Spawn
Superhero films are supposed to be epic and yes, fun, but sadly this film has much of the latter and little of the former. The fictional world it creates is a fascinating parallel to our own, even post 9/11, but not enough expansion is given to it to draw the viewer in. The cast is uniformly good all around: John Leguizamo is fascinating to watch as Clown, mostly because it’s hard to believe it actually IS Leguizamo under all that makeup. Seemingly ad-libbing most of his lines, usually in a perverse manner, Clown comes off a fine representation of a demon from hell; Michael Jai White cuts a striking figure as Spawn, though his character is not given nearly enough development early before his transformation; Melinda Clarke is beautiful, sleek, and sexy as a villainous female assassin, and it’s a shame her career never took off; Nicol Williamson gets the best part of his career outside of Excalibur’s Merlin; D.B Sweeney and Theresa Randle make a nice impression; and Martin Sheen turns in a good performance, despite his character being a bit too much of a fool (couldn’t he figure out putting the computer chip in his heart would make him a target?). Indeed, the direction and script are rather poor: the pacing is uneven, way too much time is spent in the same back alley, the ways that both Leguizamo and Williamson get to mentor Spawn seems a little strange (one leaves and the other appears), and there are some plot holes you could drive a tanker truck thru. Plus the film is severely lacking in the “big” moments that are the staple of the superhero genre. In the end, a good excuse for some nice FX with some redeeming qualities from its cast…
7/10