Lionsgate has released the official teaser trailer for Frank Miller’s big screen adaptation of Will Eisner’s The Spirit. I’m actually surprised at how well Miller has been able to translate his visual style to the big screen. I was, and still am, quite skeptical in Miller’s directing ablities, especially with Robert Rodriguez not at his side. As expected, the visuals almost make the film look like a sequel to Sin City. The visuals are so uniquely Miller that I wonder why the film is called Will Eisner’s The Spirit instead of Frank Miller’s The Spirit. I also dugg the Untouchables music. Check it out below and tell me what you guys think in the comments.
The Spirit’s city will scream on January 16th 2009.
April 19th, 2008 at 2:28 pm
He’s trying too hard with the visuals, and it doesn’t look as interesting as Sin City
April 19th, 2008 at 2:31 pm
I want this to be good, but I’ve tried to pick up Eisner’s comic books every time I go into the store and it just doesn’t capture my interest. Maybe Frank Miller’s styling will suck me into the story.This trailer has.
April 19th, 2008 at 2:33 pm
Here is a Youtube version, as I know international users such as myself can’t see MTV stuff!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kEv7z9GeHdk
April 19th, 2008 at 2:37 pm
Will Eisner’s illustration is great and for this to be Frank Miller-ized will not do The Spirit any justice. I am sure that it will still look amazing and be an entertaining story, but The Spirit maintains a light-hearted, funny story in opposition to Batman / Sin City / Daredevil / etc. In this sense The Spirit may seem older and campy but it is a different style that I personally appreciate. As a note I also do love darker themed comics.
April 19th, 2008 at 2:37 pm
Looks like fun.
April 19th, 2008 at 2:38 pm
the style makes it look like Sin City 1.5, but that’s not exactly a bad thing.
April 19th, 2008 at 2:40 pm
It just does not look like he is interacting with the world that they made. LIke in sin city like micky roke blowing the door apart when jumping through it in the start of the film. In sin city they made the world real just not art that the actors are running around in.
April 19th, 2008 at 3:07 pm
I’m not impressed. Looks like a lot of flash with no substance.
April 19th, 2008 at 3:15 pm
@ Lucas
it’s kind of hard to get “substance” from a teaser trailer considering it didn’t really show any footage or give the plot
April 19th, 2008 at 3:32 pm
shame on movies for doing something unique.
too bad it’s not another remake right guys?
April 19th, 2008 at 3:34 pm
Dan: you’re right, an adaptation of a comic book is really unque… oh wait.
April 19th, 2008 at 3:50 pm
On another note, I’m glad Guillermo del Toro decided to go all out with color with Hellboy. Otherwise it’d look like Sin City too!
April 19th, 2008 at 4:06 pm
It looks like The Spirit is attached to some strings like a puppet in these effects.
Or is it just me. Kind of takes away a little from the experience
April 19th, 2008 at 4:09 pm
Overall I liked it, but looks too much like Sin City, so it’s no longer exciting or surprising as when I first saw the trailer for Sin City.
I guess Frank Miller really liked the thing or two Robert Rodriguez taught him a couple of years ago.
April 19th, 2008 at 4:19 pm
I’ll see it, prob on dvd. Couple observations: The tie does look silly and cartoonish as it is very obviously cgi. And isnt “Im on my way” Dick Tracy’s saying? Dont know much about the Spirit, but the whole “Neo Noir” Sin City look is gettin a bit tired.
April 19th, 2008 at 4:57 pm
Frankly it looks rather STV. Was expecting more. How come The Spirits suit isn’t blue?
April 19th, 2008 at 5:11 pm
uhm…….so is this a videogame or a movie??????
April 19th, 2008 at 6:16 pm
i’m really thinking this wasn’t the best story to adapt.
April 19th, 2008 at 6:21 pm
It’s too identical to Sin City. I’m sure it’ll be good, but a different approach should have been taken.
April 19th, 2008 at 6:43 pm
I liked it and don’t care if it’s similar to his other works. They were great anyway.
April 19th, 2008 at 6:44 pm
I would have preferred this more along the lines of Dick Tracy Warren Beatty style to Sin City but ok. Looks kinda fan-made as well.
April 19th, 2008 at 7:00 pm
Badass!
April 19th, 2008 at 7:15 pm
It looks cool but you can’t deny the similarities with Sin City. Even the score sounds like Rodriguez’s. I’ll probably still watch it though.
April 19th, 2008 at 7:23 pm
Holy cow! When did production start on Sin City 2??
April 19th, 2008 at 10:53 pm
I dunno why people are complaining about this looking too much like sin city or that frank miller got the idea from robert rodriguez.
has anyone forgotten that the reason sin city looks like sin city because it got it from the comic book that frank miller made?
i think that frank milller is allowed to make it this way, cause its basically his style, if you think about it
April 19th, 2008 at 10:55 pm
the “i’m on my way comment” made me smile, because I thought of how that’s exactly what dick tracy says when he’s about to get brutal. brian…you’re totally right.
