The Spirit - Thoughts

When I first heard of this movie and that Frank Miller was directing it, I knew that I had to see it. Subsequently I watched the trailer and it reminded me of Sin City immediately. The Spirit is based on a comic by Will Eisner. Denny Colt is a rookie cop who comes back from the dead as the Spirit; his mission being to rid central city off the vermin that plague it. Though The Spirit follows a similar style to Sin City it's not to be confused with Sin City 2; that's a project that Frank Miller is working on independently.


After having watched the movie I have some mixed feelings. Frank Miller's film noir style, emphasized with high contrast black-and-white and a single prominent color was incredible as always. Accompanied with powerful narration and a solid soundtrack the movie came alive scene by scene like the comic strip. In terms of presentation The Spirit was simply brilliant. While Sin City was serious all through, The Spirit had a humor component to it which I guess is accurate considering that Will Eisner’s comic strip did have a comedy element to it. That said, the plot in itself was a little weaker than what I would've expected; while it was good, it wasn't great. Don't watch this one when you're tired, or when you’ve left your brain at work. It takes some focused watching to understand properly. It could be just me, but I did get the feeling that the movie was a little all over the place from time to time. If you're one for highly stylized movies, then this one is surely for you; but even otherwise I'd still say it's worth the watch.

Gabriel Macht plays the role of Denny Colt / The Spirit. I was looking through some of his past work and nothing really stood out. I'm guessing that The Spirit was one of his first leading roles. His performance here was pretty decent, but no awards to be handed out just yet. Coupled with the heavily stylized filmmaking, and the dark setting, the emphasis on his performance wasn’t as high as would have normally been. Samuel L Jackson as The Octopus, the nemesis of The Spirit, was convincing as a crazy psycho villain overwhelmed with world domination. Eva Mendes was spot on in her depiction of Sand Saref. She was hot, seductive, obsessive, in-control, and portrayed the required levels of emotion. Lastly, Scarlett Johansson plays Silken Floss, who works closely with The Octopus, supporting his diabolic needs. Silken Floss is an emotionless, cold, and robotic character, who is seemingly very intelligent. Scarlett’s portrayal was faultless.

The DVD I was watching was a Region 1 US DVD. The picture was flawless, and video quality was excellent. The dark scenes were good, and the definition in black and white was very good. Especially for a movie such as this, that so immensely depended on its stylized presentation, I’d emphasize the importance of watching a superior quality transfer. Watching a DivX or a pirated DVD would be pointless. Sound as in most cases nowadays was presented by means of a Dolby Digital 5.1 surround soundtrack. Audio again had a very important role in the overall scheme of things, emphasizing specific scenes in the movie. The use of narration throughout added to the comic book feel, and made understanding clear thanks to center channel delivery. Surround usage was noticeable and ample. Overall the soundtrack was sharp and powerful, working very well for The Spirit.

My Recommendation: Watch It (incredibly stylized and presented brilliantly)