300

This is Sparta!

Zack Snyder began his filming career in 2004 with the Dawn of the Dead remake. Previously he had worked as a videoclip director taking his work back to the early 90's with one of the hottest number of the decade Soul Asylum. Today, he's part of the elite hatred online league lead by Nickelback & Michael Bay, but is it fair to consider every work he's done a piece of crap just because? Certainly not. Snyder brought Superman back from shame with Man of Steel in 2013 and to this day he's the head of the DC expanded universe (not cinematic in order to avoid more trolling from Marvel fanboys) The results are mixed and this is clearly not the place to tell you what you have to think. it's a free world and we all can be thinkers deciding by ourselves. 

300 is the second film Snyder directed and like Dawn of the Dead is based upon somebody else's work: Frank Miller's graphic novel of the same name. Obviously, Miller has an extended resume of excellent stories, all of which could be transfered into the big screen by capable hands. Back in 2005 Robert Rodriguez & Quentin Tarantino produced and directed Sin City, the comic book blockbuster of the year, also based upon Frank Miller's work. Later in 2006 Snyder would try his rendition of 300 and Miller himself would direct The Spirit in 2008 while Rodriguez would direct Sin City 2 in 2014. Yes, Frank Miller has stories good enough for the big screen...

a mountain of corpses.

A now legendary kick.

Now, let's get down to business:

300 is the definition of what makes Zack Snyder, Zack Snyder: 116 minutes of pure styled action scene visuals. Back then in 2007, the movie spectacular visual effects were compared to The Matrix trilogy (not reviewed here for strange reasons) for its innovative and creative approach.  

Plotwise the story takes place In the Battle of Thermopylae of 480 BC an alliance of Greek city-states fought the invading Persian army in the mountain pass of Thermopylae. Vastly outnumbered, the Greeks held back the enemy in one of the most famous last stands of history. Persian King Xerxes lead a Army of well over 100,000 (Persian king Xerxes before war has about 170,000 army) men to Greece and was confronted by 300 Spartans, 700 Thespians, and 400 Thebans. Xerxes waited for 10 days for King Leonidas to surrender or withdraw but left with no options he pushed forward. After 3 days of battle all the Greeks were killed. The Spartan defeat was not the one expected, as a local shepherd, named Ephialtes, defected to the Persians and informed Xerxes that the separate path through Thermopylae, which the Persians could use to outflank the Greeks, was not as heavily guarded as they thought.

Leonidas, the hero.

Xerxes, the bad motherfucker.

This film isn't for all people. That's to say about a lot of movies in general of course, but this one in particular brings up a big clashing point between critics; What do we want to see in our movies? What is more important, to portray a fictional setting for the sake of giving people a mind blowing visual experience or to amuse and amaze them with clever plot twists and intelligent dialogs?

First lets analyze what exactly this film is made of. Basically, the whole thing is just one epic fighting scene after another. Most noticeably is the camera work and the visual effects. Every shot seems like it was intended to be a work of art. The colors, the characters, the costumes, the backgrounds... every little detail has been given so much attention. During the big fights you'll also instantly notice the unique editing. There are a lot of "time slowdowns" throughout the battles which show what exactly is happening. Fatal wounds that slowly leak blood spatters in the air, decapitated heads traveling in slow-motion across the screen... it's all there. 

The story on the other hand isn't very complicated, in the sense that the whole movie could probably be described in a sentence or two. The dialogs are simple and most often talk about moral values like freedom and honor. If you would look at the script, it would probably look like another movie that has nothing more to offer then idealistic visions of how life should be.

a strong queen.

a future X-Men.

Reviewers of this title were mixed back then and maybe they're less mixed now that comic book films became a respectable genre in the industry of movies. However, I feel reluctant to take a position in this kind of argument. Normally it's tolerable to weigh out both sides of this matter to result in a fair judgment about a movie. Not in this one. On the one hand the visual are surely among the best to be witnessed in a movie. Every detail, every background, every special effect set to the scenes are so mindblowingly stunning. On the other hand the plot and dialogs are of the most simplistic and quite frankly dumb kind. "I fight for freedom! I'd rather die in honor then live in shame!" Sounds familiar? 

