From Comics to CGI
Spawn Catches on Fire

Earlier this summer I reviewed Batman & Robin. While the rest of the media was trashing it, I stuck up for the quirky movie and gave it higher marks than it deserved. Now I wonder, "What was I thinking?" Truth be told, I have become so accustomed to bad adaptations of comic books that I willingly lowered my standards for the latest installment in the Batman series -- inwardly hoping they would do better next time. I recant. Mea culpa.

Seeing Spawn on the big screen served to remind me how comics should be translated to celluloid. Not with big name stars, huge merchandizing blitzes, or lame scripts and stupid one-liners. Comic books are about heroes, and changing the way we look at heroism. Comics are about illustrating what we can't see every day, and making dreams reality. Spawn provides all that and more.

Right off the bat, let me warn you that Spawn is not a traditional super-hero. His roots are tied in the legend of Faust, a story of a man who made a bargain with the devil only to lose his soul. Also evident are shades of Robocop and Darkman, heroes reborn literally from their own deaths to seek justice on those who murdered them. More important is the theme of the choices humanity makes, and the consequences of those choices.

Michael Jai White plays the lead in Spawn, originally appearing as Al Simmons, a special ops assassin for a government agency known as A-6. His boss, the villainous Jason Wynn is played with exuding slime by veteran actor Martin Sheen. Wynn, we are told by our narrator, has bargained with Hell and promised to help destroy humanity in exchange for power. His contact on Earth is Clown (a disgusting little demon in the image of a clown, played by John Leguizamo).

When Simmons begins to grow a conscience and threatens to leave A-6, Wynn convinces him to do one more job. He has to help the agency destroy a biological weapons factory in North Korea. The job is a double-cross, however, and Simmons is killed by his boss and a fellow agent named Jessica Priest (Melinda Clarke).

Simmons' life literally goes to Hell after that. He awakes in The City five years later to find that the world he left behind has moved on without him. His girlfriend married his former partner Terry (D.B. Sweeny). Wynn has developed a new bio-toxin from the disaster in North Korea. And -- worst of all -- he remembers making a bargain with the devil for the opportunity to return to Earth.

The visual effects in Spawn are captivating. All of the computer generated images of Hell are not nearly as impressive as Clown's transformation to the Violator. Perhaps the most exciting effect for me was Spawn's cape. The blood red cape flows like water, fluttering in an eternal breeze. This is what Batman's cape should have looked like (especially in the darker Tim Burton movies).

Although I loved this film, it is much too gruesome for young children. As I mentioned, Spawn is not a traditional super-hero. Many scenes are violent, and the nature of the story could upset young children. This is a movie made for teenage boys. One small thing bothered me, the opening credits are very choppy; the visuals effects are obnoxious, and the music is annoying.

MY RATING: 6 out of 10.

RATED:
RUN TIME: 93 min.

From Comics to CGI Spawn Catches on Fire

From Comics to CGI
Spawn Catches on Fire