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Movies / On DVD / The Spirit
The Spirit

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The Spirit (2008)

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Reviews Counted:107

Fresh:15

Rotten:92

Average Rating:3.5/10

Consensus: Though its visuals are unique, The Spirit's plot is almost incomprehensible, the dialogue is ludicrously mannered, and the characters are unmemorable.

Rated: 12A [See Full Rating] for intense sequences of stylized violence and action, some sexual content and brief nudity.

Runtime: 1 hr 48 mins

Genre: Action/Adventure

Theatrical Release:01-01-2009

Synopsis: Adapted from the legendary comic strip, THE SPIRIT is a classic action-adventure-romance told by genre-twister FRANK MILLER (creator of 300 and SIN CITY). It is the story of a former rookie cop... Adapted from the legendary comic strip, THE SPIRIT is a classic action-adventure-romance told by genre-twister FRANK MILLER (creator of 300 and SIN CITY). It is the story of a former rookie cop who returns mysteriously from the dead as the SPIRIT (Gabriel Macht) to fight crime from the shadows of Central City. His arch-enemy, the OCTOPUS (Samuel L. Jackson) has a different mission: he’s going to wipe out Spirit's beloved city as he pursues his own version of immortality. The Spirit tracks this cold-hearted killer from Central 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 our masked crusader. Surrounding him at every turn are ELLEN DOLAN (Sarah Paulson), the whip-smart girl-next-door; SILKEN FLOSS (Scarlett Johansson), a punk secretary and frigid vixen; PLASTER OF PARIS (Paz Vega), a murderous French nightclub dancer; LORELEI (Jaime King), a phantom siren; and MORGENSTERN (Stana Katic), a sexy young cop. Then of course, there’s SAND SAREF (Eva Mendes), the jewel thief with dangerous curves. She’s the love of his life turned bad. Will he save her or will she kill him? In the vein of BATMAN BEGINS and SIN CITY, THE SPIRIT takes us on a sinister, gut-wrenching ride with a hero who is born, murdered and born again. --© Lionsgate Films [More]

Starring: Gabriel Macht, Samuel L. Jackson, Scarlett Johansson, Eva Mendes

Starring: Gabriel Macht, Samuel L. Jackson, Scarlett Johansson, Eva Mendes, Sarah Paulson, Dan Lauria, Paz Vega, Jaime King

Director: Frank Miller

Director: Frank Miller
Screenwriter: Frank Miller
Producer: Deborah Del Prete, Gigi Pritzker, Michael Uslan
Composer: David Newman
Studio: Lions Gate Films

[See More Credits]

  • Trailers
  • Pictures
  • Michael Uslan & F.J. DeSanto
    >
    Video Interview: Eva Mendes
    >
    Trailer
    >
    SDCC '08: Cast & Crew Interviews
    >
  • Trailer #2
    >
    Trailer #3
    >
    "My City Screams" Featurette
    >
    Creating Central City
    >
  • Sewers
    >
    The Women of The Spirit
    >
    Eye Candy
    >
    Spirit vs Octopus
    >
  • Alley Fight
    >
    Common Criminal
    >
    A Touch of Noir
    >
1 - 4 of 15

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Reviews for The Spirit

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1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | 1 2 3 4 5 6 >> >|
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No amount of flash can camouflage the career-low performances, the scaffolding where characterisation should be, the pitiful cod '40s dialogue, the monstrously fumbled comedy.

Full Review Source: SFX Magazine | comment Comment
05/12/09
Nick Setchfield
Nick Setchfield
SFX Magazine

Displaying admirable love for pulp material and striking enviably sexy poses, but missing the emotional resonance, zeitgeist-catching populism and mainstream thrills which found movie franchises.

Full Review Source: Empire Magazine | comment Comment
01/05/09
Kim Newman
Kim Newman
Empire Magazine
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Every once in a while a genuine turkey escapes the coop, bereft of charm or wit, utterly lacking in technical prowess, integrity or intelligence. ‘The Spirit’ is such a film.

Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
01/05/09
Tom Huddlestone
Tom Huddlestone
Time Out
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Miller shoots it in the inky graphic style of Sin City, but he clearly hasn't a clue how to stage a scene, or shoot it, and he singly fails to animate his actors.

Full Review Source: Times [UK] | comment Comment
01/05/09
Tom Charity
Tom Charity
Times [UK]
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Frank Miller's adaptation of the antique comic strip by Will Eisner is brash, noisy and so alarmingly ill-paced that it should, by rights, come with a software package that allows viewers to recut it as they see fit.

Full Review Source: Guardian [UK] | comment Comment
01/05/09
Xan Brooks
Xan Brooks
Guardian [UK]
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

The Spirit’s greatest crime is that it is so boring – encapsulated in a scene where the Spirit and the Octopus slug it out for an eternity as both are sucked into treacly mud.