Of course it could be debated that this movie was never intended in the first place to have a unique plot that makes your head spin. But from an objective point of view it's still lacking in this department, so it should be noted.

Now that's fine and all, but does that all make of the film? Is it still worth watching (in case you haven't) or what? I think it is. For me the good outweighs the bad by miles. From the second the movie starts it grabs you by the balls (or pussy) and doesn't let go. Every battle, every scene of the movie and even every campy dialog compels you to watch it until the end without any distractions (you know, smartphones, food, etc) 

Evil Persians!

Fantastic action scenes.

I did not one single moment felt like the movie lacked anything. But I could imagine why other people did.

So here's the deal.

If you are easily impressed by beautiful landscapes, wonderful camera-work and editing and powerful acting then go see this. Right. Now. You'll be missing out if you don't. There is so much to see, so much power in the way this comic is translated to the big screen... It'll leave you in awe.

However, if you are looking for a good story, clever plot twists, some innovating to the world of the movies then skip this. 300 contains nothing of this, nor does it wants to give you this. In addition, this film is based upon a graphic novel, and a very graphic one I might add. Just like watching Sin City, 300 delivers a page by page live action version of Frank Miller's pen & ink.

Tits oracle.

Spartans do love.

I enjoyed this movie so much when it came out that I even bought the DVD (on clearance), but I know there will be people that will pass anything Snyder as rubbish, and that's understandable. Just be sure to make up your mind about what you want to see when you go to the theater yourself instead of being drawn into bias by the tons of reviews, bad publicity and Marvel fanboys out there. 

PS: This movie had its own prequel in 2014, 300 Rise of the Empire, based upon the unpublished works of Frank Miller. The film features hottie starlet Eva Green! Maybe well' review it sometime. Now, what's next? oh yeah! the film that turned Snyder into a full time superhero film director: Watchmen!

Here's the movie trailer:

Robocop 3

Back for all audiences.

Hello fellow connoisseurs who still read. Previously I had promised a review for "Aliens" and guess what? I didn't keep my word, bad dog, bad dog. Anyways, let's just say such review will be here sooner than later due to some unexpected infatuation: Robocop! My favorite childhood cop. A few weeks ago my wife asked "hey, why don't we watch Robocop again?" so, what started as only watching the original film, ended up in revisiting the whole trilogy plus the infamous TV series from 1994 & 2001. The final installment in the trilogy came three years after Robocop 2 & the tone producers had us used to (you know, good old bloody gory violence) in the first two films was gone forever. Which, in my case was an excellent thing as I could finally go to the theater and be a part of Robocop 3 premiere (I was still an underage kid, and boy, I went on my own to watch it!) 

Robocop 3 (1993) picks an unknown number of years after the events of part 2, Cain's gang and his Nuke Drug has been obliterated and Robocain has been defeated by our hero. The Old Man from the previous two films is gone (either died or resigned after the events of Robocop 2; the movie doesn't say) and is replaced by the "CEO" (Rip Torn). The Delta City Project inaugurated in the previous film is falling behind schedule and OCP incurs in debt, leading to its takeover by the Japanese corp. of Kanemitsu. Meanwhile, they adopt increasingly forceful methods to get back on track by hiring mercenaries called "the Rehabs" led by Robert McDagget (John Castle) to evacuate areas for demolition and send the locals to "correctional facilities". A band of freedom fighters spring up, Robocop and Anne Lewis track them down after seeing a little girl joining them in an abandoned church. Unbeknownst to them, the Rehabs have tracked them down, and orders them to leave the building to them. Robocop and Anne Lewis refuse, but when Anne gets seriously injured (and dies a few minutes later), he quits the force and joins the rebellion, while undergoing structural repairs in his programme.

