I’ve been saying for quite a while that I think the new Frank Miller film “The Spirit” looks just ass awful. Well… in the last two days I’ve had a chance to talk to 2 people who saw it recently. What did they both think?
Well, I think the phrase “disgustingly awful” came up a couple of times with the one person I talked too.
But the other person I talked to didn’t say much about it. They just said 4 words… it wasn’t even a complete sentence. All they said was this:
JOHN: “So how was it?”
FRIEND: “NOT SINCE BATTLEFIELD EARTH…”
JOHN: “Wow”
That is a powerful, non complete sentence phrase right there. Not since Battlefield Earth…
That right there is a phrase you never want associated with your movie.
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One other thing for those Miller Fans (which I used to be..!).
Check Wikipedia…
Miller has -never- directed a movie before (co-directing doesnt count!). Sin-city, 300 were his comic creations
(and lets not forget that 300 borrowed pretty heavily from the original history and script itself itself, and from what I understand cut out masses of Miller’s bloated script).
Robocop was also miller’s graphical creation I believe (although he apparently felt he didnt like their translation of his film).
Robocop 2 & 3 – he wrote the script (and assumedly grapics for?) – and they blowed, badly…
This is the first time some fool decided to let him and his ego (and boy, its a biiig one!) free on the set…
and boy, what a mistake it was…!
As for that fantasist above who thinks that Miller will direct Batman 3.!?
Miller will be lucky after the ashes of this film (which I predict will crash after the word gets out!) to ever direct anything ever again…(and he will -never- get his name again as ‘co-director’, what self-respecting director would want his direction advice, or their name sullied with his??).
and if he does’nt want to destroy his career totally, he will stick to writing comics and being artistic advisor (or whatever) to films…
This is a career changing film…and its without a doubt Miller’s swan-song as directtor in the same way that Battle-field Earth was Travolta’s…!
And yes, it really was THAT bad..!
Without a doubt the worst film – cinema, direct to video or bit-torrent even that I have seen for a decade..!
The graphical style was awefully (like a very, veryyy bad clone of sin-city), the script so bad you just wanted the actors to shutup, the soundtrack weak and pathetic (when it was even audible) – which didnt even mask the awefull dialogue…the casting of the lead role unbelievably woefully, the plot – what plot?? the action? even that was woefull. I have to mention the script again…
does Miller think that people mentioning the same inane lines again and again throughout the movie is high art..??
I should go on but suffice to say that for the first time in decades I and my date were both looking at our watches and wanting the torture that was “The Spirit” would end..!
Some folks walked out, I wanted to, but my girl didnt want to admit we’d wasted 20 bucks so badly!
I was very curious about one thing…did’nt Frank Miller ‘co-direct’ Sin-Sity, and was’nt he ‘heavily involved’ with 300..? (mind you, he apparently also wrote the scripts for Robocop 2 & 3..!).
The only conclusion one could draw from this film is that Miller had zero true directorial involvement with SinCity beyond writing the cartoon & graphics (and approving the decisions of the director), and with 300, he was did even less.
It also makes me think that the title ‘co-director’ with real directors and wanna-be’s is meaningless (perhaps it might have some meaning with ‘The Hobbit’ – Who knows?). Real directors spend years refining their craft on smallerr low-budget movies before they risk the big-time…and boy does this pile of excriment make that obvious why…!!
Miller should stay to writing commics, and leave the films to the real-boys..!
Worst film in living memory…
AVOID!!
I just(about) got through watching The spirit last night, and let me tell you all, it really was as bad as you could imagine.The acting was poor and seemed forced, the dialogue was awful full of pretenious waffal, the plot what plot? the story had more holes and inconsistencies than Bush’s war on terror.
This is truly on a par with battle field earth, the ONLY good thing about this film is the eyecandy and Eva Mendes bare ass, but even that wasn’t worth the ticket price.
I hope they don’t carry out their threat to make a sequel yes I’m sorry folks this was hinted at the end.
If you really must waste 2 hours of your life (which will feel like 4 hours) then wait until this is out on Dvd which won’t be long at all, then at least you can hear how those responsible for this bollocks try to explain it away in the bonus feature. This is UTTER shit you have been warned!
Doesn’t matter if THE SPIRIT is bad. Miller is just getting experience as a director for his big job. Mark my words, you heard it here FIRST. Chris Nolan will pass on directing another Batman movie, and FRANK MILLER WILL DIRECT THE NEXT BATMAN MOVIE AND BASE IT ON HIS “ALL STAR BATMAN & ROBIN” COMIC BOOK (which Nolan’s Dark Knight set up by ending it with Batman an outlaw, as he is in “All-Star”).
