Edshugeo The GodMoor

I'd been looking forward to The Spirit since the first trailer hit. There was a lot of grumbling about it being more Frank Miller than Will Eisner, but that didn't bother me at all, despite being somewhat familiar with the source material.

I haven't read The Spirit since some Kitchen Sink black and white reprints like 20 (or so) years ago, including a "jam" issue that included one or two pages drawn by Miller himself.

Since then a number of color reprints have appeared in hardcover, and a newly created series by Darwin Cooke was published by DC. I haven't yet sampled any of those. Not high enough on my to do list.

When the movie came as was universally panned (by critics - most people I know don't care about The Spirit or know who Will Eisner was), I decided to wait for video.

Maybe it was the lowered expectations or my enthusiasm for this new genre which doesn't have a name, yet, but which I'll call the "Kinda Psychedelic Live-Action CGI Cartoon" until a better and shorter name comes along. The only other film in this genre* so far (that I know of) is Speed Racer, which is also not beloved by the masses (Yet). Anyway, I quite enjoyed the movie. The dialog was as ridiculous as people said it was, but it seemed to me that everyone involved was having fun, and the longer I watched the more fun (and crazier) it got. And no, I was not under the influence of any mind-altering substances. Really, with a movie like this you could probably just skip the drugs.

Though not outright successful in the laughs department, The Spirit is Frank Miller's first decent attempt (my opinion) to bring out his inner Harvey Kurtzman, something he seems to be struggling with since his horrid sequel to The Dark Knight Returns a few years ago.

Looking forward to buying the Bluray when it's priced at the 15-20 dollar range.

*I don't think 300, Sin City, Sky Captain or Cashern fit into the same category with The Spirit or Speed Racer except in much broader terms (despite Miller's connection to the first two).

Labels: Awesome, comics, movies, youtube and other video