April 19th, 2008 at 11:05 pm
but this is filmmaking. It’s a big mistake to make this look like Sin City. When that sort of stylization is taken with film, it is pretty much “owned” by that film. Frank Miller ripping off himself is something that makes me sad….and it makes me sort of mad as a fsn of Sin City. I know that sounds irrational, but that’s what I felt after seeing this trailer. Miller would have done well by differentiating this film stylistically.
April 19th, 2008 at 11:45 pm
Jesus. You purists are going all crybaby Alan Moore here.
Sure, this trailer’s got plenty of Sin City flavor, but really, what’s wrong with that?
It looks to me like Miller’s taking the… er… spirit of the Spirit and making a graphically interesting flick. Jury’s still out on the story, obviously, but at least he’s not casting Shia LeBouf in the role of Chas, or putting Tom Sawyer in a group of fictional characters from ENGLISH literature. Or, Christ, releasing Spiderman fucking 3.
Let’s wait and see. Personally, I LIKE the differences between this trailer and Sin City (less tactile, even more cartoony). Like the man says, Eisner did cutting edge comics for his time, so Miller’s going for cutting edge movie magic. Dick Tracy style isn’t cutting edge.
I suppose you could say this Sin City style isn’t too cutting edge either at this point, but it’ll still be one of the very few movies out there with this style.
April 20th, 2008 at 1:48 am
It kind of annoys me when music from a movie (especially music deeply associated with it) is used in trailers for other movies years later. Distracting, and rip-offish. This movie, however, I have very high hopes for.
April 20th, 2008 at 4:48 am
“Jesus. You purists are going all crybaby Alan Moore here.”
I’m not sure why any of the above posters are “purists”, least of all crybabies. Just like the rest of your post, they have quite reasonable, well-expressed opinions - a rare thing on film news websites. It’s pretty clear that most of those people are into this and know what they’re talking about, but knowledge doesn’t equal inflexible purism.
No need to start hitting people with the “comics fanboy” stick here :) Sadly, I think the Watchmen movie discussions are going to be the place for that..
I am surprised Miller has stuck so rigidly to this art style for The Spirit; especially as I have no doubt that he is a big fan of the character, and must have considered other ways of adapting it, stylistically, that would invite less easy comparison with Sin City.
Hopefully the writing and pacing will be what make this stand out, and the visuals will make sense as part of the whole. But right now they’re all we’ve got to go on, and they shout “Frank Miller” more than they do “The Spirit”. Perhaps when the first full trailer hits, we’ll have a better idea of how this fits together.
April 20th, 2008 at 5:46 am
Oh. My. God. Now Spirit is a super-hero, not a normal man. People complaining about “Dragon Ball” movie, now I truly understand you: Frank Miller is going to ruin the idea behind Will Eisner creation.
April 20th, 2008 at 6:00 am
Looks like a good start to less shitty flicks in 2009. this will get me through a cold cold January.
April 20th, 2008 at 7:20 am
I don’t know about this film, but the music they used from “The Untouchables” is great.
April 20th, 2008 at 10:37 am
I’d say the jury is still out on this teaser as it relates to the final film, as far as “look” goes. Personally I’d like to see less Miller and more Eisner in the look of the final film, and while Eisner certainly influenced Miller in many, many ways, his style is not exactly the same. But that poster gives me hope.
More worrisome to me is the “floaty” feeling of the character in the environment. There are some really nasty float issues going on here, and while those scenes may not be finished yet, why release them if they’re not perfect? I don’t get that desire these days, sending stuff out into the world that isn’t finished. I think it does more harm than good.
April 20th, 2008 at 10:59 am
Miller is a comic book creator before he is a filmmaker. This was apparent in interviews with the filmmakers of Sin City around its release. I don’t think the man knows what he’s doing aside from borrowing what he saw on Sin City and repeating it. The look, which is hopefully richer than this teaser implies does mimmic that of Sin City. When Sin City came out, it was quite new and fresh. Now is been done before.
I’d love to see something new for once. It’s been a while.
April 20th, 2008 at 11:10 am
looks like sin city, but thats fine, sin city was one of my favorite films of the last 5 yrs.
April 20th, 2008 at 12:40 pm
Not impressive. It reminds me of this black and white movie I saw that had some slashes of color, internal dialogue, and a superstar cast. I think it was called Sin City, I might be wrong.
April 20th, 2008 at 3:35 pm
south texas terror, what was the name of it?
April 20th, 2008 at 3:39 pm
I dig that poster. Well, time will tell
April 21st, 2008 at 2:24 am
Imagine the movie to be a limited series comic book, with Frank Miller providing both story and art, then you will see why this movie makes sense.
April 22nd, 2008 at 12:04 am
If Lions Gate wants the next comic book hero to bring to the big screen here he is…”DEAD MAN”
Guranteed to be a box office hit just as I’m sure “IRONMAN” will be once it hits theatres.
Deadman is a ghost, formerly a circus trapeze artist named Boston Brand who performed under the name Deadman. When Brand is murdered during a trapeze performance by a mysterious assailant known only as the Hook, his spirit is given the power to possess any living being by a Hindu goddess named Rama Kushna, in order to search for his murderer and obtain justice. It is established in Green Arrow Vol 4, #4, that Deadman believes Rama is the supreme being of the universe.
Check him out here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deadman