| ![The Spirit (Two-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo + Digital Copy and BD Live) [Blu-ray]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51mXovngRvL.jpg) | Director: Frank Miller
Actors: Scarlett Johansson, Eva Mendes, Samuel L. Jackson, Gabriel Macht, Sarah Paulson
Studio: Lions Gate
List Price: $39.99
Buy Used: $7.95
as of 11/25/2009 02:11 CST details
You Save: $32.04 (80%)
New (41) Used (37) Collectible (1) from $7.95
Seller: whebonyvideo
Rating:  37 reviews
Sales Rank: 11741
Format: AC-3, Color, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound, Subtitled, Widescreen
Languages: English (Original Language), French (Original Language), English (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled)
Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Media: Blu-ray
Region: 1
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Number Of Items: 2
Running Time: 108 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 5
Dimensions (in): 6.7 x 5.3 x 0.5
MPN: 25325
UPC: 031398108450
EAN: 0031398108450
ASIN: B001RHGRSY
Theatrical Release Date: 2008
Release Date: April 14, 2009
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Former rental with center label and minimal rotations. Boxart in great shape also.
|
| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 26-30 of 37
 horrible in every way April 15, 2009
Mark bennett (portland, OR)
2 out of 9 found this review helpful
This is a film that should never have been made. The source material is bad, the script is terrible and the direction is amaturish. There just isn't anything good about it. What it reminds me of is Warren Beatty's 1990 Dick Tracy movie.
The first flaw is the source material. However good Eisner and his ghosts may have been as illustrators in their time, the spirit is a lame and very dated character. It wants to be a Noir Private Eye story, it wants to be Dick Tracy, it wants to be Batman, it wants to be the shadow but in the end its just a mess dervative of everything but standing for nothing. The character is also not one that ever held a special iconic place in American culture (outside of the closed circles of hardcore comic book fans). And of course there is the racism. Eisner was unapolgetic to the end over the character of "Ebony White". He defended his use of the worse sort of racial stereotypes in later life by comparing his work to that of Charles Dickens. Miller solves the problem by erasing the character and pretending it didn't exist.
And then there is Frank Miller as writer/director. The script is unbelievably bad. The dialogue is simply embarrasing. The problem for Miller is that he is trying to do homiage in a style that is alien to his own. Rather than create his own Spirit in his own style, he wants to ghost Will Eisner (and Eisner's own stable of ghosts). It just doesn't work at any level. What you get here is what you would get if Miller had tried to produce a "batman" story that was true to the crude 1940s stories of Bob Kane or if he had tried to produce a "Daredevil" story based on a 1960s story by Stan Lee. Whatever Miller's faults, he has a personal style. And when he walks away from that style (as in the Spirit), it just doesn't work.
Miller the Director is amaturish in the extreme. He is too committed to trying to swipe Eisner panels visually. He doesn't have the skills to transform his storyboard way of thinking into a film. What the film shows more than anything is the help some of his other film projects have received from good directors. Again, one of the major problems is that he is attempting hoimage to a style radically different from his own and he doesn't have the skills to pull it off. The film is also manic-depressive. It bounces between moods with no particular pattern and ends up doing nothing but being very annoying. Miller simply doesn't know, as a director, how to properly do dramatic transitions.
Overall, there are way too many characters. The film is overloaded with repetitive femme fatales. Eisner using six or seven different ones over years in a strip makes sense. But using six or seven of them in a two-hour film doesn't work. They all blur into each other.
Miller's biggest alteration to the original work is the character of the Octopus. He throws out Eisner's version entirely and replaces it with the standard superhero film villian circia ten years ago. Lots of over the top banter and big guns. Miller often seems to be pushing The Spirit in the direction of being more superhero than the source material.
In summary, the Spirit should never have been made. The character just doesn't work in a film. And if it had to be made, someone other than Frank Miller should have been found to write/direct it. He is too much of a fan doing Homiage as the writer. He doesn't have the dramatic skills necessary to be a director.
 A funny comic book experience April 15, 2009
N. Durham (Philadelphia, PA)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
Based on the bombardment of negative reviews that have plagued Frank Miller's adaptation of his idol Will Eisner's The Spirit, I was expecting possibly the worst comic book adaptation ever made. Well, The Spirit surely isn't that (at least in my eyes), but it's far from being anything quite good either. For me, The Spirit falls somewhere in the middle, between being intentionally campy and unintentionally funny. Gabriel Macht stars as former cop Denny Colt, who was killed and mysteriously found himself back among the living. Fighting crime as the masked vigilante known as the Spirit, he soon finds himself uncovering a plot by his arch nemesis the Octopus (Samuel L. Jackson) while re-discovering his lost love Sand Saref (Eva Mendes). In between all that are a variety of women played by Sarah Paulson, Jaime King, Paz Vega, and Scarlett Johansson; all of whom provide ample amounts of eye candy. It's obvious that legendary comic scribe Miller learned a thing or two working with Robert Rodriguez in bringing Sin City to the screen, as The Spirit is wonderfully stylized and rendered, but is plagued by an inconsistent script that doesn't know if it wants to be gritty or campy. Macht is stale in the title role, while Jackson is clearly having a blast and chews up his scenery. All in all, it definitely isn't something for everyone, but for what it's worth, Frank Miller's take on The Spirit is worth a look for comic fans, albeit it offers little for everyone else.