The Detroit riot.

Why is it whenever they add a kid in a film, the story sucks?

Robocop 2 may have shocked some viewers for its excessive violence, but it is better than this one. The storyline is more coherent than the last film in the sense that all main ideas make it to the end but it's too simplistic. While Part 2 was ultra-violent and gloomy, this one went into the opposite direction. Sure the absence of the first two films' graphic violence would make it more appealing for kids, but this movie just has little to make up for it; it starts off very promising but it gets sillier as the it progresses, culminating in a ridiculous fight between Robocop and the Samurai, which is a far cry from the excellent finale between Robocop and Robocain in the the second movie, giving the impression that the filmmakers have run out of money by that point.

However, Robocop 3 still has some worthwhile moments to spare it from becoming a candidate for MST3K. Most of the action sequences save the aforementioned fight are well-staged and creative, and the film has some creative use of CGI. Robocop's new gadgets-- the jet-pack and his cannon-- are worthy additions, and our hero still knows how to make an entrance (diving from the highest level of a parking lot and dropping down 10 storeys below).

Peter Weller, however, did not reprise the role, most likely because he has grown tired of having to walk into that baggy costume for hours and hours on end and sweating buckets in the process, and he's replaced by Robert John Burke. Burke is a worthy successor to Weller, mimicking his movements down to the smallest details, but it just doesn't feel the same without him.

Can you fly bobby?

I've been upgraded to Windows 3.1!

Now I won't say that Robocop 3 is the mega disaster that a lot of reviewers call it. I mean Robocop 3 lost the benefit of being an eighties action film so granted the violence and foul language would be toned down because suddenly the political correctness of the 90's was in full swing. So that meant making Robocop more family friendly. They also lost Peter Weller from the lead which I didn't realize how great he was as Robocop until he wasn't him anymore. I have to wonder if screenplay writer Frank Miller was angry at the creators of Robocop so he spun this tale as a cruel prank because Miller is no slouch at writing, he is a legendary comic writer (Batman,300, Sin City, X-Men, etc.) and the story for Robocop 3 borders on ridiculous. All of the dark gritty atmosphere is pretty much gone from the original film, the tongue in cheek political humor is gone as well despite some off attempts to do exactly that. And it is true what reviewers have said that Robocop has suddenly become a complete weakling. He spends so much of the film repeatedly falling on his robo butt and trying to get back up. He's lost all of his cool factor, all of his heavy hitting super hero instincts.

So here is why Robocop 3 is NOT the disastrously horrendous film that some make it out to be. First of all it ends the trilogy with a final big battle between OCP and the Detroit Police Department which essentially brings OCP down. It also brings back some of the familiar faces from the series and gives closure to the story on Lewis although her and Burke just don't have the chemistry that her and Weller had as partners. The story is decent enough and simple enough to follow but it just doesn't hold up to the previous two films. The entire aspect of Robocop flying is so ridiculous and they surely had to know that it was ridiculous. If it ain't broke don't fix it and they do fix the unbroken recipe which essentially ruins the series. It is true that Robocop 3 was a fall from grace and this film felt like the quality of a TV Movie which is maybe why all future Robocop installments hit Television. A rather bland disappointment.  

Robocop 3 (Super Nintendo)

Robocop 3 (NES)

All in all, a sequel for the fans of  Robocop only. Casual Sci-Fi fans skip this unless you've already watched the first two films that built our robo hero character with far greater justice than the final piece in the trilogy. Still, we can't be that hard on it, many things were going on during the creation of the sequel. This film was wrapped in 1991 (only a year after the sequel) but due to Orion (the production company) having some substantial financial issues that eventually led them to bankruptcy, the film was on hold for a couple of years. 

