# Frank Miller's "The Spirit" crashes and burns, hard... **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 25, 2008, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frank-millers-the-spirit-crashes-and-burns-hard/478660 "2008-12-25T17:36:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2008, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frank-millers-the-spirit-crashes-and-burns-hard/478660/21 "2008-12-27T05:15:10Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > even giving him a superpower when Eisner specifically wanted to avoid that. Wait…Spirit has POWERS in the movie? Jesus wept…This is why you don’t hand out licences based on the creators’ personal relationships… ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2008, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frank-millers-the-spirit-crashes-and-burns-hard/478660/22 "2008-12-27T13:22:13Z")
> [@Tengu](#): > > Wait…Spirit has POWERS in the movie? > > Jesus wept…This is why you don’t hand out licences based on the creators’ personal relationships… My understanding - and I haven’t seen it yet - is that he has very fast healing. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2008, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frank-millers-the-spirit-crashes-and-burns-hard/478660/23 "2008-12-27T14:07:55Z")
Yes. Miller’s Spirit = Wolverine minus adamantium. Admittedly, the original Spirit got beat up a lot and occasionally took a bullet. But he had no miraculous healing powers. Much like Batman or the Continental Op, he was tough and could take it. ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2008, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frank-millers-the-spirit-crashes-and-burns-hard/478660/24 "2008-12-27T16:13:02Z")
I saw it last night and could spoil it. Wait, there’s a thread for that. It’s was a very “looney tunes” movie. I got the feeling Miller wanted to make his own superhero movie and just slapped a coat of Eisner’s ideas on it. Good points: lots of eye candy (for the straight guys). The guy playing the Spirit looks like a hero-had no trouble with his casting. A very few interesting ideas. Wolverine trailer. Sam Jackson dresses up like a Nazi. Bad: Some ideas get pounded into your head. I personally didn’t care about any characters. Miller’s characters quote his own work and movies. The tri-chromatic thing got old and was stupid (made us wonder what Frank Miller’s Transformers would be like). ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2008, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frank-millers-the-spirit-crashes-and-burns-hard/478660/25 "2008-12-27T19:27:32Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > Yes. Miller’s Spirit = Wolverine minus adamantium. > > Admittedly, the original Spirit got beat up a lot and occasionally took a bullet. But he had no miraculous healing powers. Much like Batman or the Continental Op, he was tough and could take it. We had a thread on this a while ago, and I checked a few Graphic Novels- at times The Spirit’s ability to take damage and heal up seemed to border on the supernatural. Nowhere like Wolverine, mind you. (If we take it as Champions, he does have Normal Human Characteristic Maximum, but he has bought Con and Body over 20, paying the extra points.:p) The babes were hot, the dialog was so horrible I wanted to jam red-hot knitting needles in my ears. It was basicly Sin City\* redux. \* It was not worth my time or money. Wait until you can see it for free on cable. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2008, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frank-millers-the-spirit-crashes-and-burns-hard/478660/26 "2008-12-27T21:47:25Z")
Just got back from it. I didn’t know anything about the source material, so I had no preconceived notions. It was bad. Real bad. I was bored throughout, even with all the hot women in it. I nearly fell asleep. At no time did I care about the characters or really about what might happen. The writing was trite and cliched and well, just plain bad. Now, if you don’t mind bad, go ahead and see it. ---
**Author:** ![Illuminatiprimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/illuminatiprimus/32/11520_2.png) [@Illuminatiprimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Illuminatiprimus)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2008, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frank-millers-the-spirit-crashes-and-burns-hard/478660/27 "2008-12-27T23:54:06Z")
> [@terrifel](#): > > in fact, there’s supposedly a new john constantine movie in the works; of course, it’s a sequel to the keanu reeves film. Squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2008, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frank-millers-the-spirit-crashes-and-burns-hard/478660/28 "2008-12-27T23:56:51Z")
I thought the trailers looked retarded and reports back from acquaintances made that seem like a compliment. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2008, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frank-millers-the-spirit-crashes-and-burns-hard/478660/29 "2008-12-28T00:02:12Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > We had a thread on this a while ago, and I checked a few Graphic Novels- at times The Spirit’s ability to take damage and heal up seemed to border on the supernatural. Nowhere like Wolverine, mind you. No more than Batman’s or any of the hard-boiled detectives of the time. Remember, there were different standards at the time, and “realism” did not mean what we mean today. So even if it was unlikely for him to survive the damage if this was a real person, it was not unrealistic of supernatural for a fictional character. ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2008, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frank-millers-the-spirit-crashes-and-burns-hard/478660/30 "2008-12-28T00:04:09Z")
