Frank Miller’s The Spirit is Soulless
Posted on | May 15, 2009 | No Comments
I loved Frank Miller.
He’s a brilliant comic book writer/artist and one of the most celebrated creators living today. Sin City, 300, The Dark Knight Returns, Ronin, and various character-defining runs on titles such as Daredevil – all birthed from this man’s wildly imagination.
So when I heard he was helming the movie adaptation of The Spirit, I was pumped. I was really optimistic that he could bring some intelligence and style to this iconic series by the legendary Will Eisner, and with good reasons. Miller co-directed the Sin City movie with Robert Rodriquez, and Miller had complained bitterly in the past that his scripts for Robocop 2 and 3 were butchered by the studio. I was certain Miller’s cinematic version of The Spirit would be full of his trademark machismo and sophistication, after he had gone through those three movie-related experiences.
Instead, The Spirit is an absolutely soulless, steaming pile of [insert disgusting noun here], due largely in part to his mindless script and horrible directing choices. I’m sad to say it could be one of the worst movies to come out in 2008.
I just watched the DVD and it was so bad in fact that I didn’t even sit to watch it through. (And I never walk out on movies.) By the end of the first act, I got so sick of it that I actually fast-forwarded to the climatic battle between the Spirit and his archenemy, the Octopus. And not only had I predicted the outcome 30 minutes previously, but I felt like I hadn’t missed anything by not watching the middle 70-minutes worth that I had skipped over!
One of Miller’s biggest screenwriting mistakes was giving the Spirit healing powers. In the comics, the Spirit was a cop who was murdered and resurrected. Aside from his Lazarus-like reappearance, he had no superpowers — think Batman without the million-dollar gadgets. Yet, for some strange reason, Miller felt compelled to give the Spirit some Wolverine-like regeneration skills. This instantly weakens the character from a storyteller’s perspective.
Why?
If the main hero can heal despite getting a toilet dropped on his head (this actually happens in the movie, ridiculously and metaphorically enough), the audience will never feel like he’s in any danger and therefore will never really care much for what happens to him. And if the audience doesn’t care what happens to the main character, they won’t care what happens to the story because there’s no longer an emotional investment in the story … which is the exact opposite of what you want as a storyteller. It’s this very same reason why Superman will never be as interesting as Batman. If Superman is invulnerable, why should we care how Lex Luthor tries to kill him? That’s why the writers invented kryptonite.
But in The Spirit, there is no logic, let alone any kryptonite-like plot device. There are, however, many other screenwriting mistakes, but I won’t belabor the fact that Miller should have taken a different approach with the script.
As for his biggest directing mistakes … wow, there are too many to list and would fill a week’s worth of blogs. But let’s just say that emulating Rodriquez’s CGI-heavy visual style from Sin City definitely didn’t do him any favors.
Suffice to say, The Spirit sucked massive donkey balls. The sweaty, hairy kind.
I’m disappointed, Frank. I used to love your work. Now I’m just heart broken.
Tags: Batman > Frank Miller > Robocop 2 > Screenwriting > Sin City > Superman > The Spirit