The Spirit (film)

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Movie
German title The Spirit
Original title The Spirit
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 2008
length 103 minutes
Age rating FSK 16
Rod
Director Frank Miller
script Frank Miller,
Comic: Will Eisner
production Michael Uslan ,
Deborah Del Prete,
Gigi Pritzker
music David Newman
camera Bill Pope
cut Gregory Nussbaum
occupation

The Spirit is an American film from 2008. The film is based on the comic of the same name , which was created by Will Eisner in the 1940s.

action

Investigator Denny Colt returns from the dead after his resurrection with a special ability: he cannot die. As the masked avenger "The Spirit", he now supports the police of Moloch Central City in fighting crime. About his opaque childhood love, the cunning master thief Sand Saref, he gets back to his archenemy Octopus. With his attractive assistant Silken Floss, the megalomaniac scientist not only indulges in omnipotence fantasies and utopias of world domination , but also shares with her a weakness for crazy costumes and theatrical appearances. The "Spirit" sets out to put an end to the illustrious goings-on once and for all.

In the final showdown , Octopus and the “Spirit” face each other, backed by a superior force of police and military. Sand Saref is also present, as she wanted to make an exchange with Octopus here. At the last moment Octopus succeeds in preventing him from drinking the blood of Heracles in order to become a god . The "spirit" then blows up Octopus with a hand grenade, which separates his body parts from one another to such an extent that his self-healing powers are insufficient to recover from the injuries. Sand Saref protects her former lover, the Spirit , with the help of the golden fleece that she received in exchange for the blood of Heracles. The “Spirit” believes that it has emerged victorious from the dispute. Meanwhile, Silken Floss picks up one of Octopus's fingers to take him to the laboratory.

background

The film was produced in 2008 by Batfilm, OddLot and Lionsgate based on a script by Frank Miller , who also directed, at Albuquerque Studios in Albuquerque , New Mexico . Shooting began on October 8, 2007 and ended on December 14, 2007. 50 days of shooting were required for green screen recordings. Gabriel Macht plays the main role of Spirit . The music was composed by David Newman . The Spirit was released on December 25, 2008 in the USA, was shown in Switzerland from December 31, 2008 and was released in German cinemas on February 5, 2009. The opening weekend grossed almost $ 6.5 million and grossed $ 10.3 million in the first four days. In total, the amount earned rose to $ 39 million.

In the film, the names of several comic book authors can be read as company names, including Feiffer and Ditko , whose name can be read on a truck driven by Silken Floss. The three role names of the clones Logos , Pathos and Ethos are borrowed from Aristotle . All the names of the clones that are printed on their t-shirts end in "-os" , as do the two clones Adios and Amigos , which can be seen shortly before the credits .

Dr. Ellen Dolan used the phrase " hard goodbye " (dt. Severe farewell ) as a metaphor for death . This is also the title of the story of Marv in Sin City , whose script was also written by Frank Miller .

The underwater scenes were filmed using the dry-for-wet technique, in which the water is simulated by clever lighting and floating parts, which Eva Mendes liked, as she could not swim at the time of filming.

criticism

In the United States

According to the American critic Roger Ebert , the film contains "no trace of human feelings," and the original was treated carelessly. Too much attention was paid to the style, so that the film only consisted of poses, cleavages, bad injuries and lousy dialogues. Gabriel Macht plays too introverted and Samuel L. Jackson as an octopus too exaggerated.

In the German-language press

With a few exceptions , The Spirit was received negatively in the German-language press . One of the most likely to see a strength of the film in the “extremely artificial” visual style, which looks intoxicating, has a “cool art look” or is impressive in individual pictures. But there was also talk of “visual drivel” . While some of the reviewers spoke of a successful cast and actors who got the most out of their roles, some said they were just standing around, poorly managed, and Samuel Jackson overreaching his role. It was also said that the main character faded before the secondary characters.

The Berliner Zeitung stated that there was a lot to see - you just had to belong to the target group. epd Film believed that the film did not work on its own, but would only reach an audience that was familiar with and appreciated the visual language of the comic book. According to the world , one must first like the world designed by Miller. Spiegel Online described a scene with Johansson in a Nazi uniform as hair-raising absurd. epd Film saw the production as “an homage to the roots of American comic culture, shaped by the uncompromising style will of its creator.” Others saw the potential of the template as untapped and said that Miller's high-contrast aesthetic had absolutely nothing to do with Eisner's comic series.

