Sep 29 2008'The Spirit' Trailer Continues Frank Miller's Love Affair with Beautiful Women, Ridiculous Dialog, and Monochromatic Ties
In case you haven't given up entirely on Frank Miller's The Spirit adaptation, here's the latest trailer. I swear, every time I start to get any hope this could not be horrible, I get punched in the face with another flagrantly, obnoxiously Frank Miller-esque line ("Get me a tie--and make sure it's RED"? Oh, brother), or catch a glimpse of Samuel L. Jackson, his face streaked with mascara and sideburns, in front of an explosion of fire and redness, and realize, no, this will probably be bad. Never forget the comic booklet convention footage.
Was Octopus alluding to having eight penises? That's weird.
Reader Comments
1. Elmo - September 29, 2008 4:46 PM
Oh my God!!! You can see the Glue on Jackson's chops!!!!
2. Mr. Mason - September 29, 2008 5:11 PM
//Was Octopus alluding to having eight penises? That's weird.//
"I guarantee you he blows a load like a shotgun out her back."
It's funny how often when imaginary characters -- especially comic book-based ones -- come up in conversation, that the topic inevitably turns into how they have sex (a la Brodie Bruce's monologue in Mallrats).
Anyway, this latest trailer has me convinced Frank's bent on doing his version of the '60's Batman (or more to the point, Dick Tracy). After The Dark Knight has managed to break out of the comic book ghetto, The Spirit drags everyone's expectations right back down.
And I'll be there laughing the entire time. I haven't looked forward to a good bad movie this much since The Machine Girl.
3. Grover - September 29, 2008 5:12 PM
this looks stupid
4. K lee - September 29, 2008 5:47 PM
"I'm gonna kill you all kinds of dead" sounds like something a Larry the Cable Guy fan would say to a squirrel before he pulls out his shotgun. LAME.
5. EthanDuke - September 29, 2008 5:48 PM
This looks like all kinds of dumb!
6. Sugreev Ahuja - September 29, 2008 5:54 PM
This is turning out to be worse than Steel or Batman & Robin.
7. Elmo - September 29, 2008 6:03 PM
..does no one else notice the glue thing? *sigh*
8. bryanbruv - September 29, 2008 6:39 PM
i just watched the trailer for this ... and actually it looks really cool :P
scarlett johansson!!!!
scarlett johansson!!!!!!!
scarlett johansson!!!!!!!!!!!
9. Leg3nd - September 29, 2008 6:48 PM
Lol..... He's(Sam...) bald at the start of the trailer(He's hair changes like 3 times). Those chops have to stay on some how.
10. Leg3nd - September 29, 2008 6:57 PM
His*
11. Boss - September 29, 2008 7:26 PM
1.it looks to much like sin city/ 2.the spirit dude looks like a wannabe hero with his stupid little mask/ 3.dialogues are shit/ 4. even some weapons are cgi..wtf/
5.the interaction with the spirit and samuel is something to fall in a fuckin deep sleep/ 5.AND EVERY FUCKIN SECOND I HAVE TO THINK OF SIN CITY!!!!
enough said.....
12. Sioux - September 29, 2008 7:52 PM
Well, what do people expect when the guy who brought the world the super stylized Sin City to make a movie about a cheesy 60s harem style comic book hero named "The Spirit" with a villain who calls himself "The Octopus"?
The movie is on shaky ground just from what the comic book gives us and with Frank Miller behind the wheel with his "let's try something weird" idea of film making, its not looking good.
However, I'll see it nonetheless just for the sex appeal of the female characters and the fact that I kind of like the Spirit comics in an Archie Comics kind of way. And I'm liking the way some portions of the film are working cinematography wise and character wise as they'll make good reference for some of my own works.
13. naivete - September 29, 2008 7:56 PM
Hmm... I still think this looks good. All you haters can go suck on it. Until opening day, when I'll probably be very very disapointed. But until then? THE SPIRIT, AWAY!
14. Elmo - September 29, 2008 9:25 PM
@9
glad someone else noticed x\
15. Liz - September 29, 2008 10:38 PM
Whoever wrote this script needs to be shot.
16. Randy Siplon - September 29, 2008 10:43 PM
You hear that? It's the sound of Will Eisner rolling over in his grave.