The PG-13 is not a random choice. it was deliberate as the film producers wanted to establish Robocop in a kids friendly world (beyond "Robocop Ultra Police" the awful cartoon which spawned the very first wave of Robocop action figures) so that they could ask their parents for the cool Robocop 3 merchandise (mostly action figures, weapon accesories and vehicles) In addition, Peter Weller grown tired of the character and didn't give a shit about reprising his role anymore. Also, Nancy Allen felt the exact same way about her character, and the only way she would reprise it was under the condition that she died in the first half hour of the film (she got away with it)

Here's the movie trailer:

Here the Robocop action figure TV ad:

 

Robocop 2

He's back!

RoboCop 2 is probably the most under-rated and most harshly criticized sequel in history (tying with Predator 2, which came out the same year). Because of a few missing elements from the first and a slightly more cartoonish approach to the violence, the critics and public alike were not pleased and opinions and feelings toward the franchise nosedived with the just plain awful RoboCop 3.

Don't con yourself out of a good movie though. RoboCop 2 still has the same savage sense of humor, cynical social commentary and character pathos of the first film. It's a hyper-realistic vision of an America populated by gun-loving psychos, a democracy owned by big business and the poverty-stricken addicted to drugs dealt to them by peddlers believing themselves to be the second coming of Christ.

Far-fetched could be the typical way of describing it. Completely-over-the-top would be more appropriate. Empire Strikes Back director Irvin Kershner chucks in as much sadistic violence, deafening gunfire, endless destruction and loss of human life that the film just begs you not to take it so seriously.

I so loved the promo art for the film!

There were some cool cardboards out there in video rental stores.

Some of the blame was placed on writer Frank Miller for the film being more cartoonish than the original. I don't think this is very fair. I read Miller's original script when I was in high school and it is rather different and, dare I say, unfilmable. RoboCop 2 himself was not Nuke Lord Caine, the psychotic hippie with delusions of Godhood. He was called Kong, a psychotic cop who pretty much killed everybody he came across. Sgt. Reed and the Old Man died too, and there wasn't much humor. Screenwriter Walon Green was hired to doctor the script and much of what appears on screen is actually his work. Frank Miller's original ideas are pretty much just left as the framework for the whole movie and some of his story was recycled into RoboCop 3 (don't blame him for that one either). Miller was obviously upset with this but was still a good enough sport to appear in the film (keep a lookout for him playing Doctor Frank), though he vowed not to work in Hollywood again for fear of being taken advantage of. Until Robert Rodriguez promised to make good on his Sin City graphic novels.

Verhoven may be gone but Irvin Kershner tries hard to deliver the same mix of mirth and magic and actually does get it right. Basil Poledouris' brooding score is also gone (it returns in RoboCop 3) but new composer Leonard Rosenman creates a wonderfully heroic and upbeat theme that suits the film more than Poledouris' moody, tormented score to the first.

Call for back up Murphy!

I told you!

There have also been many complaints that the humanity of RoboCop and his relationship with Lewis was neutered along with too many other ideas fighting for screen time. I get why most would be annoyed by this but you have to remember that films need to be economic when it comes to length. If every single idea was fully explored and fleshed-out RoboCop 2 would have been 4 hours long. In my opinion each thread has just enough for keen viewers and fans to appreciate. Lazy viewers only see what they want to see and I feel that this has led to many of the negative reviews the film has been met with (which usually comment on how "offensive" the character of Hob is-sheesh, gimme a break). And don't give me that the "humanity" of the first film is gone. Murphy has not resigned to being a machine. He lies to pacify OCP. Pay attention to the very last line of dialogue in the film if you want proof.

Filmed once again in Texas, Houston this time, you really have to feel for Peter Weller walking around in that Robosuit. It must have weighed a ton and he'd be sweating bucketloads inside. There is a particular scene in the film where Murphy is tortured into near-death/destruction that is very hard to watch. But it does lead to him getting a brand-new makeover and those crazy new directives put into his head. The bit where he lectures the Little League kids and scolds the youngsters playing by the leaky fire hydrant (after quoting some very suspicious philosophy) is hilarious.

