers I get, but people constantly having a conversation during the film can effectively ruin other peoples viewing experience. The other people have paid too ya know!!!

While it sounds like I'm trying to justify going postal during a pubic cinema screenings, usually when you ask someone to be quiet during a film these days, the said party will ignore you, talk even louder or bemoan something about their rights.

People should not get shot when at a cinema (or anywhere to be honest) but on the flipside...if everyone had their gobs shut during a film because they weren't sure if the nutter beside them was packing...Well you'd have more people enjoying their visit to the cinema.

*You know how people get so worried about violence in movies..... Benjamin fucking Button!?!?!?!?

**Trust me most of the people who worked with me when i worked at a cinema...skinny students...me included.