17. Odin's Beard - September 29, 2008 10:46 PM
At 00:10 there is a clip of the Spirit punching some guy on the far right hand of the screen, but all of the attention is on THAT FUCKING CAT!
WHY IS THERE A FUCKING CAT IN THE SHOT?! Is it supposed to edgy or cool? Photographically that shot is horrendous, and the rest of the trailer does not show anything better. I really don't think Frank Miller knows what composition is....hell, while we're on the subject of what Frank Miller doesn't know, I think there's How to Real People Talk, How to Direct, What Color Is, and How to Leave Good Things the Way They Are
What was Samuel L. trying to say at 2:27? "I'm getting all Spirit out dead while I still can"????
18. will - September 30, 2008 1:26 AM
wow guys calm down. I don't actually think it looks that bad. Sure the dialogue isn't all that bright, but I don't believe its intended to be. Frank Miller is seemingly attempting to perfectly recreate the vibe of certain comic books in film form. That's where his composition, dialogue and characters come from. The original Spirit wasn't hugely deep and intellectual, so there's no particular reason why the film should be.
That being said, I would have preferred this film be stylized more old Action Comics-like, rather than Sin City-like.
19. Beastman AIDS - September 30, 2008 2:50 AM
#17
haha yea no idea what the hell was going on with that sentence.
Also, I really hope S L's chops are purposely looking like glued on carpet strips. I can see the edges! Madness!
20. Ginormagantuan - September 30, 2008 6:33 AM
DAMN! getting real sick of this godamn samuel L. jackon's on this godamn movies!
21. Andrew - September 30, 2008 7:40 AM
"Enough is enough! I have had it with this motherfucker Samuel L. Jackson in this motherfucking trailer!"
22. Ginormagantuan - September 30, 2008 9:13 AM
no really someone needs to tell that dude he's played himself out a loooong time ago.
23. he - September 30, 2008 12:06 PM
"i'm getting el spirito dead while i'll still can" lol
24. Robyn - September 30, 2008 12:40 PM
Maybe it WILL be bad - so bad it will be GOOD!
25. shockwave - September 30, 2008 2:13 PM
Sioux said "cheesy 60s harem style comic book".
Well one out of four isn't bad. It was a comic book.
Does it ever bother you not to know what you are talking about?
26. Sean - September 30, 2008 3:26 PM
Well, I may have abridged the thing but, I pretty much nailed it.
The comic had crime fighting for the most part but from what the trailer is showing we're getting more content about the man being surrounded by his women then his hero exploits with a small touch of his continuous battle against the Octopus. I see nothing of the tragedy he faced losing people he tried protecting nor the other types of genres the comic liked delving into sometimes.
I read the comic while at work and most of the time I just see him interacting with a few women, stopping the occasional gangster-esque enemy while foiling plots by the octopus.
27. Sioux - September 30, 2008 4:06 PM
Though, to be fair, the excerpts of the comics I read from don't give me all the story details. Nor the relationships of the characters so I only know so much about the comic book itself. I read from a compilation book of the comic strips but I probably could ball park some of the basic concepts of the comic.
28. Sean - October 1, 2008 12:26 PM
kermitt67@hotmail.com
29. Steve B - October 1, 2008 4:12 PM
Looks like a Blade 3 job.
Blade/Sin City - awesome
Blade 2/300 - awesome
Now the writer gets enough "creative capital" to be the director as well, and you get
Blade 3/This - crap
30. Bubba Gump - October 1, 2008 4:18 PM
#28. FAIL
The Spirit looks kinda SEXY. Thatzall I'm sayin'.
31. Saad Ghauri - October 1, 2008 5:11 PM
#28
Dude, fail is you
32. richcapo - October 6, 2008 9:48 AM
Another comic book movie that's gonna reinforce the stereotype that comics "are just for kids." Like the Batman, Superman, X-Men, etc. movies (and comics, yes), this shit embarasses me as an adult comic reader.
33. Mevricken - October 8, 2008 4:23 PM
I think they should scrap this idea or just fix the dialog and stupid costumes to fit this generation more like sin city/300 did. I mean its based on a comic, but the characters dont have to say the exact same lines.