Enter Robocop 2.

I'm gonna add you some fingering/fisting upgrades to your program.

RoboCop 2 is a great movie. Despite harsh criticisms of the script and story and some slightly dated stop-motion effects it's a brilliant sequel that lives up to expectations. Do listen to the nay-Sayers. I don't know what kind of film they were expecting.

Now let's go behind camera and check some awesome Robocop 2 trivia:

Paul Verhoeven's no.

After the success of RoboCop (1987), director Paul Verhoeven and the original screen writers were approached for a sequel by the studio immediately. According to Verhoeven, he wasn't yet ready to make a sequel and wanted to wait until a proper script was written. He felt going forward so quickly would make it feel like he was attempting to cash in on a product. The studio did not agree, and hired Frank Miller to quickly write a new script and implement his own ideas. Ultimately the film failed, and Paul Verhoeven stated that had the studio gone with his ideas, it was far better than what was presented. 

Smoking kills.

The scene in which RoboCop opens fire around the head of someone who is smoking, after which he says 'Thank you for not smoking', was actually licensed and run as a public service announcement ahead of several different films in many non-smoking movie theaters during the summer movie season that year.  

Detroit goes bankrupt.

The City of Detroit is depicted as being cash-strapped where OCP owns the entire metropolitan area - as life imitating art, the City of Detroit filed for Chapter 9 Bankruptcy on July 18, 2013 with an estimated $18 - $20 billion debt. 

Violence? what violence?

Comic book adaptation.

Robocop, the comic book.

 

Although the producers loved Frank Miller's original version of the script, they quickly realized it was unfilmable as written. The final screen version was heavily rewritten and bears only a superficial resemblance to Miller's story. In 2003, Miller's screenplay was adapted into a comic book series titled, appropriately, "Frank Miller's RoboCop".  

Date East Arcade.

When RoboCop is in the Arcade, the majority of the video games are created by Data East. Data East was the creator behind the RoboCop video games. 

Robocop VS Frank Miller VS Irvin Kershner.

Peter Weller criticized the script, saying it lacked the spine and the soul of the original. Weller tried to convince Frank Miller, Irvin Kershner and the film's producers that the third act needed a morality angle instead of being just a shoot 'em up. The producers felt the battle between Robocop and Cain was sufficient.  

V for Vendettacop.

Alan Moore was originally offered the chance to write the film but turned it down. 

The Nintendo NES official videogame.

The spectacular arcade videogame.

Deleted Scenes.

Many scenes were deleted from the movie for various reasons: . Robocop walking through police station locker room where he sees a naked police woman showering and, after looking at her for a few seconds, walks away.

Robocop's hallucination scene after he is dismantled by Cain's men, where he dreams of visiting his own grave. . A few scenes with Cain that explained his character more, including a scene where he and Angie visit Dr. Faxx to discuss robotics, thus planting the seed for the most likely candidate to donate to Robocop 2's construction. In the same deleted scene, Cain confronts a Robocop mock-up in the OCP's reception area.

An extended scene where the store keeper who got robbed by the baseball team kids screams at Robocop for letting them get away, with Robocop grabbing him by the throat, saying a few words about the storekeeper's "harsh value judgment" then dropping him on the floor.

A scene where Robocop finds out that Cain is inside the Robocop 2 cyborg, interfacing with Dr. Faxx's computer and going through her files.

Rated X.

Also, just like with first movie, some scenes were cut down to avoid an X rating by MPAA. Although one workprint version is available that includes some of the deleted scenes, there was never any uncut version of the movie with all deleted scenes.  

Overall, Robocop 2 as a standalone movie, may have its flaws, but when watched as a part of the Robocop Trilogy it looks and sounds way better. Despite the fact, that the trilogy doesn't not begin an official plot that would be ended by the third film, the whole idea of OCP, a powerful & mean corporation running a bankrupt city crowded with crime, remains throughout the three films.  Another stand out point of this sequel is the fact that they worked with actual comic book authors! Frank Miller & Alan Moore (who didn't take the offer) are perhaps two of the most respected men among the Comic Book/Graphic Novel circles. 

