A full length trailer for Frank Miller’s The Spirit has been released onto the web. My first impression is that of disappointment. I was more impressed by the previously released teaser trailer. A lot of this film was shot on a stage, and judging from this trailer - it feels like it. Gone is the stylized computer generated backgrounds of Sin City, because Black is the new Red. Sin City somehow felt alive and real, this feels like a big screen adaptation of a stage play with some cool effects. The actors come off as actors wearing costumes, rather than comic book characters brought to life on the big screen. And what is up with the psychedelic image of The Spirit falling out of the lips of a woman’s mouth? Am I missing something? I’m also not digging the use of quotes on screen to introduce the characters. If this is the trailer they will be showing at Comic Con, I’m pretty sure the response will be negative. Do you agree? Am I wrong? Comment below!
Thanks to our friends at Rejects for finding this trailer. The Spirit hits theaters on December 25th 2008.
July 14th, 2008 at 8:01 pm
I’m in different. Bu it’s nice to get more footage to see now.
July 14th, 2008 at 8:01 pm
That looked awesome and sort-of original. The trailer had more of a comic book feel than anything I have ever seen before.
July 14th, 2008 at 8:03 pm
I thought the trailer was good. As for the quotes, i think they were just incorporating the posters into the trailer, i doubt they will be in the movie itself. i think you’re being too negative, you can’t tell a lot from that trailer, the camera seems more focussed on the people as opposed to the background, like its been edited that way for the trailer, i don’t think it will be like that in the movie
July 14th, 2008 at 8:04 pm
I personally cant decide whats worse, the tired Sin City look, or the terrible casting.
July 14th, 2008 at 8:10 pm
I’m into it.
July 14th, 2008 at 8:13 pm
looks like the worst prono movie ever….
July 14th, 2008 at 8:14 pm
You certainly labored to pick apart most of that.
July 14th, 2008 at 8:14 pm
wtf?
July 14th, 2008 at 8:16 pm
That was…different.
July 14th, 2008 at 8:17 pm
Ugh.
July 14th, 2008 at 8:18 pm
Now that I think about it I really like how some emotions are exaggerated, it’s really reminds of Roy Liechtenstein and how he portrayed comic book emotion.
July 14th, 2008 at 8:19 pm
that commercial looks awful. I was really hoping that the tired Sin City look that showed up in the original teaser was just because they rushed to get something out there, now I see it’s a lack of originality or effort.
more than anything, it’s bad enough that the Octopus, who’s face was never seen in the comic strip, is displayed prominently throughout the film. to put it in a teaser trailer like this, and ruin the whole mystique that made him such a menacing figure is the comic books, is shameful.
July 14th, 2008 at 8:20 pm
that’s a horrible trailer. that alone would probbly bring a whole lot of bad response. hopefully a better trailer would be release for the upcoming comic con since this one isn’t compelling to watch.
July 14th, 2008 at 8:22 pm
looks like the best porno movie ever..
July 14th, 2008 at 8:29 pm
I’ll see it if the reviews are good.
July 14th, 2008 at 8:29 pm
I liked the music.
July 14th, 2008 at 8:33 pm
I’ll wait until the actual movie. Critiquing trailers seems looney.
July 14th, 2008 at 8:35 pm
i didn’t like it very much, but it’s frank miller, so comic con will probably splooge all over it. i think miller is awesome so i have hope, but this trailer doesn’t help. the teaser was even worse though.
July 14th, 2008 at 8:57 pm
Looks somewhat interesting. Also, the Sin City look was used in, let’s see, only Sin City pretty much. Why can’t it be used again the same way or a little differently. Does seeing it once in a movie make it old an cliched already?!?
I must agree with Yoji though, it does look like the best porno movie ever. I mean come on, Eva Mendes and Scarlett Johansson are looking pretty damn hot in that trailer.
By the way the song is “Choke” by a band called Hybrid.
It took some searching, never heard of them.
July 14th, 2008 at 9:00 pm
Steelo’s got a good point. Critiquing trailers is kind of ridiculous. I’ve seen trailers like (Alexander, Troy, Ultraviolet) that I thought were cut really well, and made the movies look great. Boy, were those trailers wrong.
July 14th, 2008 at 9:12 pm
looks incredibly retarded…
July 14th, 2008 at 9:29 pm
I can’t stop thinking about Batman Forever.
July 14th, 2008 at 9:31 pm
Wow they managed to take a purely style over substance approach and make the style looked tired.
July 14th, 2008 at 9:32 pm
The Spirit should have been done in the style almost similar to The Shadow. In terms of color pallete and tones.
I’m very dissapointed with the way this looks. This B&W film style not only robs The Spirit’s “character”, but the world he should be residing in. It flattened everything out way too much. And while this is Sin City’s look. I wish Sin City was the only one who kept it.
