Spawn Reviews

Mark A.Z. Dippe goes down the dark path with Spawn.This 90 film isn't without its share of flaws, as some of the plot details are vague. There are pieces that could do with a little more elaboration; however, there is enough detail to make sense of the story and follow. The film has a dark style to it, which leaves the film more gloomy in nature, but this is how it should be.The usage of effects and green screen is obvious, although it is satisfactory for its time. The action also has its moments thanks to the powers of Spawn.Michael Jai White may be Spawn, but this film belongs to John Leguizamo. He ends up as the perfect fit for the Violator and his consistent use of "black" humor. Martin Sheen steps in with a solid performance. Theresa Randle is too monotone until the very end.Spawn does have room for improvement, but for what it is, it is a solid 90 minute watch.

I really liked this despite many problems with the film. The look is great, like the comic its very dark, gothic and grim. The rain comes down in sheets and the mist swirls around about the night whilst 'Spawn' leaps around in his fantastic looking 'living' suit.
The other fantasy based creatures are also really well created, 'Clown' especially...very dark, humorous and quite chilling. Leguizamo played him brilliantly swinging from nasty, vicious and cheeky with the bat of an eyelid. Best thing about the film easily.

'Violator' is also pretty cool looking in life size model form yet like a lot of the film the CGI version is pretty lame and ruins it. CGI is a problem with this film as its loaded with it, almost everything is CGI and frankly not much is any good. It ranges from excellent on 'Spawns' cape to poor videogame type visuals on most other things. Hell being the worst with a terrible looking 'Malebolgia' and very plain unexciting looking backdrops which look like a school kid created it at home.

The acting is hammy and in general its very cheesy. This film yearns to be harder and more violent (like the comic). It is dark and 'Crow' like for sure but its so watered down its quite painful.

Despite that it does have a certain charm which appeals to me, its dark 'Batman' like world with hellish creatures and brooding anti heroes still manages to be enjoyable. 'Spawn' being a very likeable character, 'Wynn' is also suitably creepy, 'Bishop' is changed to a female for some reason but pretty hot with some nice gun/blade action and altogether with a thumping soundtrack this is a reasonable film.

But I still wonder what it could of been, what it could of achieved had it been made for adults as it should of been. Visually its pleasing if you like this kind of thing and it still beats 'Ghost Rider' any day of the week.

I thought Spawn was such a cool film as a kid, but remembering it now and having to review it, it is very flawed.....it has poor acting and a poor plot. One thing that is still cool to this day is when Spawn drops in the ballroom at the end and starts fighting......bad ass.

I remember seeing this in the theatre and liking it. However as the years past by, I realized how lame this film really is. Spawn is the perfect example of a film that was a missed opportunity. By today's standards, the film looks dated like hell. I think its really too bad that this had to happen, because the idea of Spawn is really a cool one. But the result of the film is one that leaves very mixed emotions about the finished product. I think it's a great shame because the concept of Spawn is terrific. The so called "talent" that graces the film is absolutely wasted and a lot of it is very silly. Also the special effects look like crap, and the film looks like crap overall. I know the film is nearing fifteen years old, and all that CGI was advanced back then. But with a plateau of action films that have since been released, well Spawn looks awful by comparison. The film is a mix of action and horror, and sometimes offbeat, eccentric humor. This could have been something really, really cool. But instead it's a dud. I watched a few years back, and I was appalled at how bad the film was. Well there were a few cool things about it, but for the most part, the film is terrible. The acting and story are quite sloppy, and it makes you realize that this film is in dire need of a reboot. The filmmakers had a terrific opportunity to do something great, but it falls flat and the film ends up being forgettable. This is a dated action horror film with bad acting, a bad script and is simply a wasted opportunity to have created one terrific film. Spawn doesn't work, and it really does show its age.

19/06/2010 (DVD)

Back in 1997 this flick was shockingly cool, a real "for the boys" type of film and I probably would of rated it higher.

Even though it was quickly forgotten, watching it again got me remembering what a hit it was and how during that time, nothing looked as cool or did cool stuff like "Spawn"... the funny thing is today we've seen better CGI which makes the CGI done on this movie look ugly, but "Spawn" still looks cool.

If you watch this and keep in mind that the CGI was done in 1997, it's a pretty entertaining watch.

Did not like this movie at all! One of the worst hero/anti-hero films ever made!

This has got to be one of the worst adaptions and horrible looking comic book movies. It is a kid friendly bastardization of the source material with a lot of big name actors that have no idea what to do. This is nothing close to what Spawn should ever be.

The computer game on the Sega Dreamcast was so much better!

I don't see why a lot of people don't like "Spawn." I thought it was a good movie and it has some of the best special effects I've ever seen. It's about Al Simmons (Michael Jai White), who is killed during an explosion after someone he knew turned his back on him. He comes back as a scarred man who agrees with the devil to lead an army of hell in order to seek revenge against Jason Wynn (Martin Sheen) and the others that did him justice, and to have a chance to get his life back with his wife and kids. Since he agreed with the devil about this new mission, he now has the ability to turn himself into Spawn. With this new suit of armor and the ability to do many things such as make spikes come out of him and to turn a motorcycle that he's riding into a huge Spawn head, he will try to seek revenge and possibly get his life and family back.
"Spawn" has an effective storyline and some jaw-dropping special effects. You'll see what I mean about the special effects just about all the way through the movie. All the people in the movie do a good job of acting, especially John Leguizamo as the goofy clown. "Spawn" has elements of a horror movie, an adventure movie, and even a drama movie all wrapped up into one great movie. I recommend anybody to at least watch "Spawn." NOTE: That was my Amazon review from the year 2000. Definitely one of the best superhero movies of all time.

Finally watched it again 12 years after I saw it in the cinema. It's just as bad as I remembered it being. The voice-over and lack of violence really harm the dark source material. The make-up is fantastic. Seeing Leguizamo as a short, fat clown is still incredible. Leguizamo is also obviously having a lot of fun and it's his presence that keep this film vaguely interesting. It punches above it's weight with a large amount of poor CGI that now looks even more ridiculous than in 1997. It manages to evoke some camp charm and some successful gothic imagery, which makes it a strange mix between Burton and Schumacher's Batman films. With this and Batman and Robin in one year, it's no wonder that 1997 was the year comic-book movies nearly became extinct.

Very bad CGI-epileptic fest, Macfarlane should be ashamed.

One word: suckfest.

not nearly as worthy as its animated series counterpart

It creeped me the hell out.

I love this movie. It's absolutely incrediable. A masterpiece. The greatest speacial effects movie i've ever seen. Wickedly cool and irrevelently fun. Astonishing and breathtaking action sequences and digital effects. Stylish, sizzeling, explosive and extroadinay. A mind-blowing action-packed adventure thrill-ride. A real adreniline rush. Spectacular filmmaking at it's very best. This is one unforgettable and amazing movie. Your eyes wont be able to leave the screen for a second

Probably one of the weirdest movies I've ever started. I stopped watching because it was really boring and pretty depressing.

Really tries hard.

Nothing but ugly CGI and unfunny one-liners, as the hero has no charisma at all. Poor.

I was really dissapointed with this movie, I feel that the adaptation wasn't good at all and the cast was really bad too

I saw it for free and I wanted my money back.