The benevolent reviews in epd Film and the Süddeutsche Zeitung found a strength in the reduction to the essentials and extremes, you can feel "a naive, almost childlike, indomitable pleasure in filmmaking" that is neither taken seriously nor wants to explain the world, Miller pays homage to naivety the 1940s and 1950s, but his film also contains "trivial pop culture clichés" and blows against good taste. Several other reviews also found the narrative tone as off-flavor or silly and embarrassing. Although Miller is very talented as a comic artist, he is not a director. If the film makes a good impression in the first few minutes, it soon becomes clear that Miller cannot tell, and one wonders when the film will finally begin. He is a bloodless construct without heart and mind, whose senseless and aimless scenes are not held together by any coherent plot and character motivation. The “chicly styled, incomprehensible quark” comes across as artificial and sterile because of the stylization. In addition to pointless and overly long dialogues, some criticisms criticized the clumsiness and lack of speed. Miller may be a master in creating kinetics between the picture frames in comics, but as a director of real motion sequences, he has shown no sense of rhythm. The Tagesspiegel ruled that the film was an experience of the questionable, strange kind, the taz , it was an unsightly mixture of detective novel and Tom and Jerry and did not live up to its ambitions. Frankfurter Rundschau and Die Welt did not find it entertaining, not even as scrap, there was no pleasure.

Awards

Eva Mendes was nominated at the 2009 ALMA Awards in the Actress in Film category.

literature

Conversations with Frank Miller

  • Berliner Zeitung, February 5, 2009, cultural calendar p. 3: We are now being sent flowers
  • Der Tagesspiegel, February 4, 2009, p. 22: "Comics are external energy"

Review mirror

Rather positive

  • epd film No. 2/2009, p. 58, by Jörg Buttgereit (4 out of 5 stars; only for fans of the comic series; extreme will to style)

Mixed

  • Cinema Nr. 2/2009, pp. 40–44, by Alex Attimonelli (cross thumb; silly, embarrassing content, cool visual style)
  • Süddeutsche Zeitung , February 5, 2009, p. 12, by Tobias Kniebe : Elephant in a toy store (film should not be taken seriously, not only in a negative sense)

Rather negative

  • Neue Zürcher Zeitung , February 5, 2009, p. 41, by Michel Bodmer (2 out of 5 stars; cast was successful, but the film is mindlessly cobbled together, does not hit the right note)

negative

  • Berliner Zeitung , February 5, 2009, Kulturkalender p. 3, by Jens Balzer: If a Nazi comes to the dentist (“chic styled incomprehensible quark”, misses the comic template, only interesting for a narrow target group)
  • Frankfurter Rundschau , February 5, 2009, p. 36, by Michael Kohler: woodcut (verriss; not entertaining)
  • Spiegel Online , February 4, 2009, by Andreas Borcholte: The spirit that no one called ("yawning", pale, bloodless stillbirth)
  • Der Tagesspiegel , February 4, 2009, p. 22, by Sebastian Handke ("futile effort", slow, aimless, director without talent)
  • taz , February 5, 2009, p. 26, short review not drawn (failed, cumbersome)
  • Die Welt , February 5, 2009, p. 29, by Holger Kreitling (no pleasure)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Locations according to the Internet Movie Database
  2. ↑ a b budget and box office results according to the Internet Movie Database
  3. ↑ a b c d e f g Background information according to the Internet Movie Database
  4. ↑ Start dates according to the Internet Movie Database
  5. ↑ Andrew Gnerre: Marley & Me Enjoys a Record-Breaking Christmas ( Memento of the original from December 30, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , in Movie Maker , December 29, 2008, accessed February 5, 2009 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.moviemaker.com
  6. ↑ Box Office Mojo: The Spirit , accessed March 6, 2011
  7. ↑ Roger Ebert: The Spirit , December 23, 2008, accessed February 5, 2009
  8. ↑ a b c d e f epd Film No. 2/2009, p. 58, by Jörg Buttgereit
  9. ↑ a b c d e f Der Tagesspiegel, February 4, 2009, p. 22, by Sebastian Handke
  10. ↑ a b c Cinema No. 2/2009, pp. 40–44, by Alex Attimonelli
  11. ↑ a b c d e f g Die Welt, February 5, 2009, p. 29, by Holger Kreitling
  12. ↑ a b c d e f g Berliner Zeitung, February 5, 2009, Kulturkalender p. 3, by Jens Balzer
  13. ↑ a b c d Neue Zürcher Zeitung, February 5, 2009, p. 41, by Michel Bodmer
  14. ↑ a b c d e f g h i Spiegel Online, February 4, 2009, by Andreas Borcholte [1]
  15. ↑ a b c d Frankfurter Rundschau, February 5, 2009, p. 36, by Michael Kohler
  16. ↑ a b Süddeutsche Zeitung, February 5, 2009, p. 12, by Tobias Kniebe
  17. ↑ a b taz, February 5, 2009, p. 26, This week fresh; New to the cinema
  18. ↑ Nominations and awards according to the Internet Movie Database