I’m voting for George in 2012!
Transformers blows!
And so does “The Spirit,” which this post is suppose to be about. I’m a huge Frank Miller fan, but even I couldn’t recommend this. I’ve seen a screeing of it and I really have to say that it’s a big mess.
For me the film never looked like being a success!!!
and personally i loved Transformers, but can we stop with all the Transformer talk, that movie was more than a year ago
lol John schooled George
but seriously i have no desire to see the spirit
I can’t believe people are still arguing about Transformers.
I agree with George.
well george is fucking dickhead
Hey George,
I never said you weren’t entitled to your opinion. Heavens’ knows you’re not the only one who didn’t like The Transformers.
However, i just took issue with how you said it. By starting it off with “Then what you’re saying is that it’s on the same scale as Transformers”, then I have to respond.
I readily admit many many many people love “The Wrestler” and that I am in the minority. I just said my experience with it wasn’t a good one and it didn’t work for ME. That’s my opinion. Neither right nor wrong.
You just have to acknowledge that a LOT of people really enjoyed Transformers… and thus equating it with one of the most critically and fan hated films of all time was a bit of a ludicrous comparison.
Now if you just want to say “In my opinion it’s no better than Battlefield Earth” then I can’t argue with you. But if you want to suggest Transformers gets the same response from people at BE, then I’ll just have to point the facts out to you.
Well we all know how full proof the user rating system is and if critics response is to be a determining factor as to a films content then I guess your review of the wrestler is wrong. The critics love it so you must be wrong then?
I don’t need to use outside opinions to back up my own. I judge a film on it’s content not what other people think and transformers was terrible.
The story was awful. The acting atrocious it was needlessly long and bay stuffed it to the rafters with poirnleas sub plots that went nowhere.
It was a noisy obnoxious toy commercial.
With all this talk… I’ve GOT to see Battlefield Earth!
It’s kinda funny how Samuel J. can pick ANY peace of shit movie he’s interested at and get respect of doing it.
Sorry for the bad grammar… Gotta be wasted once in a while :/
I figured this would be bad. BUT NOTHING COMPARES TO THE SHIT THAT WAS CAMP ROCK! That movie gave me the idea to make a rating worse than 0/10.
There’s a guy, called William h., who has rated Battlefield Earth on rottentomatoes…
He says: “greatest sci-fi of all time, and john travolta best film ever”
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@Darren Seeley
That’s a damn shame you didn’t like Punisher: Warzone sir. I know that you and I are kinda fond of the Dolph version. I still have to check it out though.
Unlike ‘The Spirit’ which I never wanted to see.
John
Only joking with ya, I’ve yet to see anything from the spirit so I reserve judgement
who thought a movie about scientology could end up doing so badly?
I like this game. George is not correct. Lucky for all of us we have this awesome outlet where discussions about our likes/dislikes of movies can be presented for others to comment on. But for shit sake please give a little merit to your thoughts george by making an intellectual breakdown as to why you dislike TF. How about say “having a love interest in a movie of an advanced robotic race involved in an interstellar war was a bad choice”. That is an example of coherent thought. Many people like you can just drop the ‘meh it sucks’ and be done with it. Was TF a perfect film? No… But just ignoring Johns facts as to the majority of positive reviews and the financial success of the movie really makes you and other TF bashers look foolish.
George is correct.
Don’t really remember Battlefield Eath as I fell asleep watching it.
Hey George,
I like how you just ignored the fact that I pointed out Transformers has a 7.5 user rating and over half of the critics gave it a positive review. By all means just keep referring to things that make it sound like you’re right. That’s very George Bush.
Transformers sux.
what do you expect? It’s Frank Miller. The dude should stick to comics… and leave the movies to the real directors
well now that you pointed out how much money transformers made then I guess it must be good.
I stand corrected.
I finally saw Battlefield Earth about a year ago. I had heard so many awful things about it I finally caved and had to see if any movie could possibly be that bad. It truly was. Not so bad it’s good. Just utterly atrocious. Even though no one knew I watched it, I was still embarrassed for seeing it.
But now I’m curious – how many commenters have actually seen it (or are willing to admit they’ve seen it)?
