The Spirit (Gabriel Macht; “American Outlaws”) is a costumed vigilante who works with the police to bring criminals to justice. He wears a small “Lone Ranger” mask over his face and is always seen with a red tie (the only color in the film) and trench coat. The Spirit was a police officer who was killed and came mysteriously back to life. His identity is known only to a select few. The Spirit’s primary drive is to wipe out crime, starting with his arch-nemesis. The main villain, The Octopus, is performed by Samuel L. Jackson in full-on parody mode. The Octopus is a mad scientist who makes frequent wacky, off-the-cuff remarks when he’s not in a yelling frenzy. There is a large cast of femme fatales and some good girls who are infatuated with The Spirit. They frequently distract the hero from his mission, which he doesn‘t seem to mind. Meanwhile, the Octopus is searching for an ancient potion which will make him nearly invincible.
Macht is a blank in the super hero role, neither adding nor detracting from the movie but just simply there. The problem is the movie around the hero. The Spirit goes from one outrageous situation to the next, spouting cheesy lines along the way. None of the “gee whiz” mannerisms work here as they did in “The Rocketeer,” especially when contrasted with the needless brutality that Miller includes in the film. The Octopus’s underlings are tortured, run over, and eradicated like vermin, often for comic affect. The hero and the villain pummel each other in the opening fight scene, neither barely making a mark on the other. Miller can’t have it both ways, wholesomely silly and sadistically deadly, and expect the viewer to take the mess seriously.
The actresses in the film, Eva Mendes (“Hitch”), Scarlett Johansson (“Vicky Cristina Barcelona”), and Sarah Paulson (“Down with Love”) have the most unappealing roles. They are glorified sex symbols in the story, barely keeping a straight face as one sexual undertone runs into the next. The actress playing a young San Saref puts on a more convincing performance than Mendes does with the same character. Johansson can not completely sell the silly lines she is hampered with, performing across from a madcap Jackson. Paulson is the most believable character but underdeveloped and chronically underappreciated by the hero.
Miller co-directed “Sin City,” the only other film he’s made, with the indie genius Robert Rodriguez. Apparently, the emotional center of that film and the understandable narrative structure were compliments of Rodriguez. Like his fellow comic book writer turned director David Goyer (“Batman Begins”), Miller should stick with writing and leave the directing to others more capable. “The Spirit” is a black and white mess from beginning to end and a debasement of both the cinema and comic art form.
Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of stylized violence and action, some sexual content and brief nudity.
