Ridiculous 'Spirit' Scene Leaks Online
Filed under: Action, Noir, Lionsgate Films, Comic/Superhero/Geek, Trailers and Clips
When he's not covering film for us, Christopher Campbell is out living a bold double life, instead covering film for Spout Blog, and by way of his derring-do, he's come across a relatively watchable bootleg of some of the ill-received Comic-Con footage from The Spirit, and to borrow his incredibly apt reaction: "The scene you heard about is actually worse than you imagined."
Their Kevin Kelly tried to warn us, as did our own Elisabeth Rappe, and the latest trailer brought forth its own wave of doubt, but witnessing it for myself is something else. I can't speak for Will Eisner's original comic-book creation, though a couple of my pals have assured me that Frank Miller's take on the material is pretty far from it, and while I'm down for a Sin City 2, I'd really rather it be a more intentional affair than this likely farce.
Are any of you fans still willing to give this project the benefit of the doubt, or are toilet-smashing gags the new par for the course?










Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
8-13-2008 @ 10:29AM
Eric said...
Oh god this is just awful. The editing makes no sense at all, acting is horrible, god miller just does not understand film.
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8-13-2008 @ 12:28PM
Tom said...
I agree. I mean, this thing is a mess on so many levels..
8-13-2008 @ 10:41AM
b0ring said...
Are we forgetting "You forgot to flush." in Sin City?
Personally, I don't know anything about The Spirit to get up in arms about how accurate it may or may not be to the original, but I would presume that Frank Miller knows a thing or two about storytelling.
The part I'd wonder about is his visual style and directing since it's his first. But lucky(?) for us he seems to be sticking to what he knows and is doing another Sin City (I don't care how often he says it's not).
The trailer looked like he was trying too hard to be stylish, and the toilet clip might be the only one of it's kind in the entire movie, to write it off already would be foolish says I.
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8-13-2008 @ 10:42AM
Victor said...
Frank Miller is slowly but surely crushing our Spirit.
Hopefully this film will tank (not hard to predict, judging from this footage), and that will put America (and the world) out of it's Frank Miller misery.
I was as big a Frank Miller fan as anyone back in the 80's, but since the success of Dark Knight Returns, he's played the same note over and over again, with everyone telling him how great that note is. It's time we all tried some new Kool-Aid.©.
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8-13-2008 @ 10:50AM
robert said...
three words: live action cartoon
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8-13-2008 @ 11:06AM
Dawn said...
I was actually at ComiCon with my husband, and we were in the Spirit panel. We thought that all the clips were actually really cool.
Maybe we are confused, but we thought that this movie looked like a great idea, and that all the professional bloggers who were hating on the clips just didn't get it. But now I have other, fellow comic/movie fans are saying negative stuff too.
My husband and I feel that this is trying to be a clever, kind of campy superhero movie. The thing that Frank Miller stressed during the panel is that he and Eisner were good friends, and that his vision, which he had shared prior to his death with Frank and the producer, was a real guiding force in the film.
That said, I really liked all the clips at ComiCon. The one with Sarah Paulsen was funny, and cute, the one with Eva Mendes was stylisically beautiful, and the one with Sam Jackson and Gabriel Macht fighting was really fun, funny, and deliciously campy.
We (my husband and I) are really looking forward to this films release. In fact, before ComiCon, I wasn't really that excited, eprecially after that horrible second trailer. But those clips really won me over big time. I don't think this film will be a huge hit, because I don't think a lot of people will "get" it. But I really hope it doesn't tank, because I think it will be great.
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8-13-2008 @ 11:14AM
Luke said...
Okay,
Someone let me know if I'm wrong here, but wasn't it Frank Miller's dark and serious comic storytelling that was the biggest influence on the serious tone of Hollywood comic-film adaptations? Why is it then that his directorial debut is a CAMPY comic-book film? This just seems backwards to me.
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8-13-2008 @ 11:15AM
Mr. R said...
Toilets are always funny. Frank Miller is involuntarily funny.
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8-13-2008 @ 11:25AM
Slappy said...
Said it when the trailer was posted....this movie is going to be garbage. What a terrible, terrible clip. It's poorly directed and shot, and just plain stupid.
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8-13-2008 @ 11:37AM
dopiestghost said...
@Dawn
Isn't it a problem when the producers are on record saying "There's nothing campy about this movie," and that's the word you keep using it define it? You're enjoying it despite the filmmakers' intentions not because that's what they're aiming for. That's a pretty clear indication they're failing. In your opinion they may be "failing up" as the saying goes, but failing nonetheless.
Unlike most fanboys, I can appreciate camp. However, this is not the tone of The Spirit. And just because Miller spoke at length about it with Eisner doesn't mean he's actually doing a good job of executing the vision. Knowing how something should be done and actually executing it properly are not the same thing.
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8-13-2008 @ 11:30AM
Kurt said...
The execution is awful, no doubt, but what about the premise. The idea of two immortals pounding the s**t out of each other was not compelling in The Matrix Revolutions and time has not sweetened it. At least The Matrix tried to make it into a philosophical discussion. This... is just... just... well, you saw it.
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9-26-2008 @ 11:33PM
Adam said...
I can't put into words just how awful this movie looks.
The teaser was cool (maybe it was the Untouchables theme that sold me on it, though)- no doubt about that.
However the second trailer made me doubtful.
This clip puts it over the edge. I don't know who allowed Frank Miller, ostensibly a comic writer (and a damn good one, too) to direct a movie. I know that Rodriguez credited him as a director on Sin City, but Rodriguez was the one calling the shots.
Frank Miller is not a director. Stick to what you know and what you're good at.
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8-13-2008 @ 1:30PM
joey m said...
Guys, guys...... YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE MOVIE YET!!!
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8-13-2008 @ 1:44PM
Kevin said...
Exactly!! Who knows, maybe the movie will be good. So lets talk about what we have seen. And all the footage that has been released has looked just awful. Truly terrible.
8-13-2008 @ 3:36PM
rollie pollie said...
This type of logic has a gaping flaw. Check it: this is promotional footage meant to capture the spirit (no pun intended) of the movie, present it to people and get them excited to see it. They want us to pass judgement based on this footage. Unfortunately, the judgement we're passing is not what they hoped for.
8-29-2008 @ 3:45PM
Mike L said...
I thought the scene was good. It captures the comedic feel of the comic. I don't know what the "bad wording" on it is all about.
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