Full Review Source: Sky Movies | comment 1 Comment
01/05/09
Rob Daniel
Rob Daniel
Sky Movies

Miller's adaptation certainly looks impressive and the female characters are all drop-dead gorgeous in a Sin City way, but the script and story are all over the place and it never really comes together.

Full Review Source: ViewLondon | comment Comment
01/05/09
Matthew Turner
Matthew Turner
ViewLondon

A movie trailer can give unintended clues as to what to expect - The Spirit's (see it on YouTube if you missed it) is one long piece of chaos. And so is the pic.

Full Review Source: Teletext | comment Comment
01/02/09
Victor Olliver
Victor Olliver
Teletext

This screen adaptation of Will Eisner's beloved comic books is intriguing enough to be watchable, but is so chaotic that it doesn't work at all

Full Review Source: Shadows on the Wall | comment Comment
01/01/09
Rich Cline
Rich Cline
Shadows on the Wall

Frank Miller's first solo effort as a director is an entertaining, if forgettable, cinematic imagining of Will Eisner's classic superhero The Spirit.

Full Review Source: Screen International | comment 3 Comments
12/19/08
Mike Goodridge
Mike Goodridge
Screen International

If Frank Miller is aiming for camp, he's playing cricket with a sledgehammer

Full Review Source: CinePassion | comment Comment
08/26/09
Fernando F. Croce
Fernando F. Croce
CinePassion

Certifiably, but agreeably, insane, "The Spirit" plays like "Dick Tracy" on brown acid. Dialogue is bleated, not spoken. Artifacts are used as snuggle blankets. And it's aggressively bizarre, but it's the definition of guilty-pleasure entertainment.

Full Review Source: Suite101.com | comment Comment
06/17/09
Nick Rogers
Nick Rogers
Suite101.com

More interested in being a technical marvel than a coherent story.

Full Review Source: FilmJerk.com | comment 1 Comment
04/29/09
Edward Havens
Edward Havens
FilmJerk.com

Soa como uma mistura desajeitada de filme noir e da série de tevę Batman produzida na década de 60.

Full Review Source: Cinema em Cena | comment Comment
03/20/09
Pablo Villaca
Pablo Villaca
Cinema em Cena

As an action director Miller is almost as clumsy as Baz Luhrmann, but he's far from naďve, and presumably the delirium of The Spirit is exactly what he intended.

Full Review Source: The Age (Australia) | comment Comment
02/13/09
Jake Wilson
Jake Wilson
The Age (Australia)

Miller's background as an artist was undoubtedly an important factor in achieving the striking visual effects. It's just when the human characters dominate the action that the film sinks like a stone.

Full Review Source: The Australian | comment Comment
02/06/09
David Stratton
David Stratton
The Australian

It's a plot from the 'more is more' school of scriptwriting and while the live action crossed with stylised graphic novel effect is sublime, it can't distract from the clunkiness of it all.

Full Review Source: MovieTime, ABC Radio National | comment Comment
01/30/09
Jason Di Rosso
Jason Di Rosso
MovieTime, ABC Radio National

The Spirit is hollow, with a convoluted plot, and Miller has clearly opted for visual style over thematic depth.

Full Review Source: FILMINK (Australia) | comment 1 Comment
01/29/09
Jade Tyrrell
Jade Tyrrell
FILMINK (Australia)

As it went on, I discovered that it had a kind of appealingly dumb, playful quality.

Full Review Source: Combustible Celluloid | comment 1 Comment
01/09/09
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Combustible Celluloid

Miller's directing chops, er, chop, is non-existent, offering up a muck of amateurish posturing, weak storyline and tedious characters. As for the title? Ouch, that's some irony.

Full Review Source: Indie Movies Online | comment Comment
01/08/09
Kimberly Gadette
Kimberly Gadette
Indie Movies Online
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | 1 2 3 4 5 6 >> >|
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Latest News for The Spirit

April 13, 2009: RT on DVD: Frank Miller Talks The Spirit, Michel Gondry Releases New Music Video DVD
It's a light week for home video entertainment, but never fear -- RT on DVD is here! We'll kick things off with the biggest title of the week: Frank Miller's The Spirit, which... More...

January 10, 2009: ASpiritedLife.com: The Eva Mendes Spirit Interview: Kicking Ass And Revealing Some Too Opens in new window
More...

January 04, 2009: TeenDirectory.net: Erotic sleuthing laced with backwards babes, and Paulson on female doormat duty while Scarlett's shrewdie hangs with a murderous gang of homicidal fattie clones, like an underworld Madonna bossing an obedient crew of paunchy boy toys. Opens in new window
More...

December 29, 2008: Visually spectacular adaptation of Will Eisner's legendary comics creation is all Frank Miller and very little Eisner. Part crime thriller, part superhero origin story, it opts for bombastic weirdness rather than the comic's trademark humanism. Opens in new window
More...

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