THE SPIRIT Film Review - 18/5/09

While you have to respect Frank Miller for his sterling work on 'Sin City' and in the comic book/graphic novel field this comes over as his very own vanity project. Like a teenage wank fantasy for misogynists we have femme fatale women lining up to seduce and be seduced as none of them are 'good girls' at all - Please!! The blue/green screen is awash with black, black and more black with shades of grey and the odd splotch of colour now and again. Don't get me wrong the visuals are stunning and Will Eisner's comics are brought to life fully realised with Frank Miller's subtle touch. It's just that the story is so interminable slow and so slight it would blow away with the breeze from a fan. Scarlett Johansson does her pouty best with the clunky script and Samuel L. Jackson goes overboard as the manic 'Octopus' but even Eva Mendes struggles to breathe a breath of life into this drivel. A couple of scenes do stand out but some of this comes over like a bad knockabout comedy and all-in-all was very tiresome to watch.

Killed on duty a police officer is revived from the dead and becomes the masked vigilante known as 'The Spirit' who cannot die. Fighting in Central City (Yawn!) against the criminal mastermind known as 'The Octopus' and his bevy of villainesses and minions. Anxious to get his hands on a means for immortality The Octopus is after a rare artifact to achieve this. The Spirit will do anything to stop The Octopus and his own ex-girlfriend San Serif from gaining the ultimate prize.