July 14th, 2008 at 9:35 pm
I like it.
July 14th, 2008 at 9:40 pm
Yep, i Captain Awesome is right. This is not Will Eisner’s The Spirit. This is Frank Miller’s: The Spirit.
July 14th, 2008 at 9:49 pm
I’m excited. Though I think the trailer should have featured more of the protagonist.
Then again… I was excited when I saw the trailer for The Shadow, and Sin City(for the record was very poorly told), and 300.
July 14th, 2008 at 10:33 pm
Obviously someone had a “i can make a cooler trailer than you” bet and failed… miserably. Everything about that was incredibly retarded, with the exception of the song over it. It felt like they were in a box! It probably would have been better if they went with straight animation.
Quick question: Does Sam Jackson ever turn down a role?
Quick prediction: This will be the new movie that gets the excuse… “Oh, we were TRYING to make a B movie” Newest lame excuse in hollywood.
July 14th, 2008 at 10:47 pm
The fact that Miller is the first major comic book artist/genius to direct films… I’m willing to give it a chance and not judge it by its trailer…….which looks fucking retarded.
July 14th, 2008 at 10:49 pm
looked pretty good to me..looks like the film might be a lot weirder than i thought, bravo!
July 14th, 2008 at 10:50 pm
What about that trailer or this movie screams Christmas to you? WTF? Somebody needs to be struck about the head repeatedly for that decision.
July 14th, 2008 at 10:57 pm
The parts with Jamie King look like some retarded sci fi movie. And kind of like The Fountain.
July 14th, 2008 at 11:03 pm
I’m feeling mediocre after watching the trailer, but I’m not
prepared to write the movie off. I’m still planning on giving
it a shot.
July 14th, 2008 at 11:31 pm
Frank Miller had me going with the teaser. I was all sorts of excited and mystified. I think the Sin City color scheme is great for The Spirit and I really liked it in the teaser. However, I also know that the comics were color and the movie doesn’t need the Sin City color scheme to work. So I guess it’s just Frank Miller’s personality and ideas mixing with Will Eisner’s setting. Which is good because I enjoyed said color scheme and Sin City left me wanting more.
July 15th, 2008 at 3:03 am
I was pretty skeptical, but I actually think it looks pretty interesting. If nothing else, it seems like it will be highly stylized (a good thing). I do notice some muted color in the faces and I hope they bring that out a little more.
At least in this trailer, it does look like a closed world and could benefit greatly from some vivid exteriors and locations. I hope that Miller knows this and they are waiting for those shots to come together. You can criticize Sky Captain, but Conran did a good job creating the feel of locations.
I’m intrigued by what Miller can do in the medium and even though I wish this vibe was retained for what should be Sin City2, I’m not going to hate on it for that reason alone.
July 15th, 2008 at 10:14 am
it got taken down. apparently, Lionsgate wants to do there best to keep the movie a secret and create zero awareness.
July 15th, 2008 at 11:32 pm
This looks like the good parts of Sin City had uncomfortable sex with the bad parts of Speed Racer.
July 16th, 2008 at 11:38 am
Am I the only one tired of seeing Samuel L Jackson playing always the Bad Black Dude…?
July 16th, 2008 at 2:35 pm
looks freakin’ awesome!!!
July 16th, 2008 at 6:59 pm
Frank Miller’s fucking this one up. Take the money you’d potentially spend on the ticket and go grab the latest Spirit graphic novel. THAT’S how The Spirit should be: goofy and not serious at all - especially not with any sort of forced thuggish, Frank Miller, hard-boiled b.s. This looks as bad a Speed Racer did. Someone tell directors that movies can in fact still be made on sets and on location. Green-screening an entire film is a cop-out.
July 19th, 2008 at 12:23 am
1. the spirit comics were first printed in b&w
2. how do you know the movie will be serious from one trailer?
3. take a look at the comics and tell me they weren’t stylized. THE SPIRIT logo was alway incorporated into the landscape of the first panel.
4. maybe it looks like sin city because sin city was heavily influenced by will eisner’s spirit comics.. and noir films of the 40’s.
do some research, watch the movie. you may just like it.
July 20th, 2008 at 4:03 pm
The first Spirit comics were not in B&W. The Spirit started out in 7-page stories in a full-color “comic book section” (along with Mr. Mystic and Lady Luck, who got 4 pages each) that was inserted into many Sunday newspapers from 1940 to 1952.
I’m not going to pass judgment on the movie based on the trailer alone. But I’m not a fan of Frank Miller’s work, either in comics or on the screen. I’ll wait until December to see what the reviewers say, but I’m pretty sure I’ll be waiting for it to come to cable before I see it.