Hollywood Product: The Spirit
Thursday, December 25th, 2008
HEART ATTACK: Eva Mendes as Sand Saref
TITLE: The Spirit
GENRE: Style-drunk superhero story
THE PITCH: After Central City cop Denny Colt (Gabriel Macht) dies but gets better, he becomes a masked avenger called the Spirit who takes on criminals such as the similarly indestructible Octopus (Samuel L. Jackson) and seemingly countless femme fatales.
MONEY SHOTS: Nothing looks particularly good, but it’ll be hard to forget the Octopus and the Spirit fighting in a swamp and hitting each other with a toilet, a kitchen sink and a six-foot wrench. Louis Lombardi plays all of the Octopus’s moronic cloned henchman, including a tiny side effect that amounts to a head attached to a bouncing foot. Belly-dancing Plaster of Paris (Paz Vega) threatens the Spirit with sabers while he’s tied to a dental chair. Explosions leave sinister, octopus-like clouds.
BEST LINE: “Some day I’d love to do your autopsy,” Dr. Ellen Dolan (Sarah Paulsen), the “good” love interest, tells the Spirit. (more…)
