[Trailer] The Spirit

[frankthedm]

The Spirit is a fictional American masked crime-fighter, created by writer-artist Will Eisner in 1940, who starred in a Sunday-newspaper comic-book insert. His namesake, seven-page weekly series is considered one of the comic-art medium's most significant works, with Eisner creating or popularizing many of the styles, techniques, and storytelling conventions used by comics professionals decades later.

The Spirit chronicled the adventures of a masked vigilante who fought crime with the blessing of the city's police commissioner, an old friend. Despite the Spirit's origin as a detective named Denny Colt, his real identity was virtually unmentioned again and for all intents and purposes he was simply "The Spirit". The stories ranged through a wide variety of styles, from straightforward crime drama and film noir to lighthearted adventure, from mystery and horror to comedy and love stories, often with hybrid elements that twisted genre and expectations.

The feature was the lead item of a 16-page, tabloid-sized, newsprint comic book sold as part of eventually 20 Sunday newspapers with a combined circulation of as many as five million copies. "The Spirit Section", as it was colloquially called, premiered June 2, 1940, and continued until October 5, 1952.[1] It generally included two other, four-page strips (initially Mr. Mystic and Lady Luck), plus filler material. Eisner worked as editor, but also wrote and drew most entries — generally, after the first few months, with such uncredited "ghost" collaborators as writer Jules Feiffer and artists Jack Cole and Wally Wood, though with Eisner's singular vision for the character as a unifying factor.

Writer-director Frank Miller described the main character:

“ The character has a terrifying side to him. This is a man who’s died and came back to life. So it twists into fantasy. And of course there are tons of women in it. There have to be — it’s The Spirit. They’re all in love with him, and he’s in love with all of them. You might say he’s a bit of a slut.[2] ”

The film series will not begin with an origin story, but will instead open with the adventures of The Spirit already having begun.[3] The film will be more contemporary than the '40s and '50s era of the strip and will aim for a "timeless feel." The protagonist will be involved in a love triangle with Sand Saref and Ellen Dolan, the daughter of Central City's Police Commissioner Dolan. The controversial character Ebony White will not appear in the film.[1]

 

[Mouseferatu]

I can't speak for the movie, or the source material, but the trailer is awful. Boring, poorly done, and doesn't really offer much of anything.

 

[WhatGravitas]

That was, odd.

So is the Synopsis:

In the vein of BATMAN BEGINS and SIN CITY, WILL EISNER'S THE SPIRIT takes us on a sinister, gut-wrenching ride with a hero who is born, murdered and born again.

I'm not knowing much about the source material (The Spirit), but from the synopsis, I'd say somebody has seen Sin City, sees the current surge superhero films and tries to cash in on the success. But I know that Frank Miller is behind this, as well as an actual comic. I don't really know what to make out of it.

Cheers, LT.

 

[Celtavian]

re

Put nicely "Looks like it tries to capture the feel of old detective radio shows with the visual nuances of the Sin City movie.'

Put coarsely "Looks like they are trying to get a knock off of "The Shadow" out before Rami can get the real deal to the theaters."

Edit, more info... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Spirit

Raimi is doing a Shadow movie? Cool. Should be better than the movie they did with Alec Baldwin.

 

[Klaus]

I assume this is based on a graphic novel? I will only be judging it on its own, as a movie, as I am not familiar with the source material and am unlikely to become familiar with it. For me, the "tone" of The Spirit will be whatever I happen to get from the movie. I am guessing this controversy will not be isolated to your own opinion (I'll bet a lot of people wind up agreeing with you), so I will likely avoid any of the inevitable Spirited discussions until after I have seen the film.

The Spirit is anything but "terrifying". He's the epitome of the two-fisted crimefighter. He's pretty much a hard-boiled detective with a domino mask and a secret headquarters inside a cemetary.

You can up The Spirit pretty well with this promotional piece of the Spirit/Batman crossover done by Darwyn Cooke a few years ago:

And also this one:

Not the same vibes you get from the trailer, is it?

 

[Atlatl Jones]

The Spirit is anything but "terrifying". He's the epitome of the two-fisted crimefighter. He's pretty much a hard-boiled detective with a domino mask and a secret headquarters inside a cemetary.

Right. The spirit isn't a dark and vengeful character. He's a regular bloke who wears a domino mask and regularly gets the living crap beat out of him while fighting crime. He's much more like Bruce Willis in Die Hard and Moonlighting than Batman or Sin City.

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Those pictures really just go to show how wrong a Sin City like tone is for The Spirit.

Sigh. Frank Miler.

 

[Mark]

The Spirit is anything but "terrifying". He's the epitome of the two-fisted crimefighter. He's pretty much a hard-boiled detective with a domino mask and a secret headquarters inside a cemetary.

You can up The Spirit pretty well with this promotional piece of the Spirit/Batman crossover done by Darwyn Cooke a few years ago:

(. . .)

Not the same vibes you get from the trailer, is it?

It certainly seems like the take by Cooke from a few years ago on the stuff written in the 40s and 50s is very different than the take Miller plans to execute. I can only imagine that Miller is looking more toward the Mystery and Horror aspects.

The stories ranged through a wide variety of styles, from straightforward crime drama and film noir to lighthearted adventure, from mystery and horror to comedy and love stories, often with hybrid elements that twisted genre and expectations.

The way he slides down that roof in the trailer seems to suggest he is not a completely slick superhero type, but rather a more regular guy fighting crime. Where is Miller getting this "brought back to life" stuff though? Those goofy looking pics Klaus posted appear to be more like they are from the Archie Comics universe than from a place where someone can come back from the dead.

Did the Spirit comics go through a Cthulhu-ewque phase? Honestly, if the movie has a take on it akin to the pics posted by Klaus, I would not be interested in it.

 

[Cthulhudrew]

Where is Miller getting this "brought back to life" stuff though? Those goofy looking pics Klaus posted appear to be more like they are from the Archie Comics universe than from a place where someone can come back from the dead.

My understanding of the Spirit (not all that familiar with the character, so apologies if I'm wrong) is that he went into suspended animation and was later revived. Not really "coming back from the dead" except perhaps in a figurative sense.

 

[Klaus]

Where is Miller getting this "brought back to life" stuff though? Those goofy looking pics Klaus posted appear to be more like they are from the Archie Comics universe than from a place where someone can come back from the dead.

From Wikipedia:

The Spirit, referred to in one newspaper article cited below as "the only real middle-class crimefighter", was the hero persona of young detective Denny Colt. Presumed killed in the first three pages of the premiere story, Colt later revealed to his friend, Central City Police Commissioner Dolan, that he had in fact gone into suspended animation caused by one of archvillain Dr. Cobra's experiments. When Colt awakened in Wildwood Cemetery, he established a base there and, using his newfound anonymity, began a life of fighting crime wearing only a small domino mask, blue business suit, fedora hat and gloves for a costume. The Spirit dispensed justice, funding his adventures with the rewards for capturing villains.

The Spirit was based originally in New York City which soon changed to Central City, but his adventures took him around the globe. He met up with eccentrics, kooks, and beautiful but deadly femme fatales (most notably P'Gell), bringing his own form of justice to all of them. The story changed continually, but certain themes remained constant: the love between the Spirit and Dolan's feisty proto-feminist daughter Ellen; the annual "Christmas Spirit" stories; and the Octopus (a psychopathic criminal mastermind who was never seen, except for his distinctive gloves).