Here's the movie trailer:

Here the above mentioned deleted scenes:

Here the "thank you for not smoking" Theaters ad:

Here the Nintendo NES videogame adaptation:

And last but not least, the Official Arcade adaptation:

 

Daredevil

The man without fear.

Where Spiderman was colorful and almost cartoonish, Daredevil is gritty and merciless. Whatever you thought couldn't happen in Peter Parker's world will more than likely happen in Matt Murdock's neck of the woods. Because people die here. Sometimes they die slowly and painfully. The superheroes go home with scars on their backs, broken teeth, and more than a few gruesome images that need to be repressed. For all of these reasons I liked Daredevil, because it takes chances by offering a hero that is by no means invincible or conventional.

The origin story of the character Daredevil is pretty complicated, but, as the helpful gentleman in the theater so aptly put it, "He's blind, but he can see stuff blind." Let's just leave it at this: As a kid, Matt Murdock was blinded by radioactive material in a freak accident. This caused his other senses to become phenomenally acute, to the point where Matt can track criminals by their scent and use sound waves as a sort of radar. He uses his newfound abilities to protect those who will not be protected by the justice system, all the while hoping that one day he will find the person who killed his father.

The core storyline was based on Frank Miller's story arcs. The introduction/flashback was taken from his mini-series "Daredevil: Man Without Fear," and many of the sequences follow John Romita Jr.'s art work shot-for-shot. The Elektra storyline occurred in Miller's original run on the comic in the early 1980s.

Lawyer by day.

Hero by night.

If you're a fan of the first two Batman movies, you'll find a lot to love in Daredevil. There are still some comic book elements that require some suspension of disbelief, like the fact that Matt could construct an entire high-tech lair beneath a church while working as a pro-bono lawyer, but the movie is not fantasy-driven. The fight scenes will make you wince at their realism, the love story is not corny or forced (as opposed to a certain flick called Just Married), and the characters are complex, uncertain people who just happen to don masks and fight on rooftops.

Do you remember the parts in the old Christopher Reeve Superman movies where Clark would hear someone crying for help in the distance? He would always be having dinner with Lois Lane at the time, and had to make up some dumb excuse for ditching the scene like, "Oh! I just forgot. I have a book due at the library." Then he would dash off to save the day, leaving Lois high and dry. Well, in today's feature, Matt hears someone crying for help, but when his love interest, Elektra, asks him to stay, he actually does. With out-of-left-field scenes like this, I couldn't help but enjoy Daredevil.

Kingpin.

Bulls Eye.

Some might be surprised at how little screen time the villains get in this movie. Kingpin, a Don Giovini mobster type, and Bullseye, an Irish nut with a couple of loose screws, are important parts of our story, but they don't steal the show. Going back to the Batman comparison, many movie buffs think that Jack Nicholson's role as the joker actually become more interesting than the winged knight himself. Not so in this movie, as Daredevil is the guy whom the role shebang revolves around. By deciding to focus on the hero more than the villain, the audience can get into his head and root for him to the last battle. Matt is a cool guy because he's not a wealthy playboy or Kryptonian who can smash through walls. Other than his heightened senses and combat skills, he's just a regular guy who happens to like read leather.

After X-Men and Spiderman became huge hits, it was expected that Hollywood would start churning out more superhero flicks as fast as they could make them. Thankfully, Daredevil doesn't seem recycled or rushed and actually brings something new to the table. However, compared to today's Marvel cinematic universe the film feels like a made for TV movie.

Heroes...

...and lovers.

