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30 Minutes of Frank Miller's The Spirit Reviewed

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the wish-i-got-to-see-it dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Thirty minutes of footage from Frank Miller's forthcoming The Spirit were shown to journalists in London yesterday. The description paints a picture of a highly stylized movie, somewhere between Sin City and Crimewave ..."

10 of 100 comments (clear)

  1. How so? by dlaudel · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Wouldn't people just sneak in to see it rather than pay?

  2. I have a bad feeling about this by genner · · Score: 3, Funny

    This will be bad. I mean really horribly bad. I mean crawl under the covers and watch the Star Wars Christmas Special bad. You may have thought the Matrix sequels were bad but that's peanuts to this.

    1. Re:I have a bad feeling about this by ethicalBob · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Hmm.. Methinks thou complains too much...

      Miller has only been credited as a Director on the Sin City projects, and now The Spirit.

      Sin City was great, and a good enough adaptation of his work that he co-produced, DID take a director's credit and is now going on to make a sequel with Rodriguez.

      So whose opinion is more valuable here: Miller's, who has created a huge body or amazing work, or the boxer-short clad /. troll?

      hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.....

      --
      Politics will sooner or later make fools of everybody... - Dick Armey
    2. Re:I have a bad feeling about this by gad_zuki! · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I remember reading a Spirit graphic novel called Life on Another Planet many years ago, but I certainly dont remember lots of sexy ladies and hammy dialogue. Is anything in this movie actually a Spirit story or done in the style of Will Eisner? The Spirit stuff I remember is introspective and smart, not the flashy-trashy stuff Miller now specializes in. For a minute I thought this trailer was for a sequel to his Sin City movie.

  3. Gotta love the classics by elrous0 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I just pray it's even half as good as the film adaptation of The Phantom.

    --
    SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
  4. question by nomadic · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Am I the only one who finds Miller really overrated?

    1. Re:question by jfengel · · Score: 3, Interesting

      No. I find his work visually attractive but stultifyingly misogynistic. I hate the way it glorifies violence. I'm familiar with it mostly from films rather than the books, but the films seem to hew very closely to the books.

      Sin City is the only film I've walked out of in disgust. 300 was beautiful but best viewed with the sound off because the dialogue was incredibly stupid.

  5. Not a review by liquiddark · · Score: 4, Insightful

    There is a difference between a review and a recap of the action. This "review" contains no actual critical discussion. All that the guy has done is recap what he saw. I'm sure it's interesting if you're looking for spoilers, but it's pretty much as unhelpful as you can get in determining the quality of the pic and whether or not it's worth seeing.

  6. Re:Oh dear, hype machine by Fallingcow · · Score: 5, Interesting

    In fact, I'd call it one of the truest representations of the ancient Greek epic storytelling style to ever see the big screen. Since I'm guessing that was the whole point, I'm gonna go ahead and call the movie really damn good, not just as an action movie, but as an expression of art.

    Disagree? Go look at the fight scenes in the Iliad and watch the movie again with that in mind. The somewhat fantastic animals, the way the heroes were larger-than-life, the fights over a fallen comrade, the caricatured enemy--it is exactly the way you'd expect a somewhat-talented ancient Greek storyteller to handle the tale.

    Is it Homer? No. The story itself isn't as good. Is it a story about ancient Greece, told with impressive fidelity to the style of dramatic art popular in that time period? Hell yes. If that was the film makers' goal, then I'd say they nailed it.

    I'd love to see The Iliad done in a similar style, gods and all. It'd be glorious. The Odyssey's another matter, but then it always read more like a modern novel to me, anyway.

  7. Re:The Shadow? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

    As a comic geek, I've read my fair share of Miller Stories and Eisner stories (Will Eisner's the creator of The Spirit, for anyone who might not know). I like both types, but form what I can see of the movie, it's not going to be Eisner's Spirit that we see.

    I have no idea whether or not the movie is going to be any good, but it certainly will not have the wit and light-heartedness of it's source material. Eisner's Spirit was a goofily flawed hero who spent as much time trying to figure things out and getting into trouble as he did saving the day. Miller seems to have kept the getting into trouble part but tossed out any of the lighthearted goofiness. It looks grim and bleak and not very happy. Eisner's Spirit always seemed happy.

    Just my impression from what little I've seen.