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The Spirit (2008)

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Average Rating: 3.6/10
Reviews Counted: 111
Fresh: 16 | Rotten: 95

Though its visuals are unique, The Spirit's plot is almost incomprehensible, the dialogue is ludicrously mannered, and the characters are unmemorable.

Average Rating: 3.4/10
Critic Reviews: 27
Fresh: 2 | Rotten: 25

Though its visuals are unique, The Spirit's plot is almost incomprehensible, the dialogue is ludicrously mannered, and the characters are unmemorable.

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Average Rating: 2.6/5
User Ratings: 119,353

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Movie Info

A resurrected cop does battle with a villain whose quest for immortality threatens an entire metropolis in Sin City creator Frank Miller's adaptation of Will Eisner's acclaimed graphic novel. When a rookie cop is brutally killed and mysteriously brought back to life, he assumes the guise of The Spirit (Gabriel Macht) -- a masked crime fighter who prowls the shadows of Central City on a supernatural mission to keep the urban landscape safe. Upon discovering that his arch nemesis, The Octopus

PG-13, 1 hr. 42 min.

Drama, Action & Adventure

Directed By: Frank Miller (II)

Written By: Frank Miller

In Theaters: Dec 25, 2008 Wide

On DVD: Apr 14, 2009

Box Office:$19.8M

Lionsgate Films

What is most striking about The Spirit is how little pleasure it affords, in spite of its efforts to by sly, sexy, heartfelt and clever all at once.

December 29, 2008 Full Review Source: New York Times

| Comment (1)

A.O. Scott

New York Times

Top Critic

I thought it was sort of cool and corny simultaneously.

December 29, 2008 Full Review Source: At the Movies

| Comment

Ben Mankiewicz

At the Movies

Top Critic

Is it campy? Or is it cool? Is it stylized? Or is it corny and cheesy? It doesn't really know.

December 29, 2008 Full Review Source: At the Movies

| Comments (2)

Ben Lyons

At the Movies

Top Critic

Someone get this man a decent script.

December 29, 2008 Full Review Source: Chicago Reader

| Comment

J. R. Jones

Chicago Reader

Top Critic

Denny Colt might have come back from the dead, but The Spirit stays cold on the slab.

December 29, 2008 Full Review Source: Los Angeles Times

| Comment

Sam Adams

Los Angeles Times

Top Critic

It's not easy to make a thriller that's both incredibly convoluted and intensely boring, laboriously narrated yet befuddled, but Miller -- creator and co-director of Sin City -- triumphs on all counts.

December 29, 2008 Full Review Source: Minneapolis Star Tribune

| Comment

Colin Covert

Minneapolis Star Tribune

Top Critic

The Spirit feels like an extended trip through Frank Miller's personal fantasyland, and it's easy to guess how interesting a film made for an audience of one is going to be to anyone else.

April 1, 2011 Full Review Source: ComingSoon.net

| Comment

Joshua Starnes

ComingSoon.net

I guess a movie this brassy, sumptuous, and unafraid of what-the-hell effects, gags and visuals isn't enough for a lot of people. I don't really know why.

September 24, 2010 Full Review Source: eFilmCritic.com

| Comment

Rob Gonsalves

eFilmCritic.com

A blissfully coked-out-of-its-mind spit-take on Eisner and the modern world of superhero cinema, The Spirit is wet bag of hot breath.

June 2, 2010 Full Review Source: BrianOrndorf.com

| Comment

Brian Orndorf

BrianOrndorf.com

If Frank Miller is aiming for camp, he's playing cricket with a sledgehammer

August 26, 2009 Full Review Source: CinePassion

| Comment

Fernando F. Croce

CinePassion

Certifiably, but agreeably, insane, "The Spirit" plays like "Dick Tracy" on brown acid. Dialogue is bleated, not spoken. Artifacts are used as snuggle blankets. And it's aggressively bizarre, but it's the definition of guilty-pleasure entertainment.

