Thursday, April 23, 2009

The Spirit - DVD Review

THE SPIRIT (*1/2) - Starring Gabriel Macht, Samuel L. Jackson, Eva Mendes, Scarlett Johansson, Sarah Paulson, Dan Lauria, Paz Vega, Eric Balfour and Louis Lombardi.
Directed by Frank Miller.

Please don't let Frank Miller near a Dick Tracy remake. Not that I've heard rumors or anything, but if anyone suggests it, slap them down. Apparently his co-directing gig on Sin City was lightning in a bottle, because tonally this movie never calms down and just struck me as silly. Sometimes it's has as much heft as a shot-by-shot remake of a 1978 Superfriends episode, complete with Wonder Woman showing us how to do a card trick. Most of the time though, it's like watching Dick Tracy remade by the cast and crew of America's Next Top Model.

Gabriel Macht will someday do something memorable in another film, but he gets no help from Miller, whose emphasis was on visuals, and the visuals are great, but that doesn't mean there are any appealing characters or engrossing plotlines. The word that keeps coming back to me is "silly." Silly, silly, silly.

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