> [@Mississippienne](#): > > _Repo! The Genetic Opera_ has a terrible rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and I loved it. YMMV. I think _The Spirit_ looks kinda interesting, and I might catch it in theaters. I quite like Star Trek V too despite the Rotten Tomatoes low rating, so yeah, YMMV. But then the 12A certificate and the silly ad for it makes me think I’ll give it a miss. ---
**Author:** ![Terrifel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c68b51/32.png) [@Terrifel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terrifel)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2008, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frank-millers-the-spirit-crashes-and-burns-hard/478660/31 "2008-12-28T00:43:08Z")
> [@Pushkin](#): > > I quite like Star Trek V too despite the Rotten Tomatoes low rating, so yeah, YMMV. But then the 12A certificate and the silly ad for it makes me think I’ll give it a miss. Oh, I didn’t mean to suggest that the “Rotten Tomatoes” site is necessarily the final word in such matters. I freely confess to an unreasonable enjoyment of\*\* Judge Dredd\*\* (Tomatometer 15%), for example. It was just the first movie review site I happened to look at. I thought it was likely that the film review community, most of whom are probably not all that familiar with this obscure 1940’s-era comic crimefighter, would judge the movie more favorably. **Sin City** and **300** were both received well. Apparently that wasn’t entirely due to the visionary aegis of Frank Miller after all. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2008, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frank-millers-the-spirit-crashes-and-burns-hard/478660/32 "2008-12-28T02:04:07Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > The Spirit would be better served as a TV series, anyway – that would be closest to the original, which were short stories themselves. There was a lot of variety, too – humor, horror, crime, etc. – that could be explored in a series. That’s an idea. Would it be set now or in the 1940s? ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2008, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frank-millers-the-spirit-crashes-and-burns-hard/478660/33 "2008-12-28T02:34:20Z")
1940s would be best – it would allow for a better mood and you could adapt the best Spirit stories if you wanted to (though they are probably too short to do it without some fleshing out. But a present-day series could work with the right producer. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2008, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frank-millers-the-spirit-crashes-and-burns-hard/478660/34 "2008-12-28T03:12:42Z")
As I recall, Eisner wanted to do The Spirit as a straight-forward two-fisted detective story, but his editors insisted that a comic-book hero had to wear a mask. Thus the tiny domino mask, and the continuing misidentification of the character as some sort of superhero. ---
**Author:** ![bufftabby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/77aa72/32.png) [@bufftabby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bufftabby)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2008, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frank-millers-the-spirit-crashes-and-burns-hard/478660/35 "2008-12-28T06:21:46Z")
I saw _The Spirit_ last night, and I actually enjoyed it. The women were hot, the action was sweet, and the film was noir. It wasn’t a _great_ movie by any means, but quite decent nonetheless. I don’t get the hate for this movie. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2008, 9:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frank-millers-the-spirit-crashes-and-burns-hard/478660/36 "2008-12-28T09:44:03Z")
I want my Ebony! ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2008, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frank-millers-the-spirit-crashes-and-burns-hard/478660/37 "2008-12-28T14:35:37Z")
Talk about a sophmore slump! ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2008, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frank-millers-the-spirit-crashes-and-burns-hard/478660/38 "2008-12-28T15:10:45Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > 1940s would be best – it would allow for a better mood and you could adapt the best Spirit stories if you wanted to (though they are probably too short to do it without some fleshing out. > > But a present-day series could work with the right producer. It should be animated. It should have a classic jazz score. It should have voice cameos by minor celebrities. It should also be somewhat confusing where “Central City” is. It’s not New York, it’s not Chicago, it’s not San Francisco, it’s just _not_. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2008, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frank-millers-the-spirit-crashes-and-burns-hard/478660/39 "2008-12-28T16:30:39Z")
I like the jazz. It would have been nice to include Ebony, too, though, of course, he’d have to be changed as a character. Despite being considered a fairly positive (Eisner was commended by some Black groups for using him), it wouldn’t wash today. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2008, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frank-millers-the-spirit-crashes-and-burns-hard/478660/40 "2008-12-28T17:25:21Z")
> [@bufftabby](#): > > I saw _The Spirit_ last night, and I actually enjoyed it. The women were hot, the action was sweet, and the film was noir. It wasn’t a _great_ movie by any means, but quite decent nonetheless. I don’t get the hate for this movie. Disappointment following heightened expectations? Also hate from purists who think Miller did to _The Spirit_ what Veerhoeven did to _Starship Troopers._ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frank-millers-the-spirit-crashes-and-burns-hard/478660.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frank-millers-the-spirit-crashes-and-burns-hard/478660.md?page=3)