The "Spirit" Introduces Itself

Frank Miller is coming out with his next film post Sin City called, "The Spirit". In the last month the "Spirit" marketing guys have been posting teaser posters around the internet so as to generate some buzz.

Frank Miller is obviously a talented writer and artist with a signature style. His work on the Batman and 300 graphic Novels and movies are just amazing. The talented directors which became inspired by his work have done very successful adaptations and he should be very in debt to these guys. But the one we think of when you hear the name Frank Miller is "Sin City". A panel by panel adaptation and a movie he co-directed. I try not to critique movies and only the promotional material, but since in this case it's one and the same I feel as though I must. I love the first half, but the second bored me. The movie was alive in the first part because it felt like a action flick with great set pieces. I attribute this to Robert Rodrigues and his sense of pacing and music. The minute you began to follow Frank Miller's world and story it became too much.

Now I have to comment on the style of his work which was successfully translated to film. You have to love the noir feel and the solid blacks and whites. Graphically it's incredibly engaging. In the book it always works well with the story but on film it's very distracting.

Now back to the "Spirit", take a look at the first teaser poster. This is Frank Miller's big step into the movie world without Robert Rodriguez to keep him on the straight and narrow. All kudos and criticism fall directly onto him. The story he is focusing on is a book he did called "The Spirit". I guess I should be very excited by the look of this teaser poster, but right off the bat I think it sucks. The guy/hero looks like he's in some sort of ribbed suit wearing a dumb hat with a stupid mask. Yeah, I'm very scared of him. In this day and age should we really get excited by a guy in a business suit. Suits are the Enron bad guys! Look at all the hero flicks in the last five years, they dress in slick looking outfits that don't stray too far from popular culture. As for the art…its sloppy. Looks like they just pulled a frame from his graphic novel. The one thing you can expect is more "Sin City".










Next we have this the three part movie poster. I like it a heck of a lot more. The large scale of empty space really catches your eye. Especially the brilliant red on the black. I guess it does what you expect it to do and just stylistically grab you. It definatly suits a movie theater where you want something big to grab attention from a distance. It also successfully stands out from everything else you might expect in a theater. I still don't like the idea of the the hero with a silly hat and tie. But in this instance it doesn't matter.

Lastly the teaser poster which was just released on the web. Little by little we see more of the Frank Miller world. It still has that Sin City'esque style which is what we've come to expect from Frank Miller.

My likes: I love the the city type. It certainly tells you that the city will be a character as well. The layout is very dynamic with the sharp angles and big type. The hero is nicely silhouetted at the top so it's not revealing to much. The poster feels old and decayed, reminds me of the old decayed feeling when you see old circus or boxing posters.

My dislikes: Same stupid outfit. The title is the same brushed approach from 300 and Sin City. In those cases it was unique and very cool, boring here. The brushed approach worked well in 300 because of all the blood. In Sin City it was cool because it was the first time we saw it. I'm not crazy about this, it doesn't tell us a story, just more Frank Miller.

So expect to see some character posters next. I'm hoping for something more contemporary with more uses of flashy color other than red. I hope they continue this city is a character thing. I also hope the style of the main hero starts to look cooler because if this is it, I think it's blah! It makes you wonder if Frank Miller can do anything else. When I heard they were going to do another Sin City I knew it'd be done in the same style. But doing the Spirit like this is just carrying on a fad. I would of hoped he would of done something stylistically different like he did on 300. We'll just have to wait and see.