
The Spirit
2008, Romance/Adventure, 1h 42m
115 Reviews 100,000+ RatingsWhat to know
critics consensus
Though its visuals are unique, The Spirit's plot is almost incomprehensible, the dialogue is ludicrously mannered, and the characters are unmemorable. Read critic reviews
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Movie Info
Cast & Crew
Denny Colt, The Spirit
The Octopus
Ellen
Sand Saref
Dolan
Plaster of Paris
News & Interviews for The Spirit
Critic Reviews for The Spirit
All Critics (115) | Top Critics (40) | Fresh (16) | Rotten (99)
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The Spirit isn't so much the female characters or the cleavage shots, but the fact that they're entirely deployed in the service of a dumb, juvenile fantasy of malehood.
December 18, 2020 | Full Review… -
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November 18, 2011 | Rating: 2/5 -
As an action director Miller is almost as clumsy as Baz Luhrmann, but he's far from naïve, and presumably the delirium of The Spirit is exactly what he intended.
February 13, 2009 | Rating: 2/5 | Full Review… -
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 | Rating: 2/5 | Full Review… -
Displaying admirable love for pulp material and striking enviably sexy poses, but missing the emotional resonance, zeitgeist-catching populism and mainstream thrills which found movie franchises.
January 5, 2009 | Rating: 2/5 | Full Review… -
Every once in a while a genuine turkey escapes the coop, bereft of charm or wit, utterly lacking in technical prowess, integrity or intelligence. 'The Spirit' is such a film.
January 5, 2009 | Rating: 1/6 | Full Review…
Audience Reviews for The Spirit
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Mar 17, 2014[img]http://images.rottentomatoes.com/images/user/icons/icon14.gif[/img]Directors C Super Reviewer
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Jun 05, 2013From Frank Miller comes the atrocious comic book film The Spirit. The story follows an immortal crime fighter who takes on a crime boss known as The Octopus, who's seeking the Blood of Heracles in order to become a god. Starring Gabriel Macht, Samuel L. Jackson, Eva Mendes, and Scarlett Johansson, the film is well cast; but their performances are cheesy and over-the-top. Miller does a good job at creating a stylish comic book aesthetic, but the writing is abysmal and kills the film. The Spirit has an interesting noir comic tone, but in the end it just doesn't work.Dann M Super Reviewer
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Dec 07, 2011It's more than a bit perplexing to ponder how The Spirit came to be. Not that one should wonder how another superhero film was greenlit, for that much is obvious. But how is it that Frank Miller got to direct and write his own film? Yes, he was the co-director (allegedly) on Sin City, but so what? How much directing did he actually do on Sin City? What did he learn? I would like to suppose that he didn't learn much at all. Take one look at The Spirit, and you could see why. The Spirit, as this masked viligante is known, is a ghostly masked hero, the only man to have escaped the Angel of Death. Besides that one detail, he's just like any other hero. He has an arch-nemesis who goes by the name of The Octupus, played by Samuel L. Jackson. And just like any hero, he has women to love. One is a femme fatale anti herione, Sand Sarif (Eva Mendes) and the other is Ellan Dolan (Sarah Paulsen) the police commissioners daughter. Sand Sarif was the one that got away. She loved Denny Colt before he was the Spirit. They were close childhood friends, until her father was shot by cops. She fled to Europe to earn those riches she desperately craved and rid herself of her own identity. The biggest problem ( and there are many) is the shallowness of this effort. It's a nice film to look at, but not much else. Looking at this film with it's hyper-noir asthetic, overly reminiscent of Sin City, one get's the feeling that Miller may owe Robert Rodriquez a big royalty check. The characters aren't interesting, and the performances range from stone-faced and wooden to shrieking and hysterical over kill. And while Miller attempts to replicate the noir of his early comics, it all feels like an empty pastiche with no geniune emotion to be found.Brandon S Super Reviewer
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Nov 05, 2011A graphic noir high tech film, written and directed by the graphic novellist Frank Miller and starring Gabriel Macht, Eva Mendes, Sarah Paulson, Dan Lauria, Paz Vega, Jaime King, Scarlett Johansson, and Samuel L. Jackson. The film is based on the classic newspaper comic strip The Spirit by Will Eisner(who by this movie is probably now turning himself in his tomb).This movie is an example of how a great artist like Frank Miller is turned into a poor director in a bad, bad adaptation like this.The plot is extremely ridiculous, the screenplay (incredible, but someone was payed to write this?)is totally imbecil.Only the graphic novel style cinematography escapes from this absolute crapmovie.Andre T Super Reviewer
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