June 17, 2009 Full Review Source: Suite101.com

| Comment

Nick Rogers

Suite101.com

No amount of flash can camouflage the career-low performances, the scaffolding where characterisation should be, the pitiful cod '40s dialogue, the monstrously fumbled comedy.

May 12, 2009 Full Review Source: SFX Magazine

| Comment

Nick Setchfield

SFX Magazine

More interested in being a technical marvel than a coherent story.

April 29, 2009 Full Review Source: FilmJerk.com

| Comment (1)

Edward Havens

FilmJerk.com

In this erotic sleuthing laced with backward babes, Sarah does female doormat duty and Eva kicks butt when not baring it, while Scarlett's shrewdie hangs with homicidal fatty clones, like an underworld Madonna bossing an obedient crew of paunchy boy toys.

April 4, 2009 Full Review Source: NewsBlaze

| Comment

Prairie Miller

NewsBlaze

Mr. Miller you have some explainin' to do...read on->

April 4, 2009 Full Review Source: Blunt Review

| Comment

Emily Blunt

Blunt Review

Soa como uma mistura desajeitada de filme noir e da s�rie de tev� Batman produzida na d�cada de 60.

March 20, 2009 Full Review Source: Cinema em Cena

| Comment

Pablo Villaca

Cinema em Cena

As an action director Miller is almost as clumsy as Baz Luhrmann, but he's far from na�ve, and presumably the delirium of The Spirit is exactly what he intended.

February 13, 2009 Full Review Source: The Age (Australia)

| Comment

Jake Wilson

The Age (Australia)

Miller's background as an artist was undoubtedly an important factor in achieving the striking visual effects. It's just when the human characters dominate the action that the film sinks like a stone.

February 6, 2009 Full Review Source: The Australian

| Comment

David Stratton

The Australian

It's a plot from the 'more is more' school of scriptwriting and while the live action crossed with stylised graphic novel effect is sublime, it can't distract from the clunkiness of it all.

January 30, 2009 Full Review Source: MovieTime, ABC Radio National

| Comment

Jason Di Rosso

MovieTime, ABC Radio National

The Spirit is hollow, with a convoluted plot, and Miller has clearly opted for visual style over thematic depth.

January 29, 2009 Full Review Source: FILMINK (Australia)

| Comment (1)

Jade Tyrrell

FILMINK (Australia)

As it went on, I discovered that it had a kind of appealingly dumb, playful quality.

January 9, 2009 Full Review Source: Combustible Celluloid

| Comment (1)

Jeffrey M. Anderson

Combustible Celluloid

Miller's directing chops, er, chop, is non-existent, offering up a muck of amateurish posturing, weak storyline and tedious characters. As for the title? Ouch, that's some irony.

January 8, 2009 Full Review Source: Indie Movies Online

| Comment

Kimberly Gadette

Indie Movies Online

Eva Mendes is the new Raquel Welch but even Raquel/Eva can't make this movie work

January 6, 2009 Full Review Source: jackiekcooper.com

| Comment

Jackie K. Cooper

jackiekcooper.com Source: jackiekcooper.com

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Audience Reviews for The Spirit

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When you start watching this you get feelings of 'Batman', 'Darkman', 'The Shadow' and 'Dick Tracy' with a splash of 'The Crow' in the looks department, yet all these things cant make it any good. I'll be honest, I really didn't follow this film much atall lol the plot is very messed up, it jumps around with so many

January 8, 2009

Phil Hubbard

Super Reviewer

Boy....this was the shits. It's like Frank Miller learned something while watching Robert Rodrigues work his magic on Sin City. And then...he did the exact same thing here...but without the director skills of Robert Rodriguez. And with a boring plot. The visuality is the only impressive thing about this...some of it

September 18, 2011

Martin Sahlin

Super Reviewer

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Latest News for The Spirit

April 13, 2009:

RT on DVD: Frank Miller Talks The Spirit, Michel Gondry Releases New Music Video DVD
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December 28, 2008:

Box Office Guru Wrapup: Marley Takes #1, The Spirit Tanks
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