As for the Spirit. Definite pass.
anything with the line, “get me a tie and make sure it’s red”. never a good sign hero, maybe a designer, but not a hero. i’ll rent it though. just to see how bad it will depress me, then pick myself up with the dark knight
The first mistake Miller made was to make it completely green screen and use that fucking look. I think he lost a good chunk of the audience there. The Spirit never looked like that I think Will Eisner is spinning in his grave over this mess.
But then again, dream projects usually end up as shitty films because the filmmaker is so utterly blind on what he’s doing.
This is sad news.
Man I was actually looking forward to watching this movie…I’ve also heard some bad reviews from people I’ve talked to already…this really sucks doodoo
It’s funny Entertainment Beyond. Your statement reminds me of that mess I finally got around to seeing today. That’s because some people I know and know of said it was wicked fun. Last week, John liked it despite it’s flaws.
Damn right I’m talking about that piece od utter dog shit Punisher Warzone. It made the Dolph Lundgren version from ’89 look better. In addition, it made Tom Jane look justified in walking away.
Oddly, Spirit is backed by Lionsgate. With the possible exception of My Bloody Valentine 3D…nearly all the films they have had for release in this last quarter and early next year have had crappy trailers and/or were underpromoted.
Now, *unlike* some others here, I’m giving Spirit a decent shot. but the trailer doesn’t get my blood pumped. The one liners sound lame, Sam Jackson looks like he’d rather be on a golf course, and only Eva Mendez seems to know she’s the draw because she knows what’ll bring in us boys. Her bosoms.
Usually if you can’t cut a decent trailer the final film is usually not so good!
As for Transformers- I’ll go along on John’s side as I though the film was a terrific entertainment. My favorite summer film that year!
chuck
You never let the sentence be completed. Who knows it could have went as such;
“Not since Battlefield Earth…….did I have to sit near a bunch of asshole teenagers who were noisy as hell…but the actual movie was awesome!”
:)
this is bad news for sin city 2
Hey Michael,
No one said Transforemrs was “unbeatable”.
BUT…. witha 57% on RT (It’s actually 57 not 53), a 7.5 user rating, and over $700 million box office, it’s a no-brainer to say it’s a hell of a lot better than Battlefield Earth.
TF’s 53% rating on rotten tomatoes is unbeatable!
sorry
Hey George,
You mean the same Transformers that has over a 7.5 user rating and made over $700 million at the box office? Ummmm… no, I don’t think it quite measures up to Transformers.
Damn those are harsh words and even though I think the movie looks awful I would never have thought it was that bad. In way it does kind of make me want to see it, so I can see the badness for myself. LoL I won’t pay theater ticket prices though…
so its on par with transformers then?
I think this might be having the opposite effect on me.
I think because its SO bad..makes me want to actually watch it. It will be a rental for sure.
Kind of a downer, I hope Miller uses this as a learned experience to either think twice about taking his adaptations of his work or others OR takes the time to work on the craft of directing.
I so hope your friend was talking about The Happening, or even The Dark Knight (kidding, sorta, don’t kill me). Hayao Miyazaki came from comics and he’s one of the greatest filmmakers ever. Granted, he’s only done animation… But I hold out hope that comics can yeild more great filmmakers. After Mirrormask and (if accurate) The Spirit… When will another comics guy be given a chance?
David, you should hope this movie sucks. Empy seat movie + Trap Door Popcorn + Girlfriend = Good Times.
i really have never wanted to see the spirit
You know I really wasn’t excited to see The Spirit because I also thought the trailers sucked. Now I’m a little bit excited to see the movie just to see how bad it is. This is gonna be fun.
WOW.
Now I really wanna see it:)
holy shit. lol.
its so bad it got the kiss of battlefield earth.
now its a must see. :/
Well, there’s always bound to be at least two people who absolutely despise a film and greatly exaggerate it’s awfulness. But “Battlefield Earth?” The damage isn’t that bad, is it? I can’t picture a scenario where a guy with a red tie is up on the same pedestal as John Travolta with dreadlocks.
I’m hoping for too much, aren’t I?
David, dude. You have to stop telling her it looks terrible. The last thing in the world you want is to be proven right. She would never forgive you.
I still have to see it because my gf is excited on it :-/ I keep telling her it looks terrible.
I think is was Cast wrong. I hate seeing artsy type movies with popcorn type actors. It completely urks me.
It lost me at the first teaser.
The Spirit always looked awful, everything connected to the movie always looked awful (apart from the girls which is one of the only reasons to watch it). But “Battlefield Earth” awful, I never expected it to be THAT bad.
*sigh* and here I thought there might be some hope left for this one.