What We're Watching

REVIEW
Only a fool would take The Spirit seriously.

Frank Miller's adaptation of Will Eisner's '40s action comic is closer to Dick Tracy than The Dark Knight.

This tale of a murdered cop reborn as a masked crimefighter is thickly lacquered with vampy beauties such as Scarlett Johansson and Eva Mendes. Samuel L Jackson's super-criminal Octopus doesn't so much smoulder as explode all over the screen like a smoothie blender turned up to full power with the lid off.

Sadly, the film hasn't won over many critics, and that's not because no one's in the mood for a seriously camp adventure on the big screen anymore.

The Spirit's visuals may be swathed in glorious comic book blacks, red and whites, but there's a feeling that the style was more effective when Miller tried a similar trick in the dark and menacing Sin City.

More worrying is his treatment of the plot, which seems to get lost in the rush to boost the beauty of the film.

As a result the finished product feels jumbled, as the storyline is left to swing wildly at air rather than landing powerful punches on the viewer.