Spawn

Cool German movie poster.

In the past entry we talked a bit about remakes and how the industry became a parody of itself. When the movie makers have no resources left to look for in their own industry they immediately move into a different source of inspiration, like for instance the best selling books, the best selling videogames and of course the best selling comic books. Today's  entry is about a big budget production that wanted to emulate the comic book was having in the 90's. Yes peeps! we're talking Spawn here. The 90's weren't such a great decade for comic books, sales were low and they even had to kill Superman and turn Batman into a disabled wheelchair hero, although that wasn't enough there was one new guy in town who made the day for comic books sales: Mr. Todd McFarlane, a big name in today's comic book world.

Watch out Spawnie!

It is nos secret that the movie industry is most of the time looking for the next big thing, so that they can get away with a pocket full of dollars. So, since Joel Schumacher had already killed the Batman franchise with 1995's Batman Forever, he himself anally raped the franchise with 1997's Batman & Robin. Producers felt it was no longer possible to deal with another dark knight movie, although there was a script known as Batman Triumphant.  Superman was of no interest at the moment. Marvel characters had had their chance but didn't make it with their Captain America 1990 movie, so there was nothing to do to bridge the gap between the comic books and the movie industry until voilá! "Let's check for the latest comic book kids go nuts for" 

Todd McFarlane was a smart guy, he wanted to be rich, and I don't blame him, he deserved it. Spawn was the latest trend in comic books and still is a great story of demons, violence and death. Not your average kids stuff.  So, by the time he was asked to give the go to the movie he already had a great Super Nintendo game, and an excellent toyline that still exists and gets better like aged wine.

The Spawn suit looks awesome in the movie.

Astonishing!

The now, cult collectible original Spawn n°1.

The amazing action figures toyline.

Spawn, released in 1997 was supposed to be a huge blockbuster that would turn the movie into a franchise. Action figures were specially designed to attract kids into continuing the adventures after the movie was over. Official comic books based in the movie were also released. Word  was spread, no doubt about it but, why isn't this movie a part of the comic book adaptation films considered master pieces? Let me tell you this movie had it all, almost. It was the silver age of computer generated graphics so the movie producers thought it would be nice to use ultimate technology to amaze movie goers from around the globe. The special effects were good enough, they don't look dated when you watch the movie in Avatar's era. The script was based in the original comic book, though there were some differences.

Martin Sheen plays the bad guy.

The cast? the cast was the problem, they all felt acting over the top all the time with no results. Al Simmons/Spawn character looks dark at times, but most of the times it feels as a campy dark hero. The rest of the cast? no need to discuss. The movie director? Mark A.Z. Dippé who the hell is he? well, believe it or not, he worked as the visual effects co-ordianator for movies like Terminator 2 & Jurassic Park, but when it comes to movie directing he did one short, some Garfield videos, 3 made for TV movies and yeah, Spawn. So we can't ask him to deliver a master piece since he still hasn't released a decent movie. 

Clown/Violator is the greatest character in the movie.

Now don't get me wrong here but, this film is just like the comic that inspired it: Great visuals, but much like the majority of Spawn stories (majority not all of them!) it really doesn't go anywhere. The set looks good, the characters look good, the cape looks REALLY good, but the story? Other than telling the origin and the standard "must stop the bad guy" motive, it doesn't do as much as it should. And yes, I know it's a Hell-based movie, but the industrial pop metal soundtrack just got distracting and annoying, instead of enhancing the story like it should have. John Williams or Danny Elfman it wasn't. I guess New Line Cinema are experts at making low quality B movies.

Overall, it's a watchable movie, it's entertaining if you're ok with predictability you will like it. A good movie to rent or buy (the DVD is one of the cheapest ever at online stores) Again, if you want the real thing, read the comic book.

Here's the movie trailer, gotta walk my dog now: