In case you just think we were just being snobby bitches, Variety has just weighed in on Frank Miller’s “The Spirit” too and oof, they fucking trash the film and rightly tear it to shreds.
“A slain cop is resurrected as a masked crime-fighter in ‘The Spirit,’ but Frank Miller’s solo writing-directing debut plunges into a watery grave early on and spends roughly the next 100 minutes gasping for air. Pushing well past the point of self-parody, Miller has done Will Eisner’s pioneering comicstrip no favors by drenching it in the same self-consciously neo-noir monochrome put to much more compelling use in ‘Sin City.’ Graphic-novel geeks will be enticed by the promise of sleek babes and equally eye-popping f/x, but general audiences will probably pass on this visually arresting but wholly disposable Miller-lite exercise.”
Damn, kudos to Variety’s Justin Chang for not pulling any punches and going in fierce. “The Spirit” is total garbage and he’s right to take its head off like this. You should probably be openly embarrassed if you’re endorsing it or writing something remotely positive about this, geek blogger or otherwise. We’ll be watching…
As a graphic novel geek, crapping neon on Eisner’s cornerstone work is nothing I ever had any interest in.