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The Spirit is as beautiful to the eye as Sin City was. Maybe even better. It uses the same technique like that movie which must come as no surprise as Sin City creator and part-director Frank Miller is in full control of this film having written the script and taking up directorial duties. This movie could be displayed in a museum because every frame is a piece of art.
Ok so visually this is a masterpiece, but that doesn’t make it a total masterpiece. There are flaws and they come in fairly large sizes. Most heard complaint is that the movie has no soul, it’s all style, no substance. I agree… partially. There is a story here, but not a very intriguing one. Next to that it is filled with characters with personalities as thin as a page of the comic. Only a handful of characters have a real motivation behind their actions, but most of them do what the scripts and the story require them to do or to be. This is also the case with our protagonist The Spirit. Here is a man, virtually indestructible with no private life. He’s bland, boring and totally uninteresting. Good heroes have real problems or at least alter ego’s with problems. Batman/Bruce Wayne, check, Spider-man/Peter Parker, check and I could go on. The Spirit has only a goal; capture the Octopus because he is a not only a criminal but knows why the Spirit is immortal. He is Fred from Scooby Doo with a mask and a red tie. Oh and without the Mystery Van or a talking dog.
Now this could all be a very good reason the put this doggy down, but I won’t because it has something working for it. Fun! There are tons of things in the movie that make it a fun ride. of course the afformentioned visual style but also the whole quirkyness. Scarlett Johansson’s Silken Floss steals every scene, the tags on the shirts of the henchmen played by Louis Lombardi, Samuel L. Jackson brings almost every line with furious anger as only he can provide. Oh and there is a lot of skin of smoking hot women like Paz Vega and Eva Mendes, the latter showing off her naked butt. This and tons of other stuff make the movie, as soulless as it is, a treat. It throws everything at you, even the kitchen sink. No I’m serious, there is a kitchen sink being thrown in the movie… oh and a toilet too for that matter.
The Spirit deserves a look, even if it’s just for the priceless scene where Jackson and Johansson are dressed up as Nazi’s. A sight to remember!
