Spirited Away? Not exactly...

''My city, I can not deny her. My city screams. She is my mother. She is my lover, and I am her Spirit.''

Rookie cop Denny Colt returns from the beyond as The Spirit, a hero whose mission is to fight against the bad forces in Central City.

Gabriel Macht: The Spirit / Denny Colt

The Spirit is Frank Miller's independent Directing response and vision of Will Eisner's comic book series. Using Techniques he learnt from Sin City and 300 he's gone ahead on his own, to create something unique, without any Zack Snyder or Robert Rodriguez at the helm. Yes The Spirit, is completely driven, in entirety by Frank.
So what is The Spirit like? Is it good? Yes it's fun and silly, yet in places serious and dark. Is it in the same league as Sin City & 300? Not exactly. Mainly the disadvantage of The Spirit is that it's restricted to a universal age restriction, not allowing for OTT blood,gore and shootings. So it felt to me, like it's never allowed to let rip and go all out with the actiony antics that happen.

I can see Frank Millar is in a way, paying homage to detective film noirs, with The Spirit. With it's Chinatown-esque superhero, it's gritty narration, and it's dark art. Granted it's a modern day merge with 1940s life, we have old hair styles and mobiles, fashions and modern day weaponry all in the same place. Which sums up The Spirit, Frank Millar's modern re-telling of Will Eisner's comic novel, done his own unique style.
Gabriel Macht as The Spirit, does a reasonable job of fleshing out the masked spirit, while giving some awesomely edible dialogue/narration.
Eva Mendes as Sand Saref, shows a commendable love interest and childhood flame, while showing off her body and assets.
Samuel L. Jackson as The Octopus, kind of ruined the feel of The Spirit, with his over the top villainy, he dresses up as a Samurai, a Nazi, uses silly toilet humour and has demented clones and a sexy sidekick. That all lean towards the hectic tones of a lighter toned, styled comic venture, rather than the dark descent, you expect The Spirit to be.
Scarlett Johansson as Silken Floss, shows her dark side, a quirky funny role yet not the greatest performance she's done. Fun though.
Arthur the Cat & Frank Millar also make stellar appearances, which give us something to smile about.

''You're in love with every women you meet, Mr. Spirit. You say lovely things to all of us and you mean every word you say.''

There's some good idea's on offer, and marvelous scenes of Spirit running and jumping through his city. His love of cats reminded me of Hellboy, while his appearance resembles vigilante Zorro.
Although on other part's we the audience tend to flag and become bored, due to unnecessary flashbacks that kind of slow the story down, to scenes with the villains or Sand Saref that seem to be focusing on extreme laughs.
Samuel L Jackson dressed as a Nazi, giving a kitten some strange glowy serum, seems to be one of the big laughs on offer.(His toilet humour and usage of toilets seemed abit weird yet amusing) Followed by a sexy Plaster Of Paris lady giving some seductive allure to a receptive Spirit.

The Spirit is typical Frank Millar. It has a hero whom is addicted to seducing the ladies, a hero who is dark and handsome, and a town where people find sometimes the best choice is to shoot one self, to help matters. That's Frank's philosophy, that's his city, yet this isn't Sin City. This is The Spirit, this is his take on someone else's dream, and the conversion seems to show all too well in it's results.
More romance, more action, and a stronger emphasis on plot and script, could have made this piece, incredible rather than another offering and film, which feels like another Sin City, another 300, and another Frank Millar offering.

Overall, The Spirit isn't all bad. It isn't all good, yet it is an artistic triumph of effects and comic-book life coming to life. The dark tone and colours create a believable breathing world at times, only spoiled by being overly unrealistic, as opposed to just being a little bit unrealistic. Sometimes less is better, sometimes more can be a help, what The Spirit needed is balance, and an experienced director. However Frank Millar, on his own, does a good job in essence to bring this project together. Theres even nice artwork and effects, on the credits to look out for, after a bizarre finale.

''"What are you?" That's what the woman asked me. Am I some sort of ghost? I still move. I still breathe. I'm still alive.''


7/10