A low-rent superhero

When it comes to comic book movies, I admit to a certain weakness for the lower-budget movies that feature the second-string heroes. I'm probably one of the few movie fans who prefers The Rocketeer (1991) and The Shadow (1994) to the Superman/Batman/Spider-Man extravaganzas. The films with the lesser heroes are usually lighter in tone, funnier, charming, more self-deprecating and self-conscious, and less burdened with angst. Sadly, the recent The Spirit turns out to be a second-stringer with pretentious ambitions toward blockbuster status and it seems to have wound up with no audience at all, despite being directed by fanboy fave Frank Miller, who originated the Batman "Dark Knight" storyline and wrote the graphic novels Sin City and 300 which became hit movies (and also directed Sin City which I have not seen).

The Spirit, created in the 1940's by Will Eisner, was a Batman-like crimefighter (though wearing a hat, suit, tie, and mask rather than a colorful costume) who was brought back from the dead and became a shadowy vigilante. My memory of the few Spirit stories I read is that Eisner had a light touch, filling the stories with humor and exaggerated Dick Tracy-like characters. The movie, of course, has to shove the story toward dark brooding angst, but as the characters remain very surface and comic-bookish, the tone of the film falls flat. Gabriel Macht makes a handsome hero (though we never actually see his face without his small "domino" mask) but he's not very compelling--more the fault of the writing than his acting. Samuel L. Jackson chews every last bit of scenery as the villain The Octopus, who it turns out was responsible for bringing the Spirit (actually policeman Denny Colt) back to life. I usually like Jackson (he was the only reason to sit through Snakes On a Mother-F**kin' Plane), but he wears out his welcome very quickly here. The women are the more interesting characters, namely Eva Mendes as Sand Seref, Colt's old flame who exists in that gray area between good guy and bad guy, and Sarah Paulson as the police commissioner's daughter. Scarlett Johansson, whom I almost never like, is as unlikable as ever as a rather drab villianess.

The only reason to see this movie is the visual style; it looks great on an HD TV, and probably looks even better in Blu-ray. Long stretches of it look exactly like a graphic novel brought to life, and sometimes, especially in the beginning, the look alone is exhilarating enough to keep your attention; the problem is that what's happening on screen is either stupidly convoluted or deadly dull (or both). I'm sorry I didn't like this film, but if you want to show off your big-screen TV to your friends, you might consider renting this for a night.