 A brilliant mix of The Spirit and Frank Miller's style April 11, 2009
the_pseudokings
6 out of 13 found this review helpful
If you 'get' Frank Miller, and like the way he tells a story, you will love this misunderstood/underrated and brilliant movie.
Everyone thinks they 'get' Frank Miller... 'neo-noir', 'gritty', 'crime drama', I suppose there is a point there, but no one seems to understand that his stories are told with a sense of joy, and a flair that is unique. I enjoyed Sin City (the movie) greatly, but... I was missing that joy. Robert Rodriguez's influence is just too strong and it makes the movie much bleaker than the comics. I didn't like 300 (the movie) at all, though the massive over-usage of slow motion and sub-bass had a lot to do with that, but it too was missing the joy... they made the movie about being brave instead of about the joy of battle even against insurmountable odds, and a glorious death (which was a Spartan thing and Frank got it, but Snyder didn't). Here with The Spirit, Frank made a movie only Frank could make, and I loved it. Loaded with that unique sense of joy that only, only Frank Miller can create.
All of the so-called 'movie reviewers' and so-called 'comic fans' that didn't like this movie, just simply didn't 'get' it, or don't like Frank, or don't like The Spirit. Most of these people have never read Frank's comics, or any The Spirit comics, any yet feel 'informed' enough to just assume that because it wasn't what they expected, it must suck. Wrong. I've seen comments about how small most of the femme fatales roles were... there are like seven of them since Frank was trying to get them all some face time. What do these people want? 20 minute monologues for each girl? Or for Frank to narrow it down to 2? Why? Why does a character have to have a huge role just because they are played by a known actress? If they had boring names and boring outfits, and weren't known actresses would anyone have complained? How about the 'inconsistent tone/all over the place' comments? Yes, because every movie must always be serious, or always be silly, or always be melodramatic, or always be zany for it's entirety. I'm sorry but that concept is just too daft for words. News Flash: life has inconsistent tones, and since the movie follows several characters coming to the same end point, it, you know, makes sense. Grow up, and step out of the group-think, comics fans and movie reviewers.
Bottom Line: this movie is an absolute ton of FUN. Pure, joyful, unadulterated Frank Miller fun. Enjoy.
 They can't all be 5 star Blu April 10, 2009
Steve Kuehl (Ben Lomond, CA)
6 out of 10 found this review helpful
I notice people get caught up in the content reviews for this film, but I think one has to look at the entire product to appreciate this piece. Personally, I felt the film was a train wreck at high speed, but technically, I loved it. Skipping the story, which I have watched several times in the store and at home, I instead thoroughly enjoyed the technical aspects.
Sound: The 7.1 DTS got plenty of testing with the POV always getting shifted numerous times through each shoot-out. Quite a few customers who were irritated by the film have asked what scene could be forwarded to in demonstrating an adequate test showing (everyone likes to show off their home theater eventually). That would have to be chapter 14, or 1:24:00 into the film. It provided the best overall performance for screen and channels.
Picture: Not much to pick apart as the green screen visuals appeared flawless, and really the only fault I saw in doing screen captures (both LCD and Plasma) was Eva's nude scene, where it looked as if someone took a magic marker to cover the breast shots (pixelation and mismatched colors). Otherwise, the reflections, eyes and water footage were all managed nicely. Would almost want to compare Tarsem's black and white water emergence footage with Eva's here. Admittedly though, several people with low refresh rate panels get the drag/blur with all of the contrasts and motion.
The supplements are thorough and offer the Eisner and Miller fans plenty to watch and re-watch. The MoLog option has given a few of my customers with too much time on their hands interesting opportunities in adding their own graphics to certain scenes. The menu manipulation has some weaknesses, especially for someone like me who wants to access the beginning of the movie again without waiting for the cycling to finish, it only allows you to surf through ALL chapter stops to get back to 1, instead of looping.
Overall, the visuals catch the eye of anyone walking by, and the feedback has been very split, but for the artistic fans out there this is a definite owner, and for most other parties it will be a renter.
Worst movie in years April 6, 2009
T. Koehn (Illinois)
4 out of 16 found this review helpful
This is the worst movie since the Blair Witch Project. Not that they are in any way related, I just can't think of any other movie that was as terrible as The Spirit. The jokes aren't funny, the action, if you can call it that, is boring. The only thing that could have saved this movie would have been nudity, and there isn't any. This movie is a complete waste of money, they should just throw it in the garbage and hope everyone forgets about it.
Showing reviews 26-30 of 37
|
|
|
