Guests: Director Frank Miller and stars Gabriel Macht, Samuel L. Jackson and Jaime King)
When the first trailer for “The Spirit” was leaked online a few weeks ago, the overall response probably wasn’t what director Frank Miller was hoping for. Some called him out for not knowing what he was doing behind the camera, while others just didn’t like the film’s similarities to “Sin City.” Personally, I didn’t hate it as much (nor did I see any similarities aside from the red-on-black scenes of The Spirit running across the skyscape), but after being treated to three additional clips during Lionsgate’s panel for the film, I’m beginning to lean more towards that camp.
The footage shown included an underwater sequence that, well, wasn’t actually shot underwater (and thus looked absolutely ridiculous), a comedic scene between Gabriel Macht and Sarah Paulson that played like an old Cary Grant film, and a Looney Toons-esque battle sequence between Macht’s Spirit and Samuel L. Jackson’s villainous Octopus that is so over-the-top it was actually entertaining. In fact, if there’s one thing that is going to save this film, it’s Jackson, who, oddly enough, also saved the panel from total suckage. When asked what his favorite action figure of himself was, Jackson suggested Mace Windu, but when a fan yelled out “Nick Fury” in reference to his cameo in “Iron Man,” Jackson quipped, “When I was a kid, Nick Fury was a white man.”