Trivia

-Although Ben Affleck is a fan of the character, acting him out was such an unpleasant experience that, in November 2006, Affleck stated that he would never reprise the role, having felt "by playing a superhero in "Daredevil," I have inoculated myself from ever playing another superhero. Wearing a costume was a source of humiliation for me and something I wouldn't want to do again soon." It is believed that the Daredevil costume was very uncomfortable to wear. However, in 2013 Affleck accepted an agreement to play Batman starting with Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016). Money talks!

-Ben Affleck was virtually blind as he had to wear heavy-duty contact lenses which blocked out most of his vision. 

-Elektra often wears red satin, but in the film she wears black leather. Jennifer Garner explained, "The red would never have worked for hiding a harness, and I know this sounds ridiculous, but you have to protect your skin a little bit. They throw me around so much on the rooftop I got cut through the leather, so imagine if I hadn't had anything."

The dark...the man without fear!

Elektra's real deadly weapon.

-After negative critical and audience reactions, and Ben Affleck's refusal to play the character a second time, a number of producers and screenwriters attached to potential Daredevil reboot. An initial deadline of 10 October 2012 was set so that if the movie didn't start filming before that date, the rights would go back to Marvel Studios. Director David Slade was originally attached to direct, before dropping out over a scheduling conflict in August 2012. Director Joe Carnahan pitched a sizzle reel to 20th Century Fox executives, depicting the character in a hard boiled, 1970s-set thriller in Manhattan. But the studio chose to let the live action film rights lapse, and go back to Marvel. Marvel chose to reboot Daredevil (2015) as a live action television series for Netflix, with the character fitting within the Marvel Cinematic Universe.  

-The film was originally envisioned as R-rated with nudity and hard violence. 

-Stan Lee disliked the film, because he felt the film was "too tragic". 

-The Shadow World effects took the better part of a year to be designed. 

-Getting Daredevil's costume right was one of the hardest aspects of the production and took approximately 7-8 months. 

-In 2003, this became the lowest grossing movie to make over $40 million on its opening weekend. 

-In the closing scenes, Daredevil calls himself a "Guardian Devil," title of a Daredevil storyline (running in DD Volume 2, #1-8), written by Kevin Smith (who plays lab assistant Kirby in this movie). As these words are spoken, Daredevil is shown upside-down in mid-air, with his baton strings surrounding him, replicating one of the covers in that series. 

Do not fap son.

a Thing for black leather.

 -Originally this was going to be a relatively low-budget film of roughly $50 million. However, during shooting in the summer of 2002, another film about a Marvel Comics character, Spider-Man (2002), became a spectacular success and the director was soon asked by 20th Century-Fox executives to enhance the film's visuals and his budget was raised to approximately $80 million to accomplish that. 

Here's the movie trailer and see you sooner than later with the missing Marvel Cinematic Universe reviews:

One of the hottest rock songs from 2003, by the now defunct alt goth band  Evanescence:

And finally the second trailer for the new Daredevil netflix series coming on April 10th:

The Spirit

Not the film the world needs.

The Spirit is a film with few virtues. There's a fingerful but that's it.

Gabriel Macht delivers a certain charisma in the titular role as Will Eisner's classic middle-class superhero. This is his first time carrying a movie and had the focus been shifted more on him, his antics and his conflicts it would have been a better film. We witness some lovely moments when The Spirit talks about the love he has for his city, echoing something at the very heart of the superhero mythos. One scene has him even using the city as a shield, a weapon and a guide in his role as its guardian. These are poignant moments that evoke that somewhere underneath all the terribleness there might have been a spark of a good film here.

That's where all the virtues end.

People will probably gravitate to the cinematography of Bill Pope which does its best to marry Frank Miller's Sin City with the pulp comics of The Spirit's origins. But as pretty as the cinematography does look here and there, most of it is too busy, too dark and too careless. As a film that tries to show the protagonist's relationship with his city the cinematography should have created a sense of being in a vast metropolis. Instead the visuals feel completely green-screened and the effect is that the film ends up looking like it was shot on a stage instead of in a wide open city. There is also something that feels unfinished about the green-screening process as though some more work needed to be done and as such the film has the look of the cut scenes out of late 90's full motion video games with the characters standing out from rendered CGI effects like sore thumbs.

