Filmic Friday 222: The Spirit 1987

Once upon a time, a man named Will Eisner made a superhero called the Spirit. The Spirit was pretty popular for a while, being essentially a cross between the Shadow and the Green Hornet, but somehow lacking something that both of these pulp heroes had. I don't know why we never hear about the Spirit these days, but considering the relatively negative reaction people had to the Frank Miller reboot starring Gabriel Macht (which I don't 100% get, to be honest, it's not that bad a movie), I figured that the never-before-referenced "tv-movie" from the late 1980s would be a better look at who and what the Spirit was.

Oh boy was I wrong. I hope.

Starring Flash Gordon himself, you'd think this would be the same levels of camp as the space drama.
You'd be very wrong.

This is an origin story for the character of the Spirit, who was a mild-mannered detective named Denny Colt who wound up being believed dead.

And yes, the movie is essentially color-coded. You know who's good and who... isn't.

Denny is trying to right the wrong of his mentor's murder and tries to go about solving the crime, but he is repeatedly stymied by lackluster bureaucrats and peppy ingenues and underage criminals... it's a mess. The script is a mess, and I gave up any pretense of understanding it and settled in to hopefully at least enjoy the acting.

Alas, this was not to be.

Those who are not hamming up the joint are as wooden as a pirate's bad leg. Despite Flash Gordon being an enjoyable foray into camp sci-fi, Sam Jones has lost every ounce of the charisma he'd found during that movie. Every joke falls flat. Every line reading feels like a first take. Every movement is stiff and joyless. Even fight scenes are both poorly choreographed and sluggish.

Jones looks the part, but he's completely uninteresting.

The love interest is so bland I can't even remember her name. Ellen? Helen? I don't know. I don't even remember the evil mcbad-lady's name! How do you have a lady with a legit torture chamber and I can't remember what she's called?!

Thankfully, we have the lighting and prop crews to carry us through.

I will say this for this fustercluck of a failed pilot: The crew they had working behind the scenes were doing their best and it shows. Look how that moment where the Spirit walks through a blown-up wall to catch bad guys mid-robbery is lit! The perfect balance of light and dark. The excellent use of smoke. It's like they really wanted this to be well done. Even the hole in the wall is convincing with its rubble edges and scorch marks!

And don't even get me started on the lighting and design of the graveyard where the Spirit has made his base!

Low budget? Very. Well-lit? Extraordinarily so!

Seriously, this is a bad, bad, bad tv-pilot and within ten minutes of it starting, both Z and I were very aware that it should have been lost to time. With the exceptions of the lighting and, occasionally, the score (orchestral bombast and 80s weirdness in equal measure), this is a meritless endeavor, and it hurts me to say that.

Still, if you're interested to see a flick that actually annoyed me no end, feel free to boot up the DC Universe app on Roku and check it out.

In spite of this plotless, saggy pilot's best efforts,

Go Enjoy Something!
FC