It's hard to miss the fact that The Spirit is written and directed by the same man responsible for Sin City and 300, namely Frank Miller. The setting, the characters and their dialogues, and most certainly the photography are a dead give-away that the man is at it again. As a result, you get a film which seems to be made for men specifically.
In a grim Central City, ex-cop Denny Colt (Gabriel Macht, The Good Shepherd) has taken it upon himself to rid the city of crime as the Spirit, a masked hero donning a red tie. Rather than being a vigilante, he's a spy for the police force, even though chief of police Dolan (Dan Lauria, The Waiter) can hardly stand the sight of him. This has to do with the fact that the Spirit is "going through officers like toilet paper", but I'm guessing that the fact that Colt is his daughter's choice of man also plays a part in this.
This daughter, Ellen (Sarah Paulson, Serenity) also happens to be the Spirit's personal nurse. Not that he needs it, because his wounds heal incredibly fast.
Opposing the Spirit is the Octopus, a brilliant role by Samuel L. Jackson. The Octopus and his right hand Silken Floss (Scarlett Johansson, Iron Man 2) are after a vase. A vase that contains a specific fluid that will perfect a formula designed by the Octopus that will make him immortal.
Unfortunately that vase is in the possession of Sand Saref (Eva Mendes, Ghost Rider), cat burglar extraordinaire and collector of shiny things, who is in turn looking for the Golden Fleece, which happens to be in the possession of the Octopus. Both items were in identical cases and got mixed up, you see.
To make it all a bit more complicated, Saref is also Colt's ex-girl. You'd have to see the film for yourself to make any sense of the story though.
The Spirit is exactly what you'd expect from a Miller film. There's beautiful yet dangerous women, grim anti-heroes, over-the-top villains and plenty of action for everyone to go around. What struck me as different is that The Spirit takes a more comedic approach, whereas Sin City took itself more seriously. In my opinion, it's an improvement. It shows that the film makers themselves know what they were dealing with and had fun dealing with it.
The dialogues, even though they get a bit long-winded from time to time, are classic Detective Comics material, especially written for these kind of films. They wouldn't fit in anywhere else without coming of as cheesy and cliché. Add to all that a plot that goes up, down, and sideways and you have yourself a bad-ass detective flick with a bit of superhero thrown into the mix.
The acting done in this film is incredibly entertaining. Jackson as the extravagant Octopus is superb. I was getting tired of seeing him as the same old bad-ass mother fucker he always gets to play, so it was very refreshing to see him play a slightly insane doctor chasing after immortality, which stood in beautiful contrast to the serene role of Johansson, who plays his assistant: an ice-cold scientist void of any emotion.
Add to that delicious combo a handfull of cloned henchmen with an IQ as high as their shoe size (All played by Louis Lombardi) and you have yourself the perfect evil organisation.
Then there's the good corner. Macht plays his role as never-ending ladiesman seemingly effortless. His character is probably one that has been made up over and over again, but he gives it his own twist, turning the untouchable hero into a real person with real flaws and weaknesses. Of course, the Spirit needs his own contrasting comrade, which he gets in the form of Dolan, the standard shit-spouting chief of police who can't stand the sight of him, yet can't do without him either. Joining the chief is the rookie Morgenstern (Stana Katic, Quantum of Solace), all pumped up and ready to get to work as the police force's next employee of the month.
Naturally, no detective flick would be complete without the love story winding through it all. In this case, the love story comes in the form of Eva Mendes. Mendes's character is pretty mich fed up with the puked out city that is Central City and finds herself to be way out of it's, and Colt's, league, so she decides to find her fortune elsewhere. That is, until her most beloved treasure, the Golden Fleece, turns up in her old hometown. The chemistry between Colt and Mendes is hardly there, but she plays her role as it should be played: arrogantly and irresistibly. I can't imagine any man that doesn't wish he had a girl like Sand Saref at one point or another. Nor can I imagine a man that doesn't wish he had a girl like Silken Floss for that matter.
The Spirit is a real man's film and fits in between Sin City and 300 perfectly. If you're looking for some old-fashioned ass-kicking mixed and if you're not afraid to sit through a bit of long-winded dialogue, then you're at the right address with this flick.