Black & Red instead of Blue & Red.

The bad guys.

This is Frank Miller's first time out as a solo director. He is credited with co-directing Sin City and after seeing this film one realizes that Miller had very little to do with the physical directing on that film. It's sad to see one of the greatest comic book creators of all time helpless in trying to do justice to Will Eisner's creations. Miller even casts himself as a police officer whose head gets ripped off and used as a blunt weapon in the film's opening. One wonders if that was CGI or if the lack of any thinking going into this film can be blamed on Miller's headlessness. Either way it's an apt metaphor for a project that steams forward without any direction.

The film is a mess of tones and genres. Scenes tend to go on forever without anywhere to go in the first place. There's an overuse of flashbacks. And most of the dialog is delivered in soliloquy (including a scene where The Spirit talks to a cat for 5 minutes). There are no subtleties in delivery, pacing or acting. Everything is blunt, harsh and cold. The audience knows everything in the first 15 minutes and it takes the rest of the characters an hour to catch up. It's frustrating, busy and excruciating to watch. Even attempts at humor fall flat. A running joke with 24's Louis Lombardi is amateur in its rendition. 

The Spirit cooperates with the police.

The Octopus.

The acting is where Miller's lack of film-making chops shows most prominently. Sam Jackson plays the Octopus, a villain whose face was never shown in Eisner's comics and rightfully so. Jackson is fresh off of a plane full of snakes and still acting like it. He plays the same tough character he always plays - shooting off big guns while shooting off his even bigger mouth. It's beginning to get boring and he needs to seek out more parts that explore his range. In order to make up for having no character depth or any credibility as a villain, Jackson and his henchwoman, played by the sexy Scarlett Johansson, go through more costume changes than a Vegas strip show. Jackson goes from dressing like a pimp to a mutton-chopped samurai and even (I can't make this up) a monocled goose-stepping heil-hitlering Nazi in an offensive scene that seems like a bad pun on the classic Patton.

Further to the acting, there is a bevy of female characters that clutter this film in an attempt to create some element of pulp sex drama. Johansson's Silken Floss is just money thrown down the drain as she brings nothing to the movie. I've never understood her appeal and this film is perhaps best proof of her need to hire an acting coach. The Morgenstern character is a time-waster and eats up screen time lecturing the audience on the Electra principle (Miller you created a character named Elektra, you have a fascination with it, we get it, but it has no place in this film). To believe her character we'd have to believe that a rookie cop would be the only one to notice a gigantic clue two days after a crime scene has been cleared. Sarah Paulson and Eva Mendes, both in terribly written roles, try the hardest and as an audience member I appreciated that.

Scarlett Johansson is making a career out of nerd films.

Not even nude Eva Mendez can save this film from oblivion.

The time I attended the movie theater (expecting a massively excellent good film biased by what we saw in 2005's Sin City) had a number of rows oddly empty from the get go. And within 10 minutes about twenty people had already gotten up and left. The rest of us stayed because it was cold outside and perhaps hoping that things would only get better. They didn't. After the film we had a unique experience where audience members cultivated together, like strangers at a traffic accident, to criticize the film. People were upset over a film that failed in every possible way a film can fail and yet the advertising campaign paints it as a brilliant, exciting holiday adventure. I assure you it's not.

Lionsgate this is a train wreck. If this is your idea of giving your audience a holiday present honestly shame on you. 

Overall, a completely forgettable experience only for daredevil connoisseurs or The Spirit fans. Nevertheless, we do give Mr. Miller credit for trying to deliver a darker update on a character that remains relevant as one of the most important pulp comic book characters of all times. Perhaps if Miller decided to go on a more Dick Tracy like direction, he would have succeeded, who knows.

Here's the movie trailer: