Freaktana A Major Disappointment

FirstWitch A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

Frances Chung Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Cheryl A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

bentheimpaler In many ways, this film is as tragic as Spawn's own backstory. As mentioned above, the actors are beautifully suited to their roles. Particularly Michael Jai White and John Leguizamo in the leading roles. Everyone breathes a real life into one of the greatest comic series ever written.The story, on the other hand, is unbecomingly light-hearted for Spawn. Perhaps they were worried about the movie being to broody, but if that was the case, they grossly overcompensated. Some of the most emotionally pivotal scene of the opening comic issues are instead played for laughs here. It isn't Joel Schumacher's Spawn, by any means. But the out-of-place gags can take you out of the story when the horrid CGI doesn't. The make-up, costumes and practical effects are honestly breathtaking, but that and the strength of the actors alternates from helping you forget that you're watching the generic cola of Spawn, and highlighting all that now seems even weaker by comparison. In short, it's a lukewarm movie at best. With good points and bad in equal measure. I can't recommend it as such, but it is an interesting study in "so close, and yet so far".

bowmanblue Nowadays you can't move at the cinema for someone dressing up in a cape and silly costume and fighting the forces of darkness while flying around a major US city. However, back in 1997 superhero films weren't - believe it or not - guaranteed Box Office gold like they are today. I'd never read any of the 'Spawn' comics, so I went into the movie kind of blind. And I enjoyed it. It was only a few years later during the birth of the internet did I realise how much everyone seemed to hate this film. I've watched it again (a few times, believe it or not) and I can see where the masses are coming from. It's hardly 'high art' (but I enjoyed it anyway!).It's about a Government hitman who gets double-crossed by his shady employer (when will these hitmen ever learn?) and ends up getting killed. If that wasn't bad enough he wakes up after his 'death' to find he's spent the last five years in hell and the devil has asked him (or rather blackmailed him) into leading his dark army on a siege of Earth. Luckily, our hitman decides that's probably not a great career option and with the help of a 'knight' (or rather modern day homeless mentor Obi-wan Kenobi figure who once was a knight) chooses to fight the forces of darkness instead.When I first watched it I guess I hadn't seen that many superhero films (Tim Burton's Batman duo excluded), so I enjoyed the dark tone, the cool suit our anti-hero wore and the action in general. Michael Jai White gives a good performance as the grizzled 'Spawn' and the real stand-out performance is the (totally unrecognisable, thanks to excellent make-up) John Leguizamo as the most memorable bad-guy 'The Violator.' However, I guess nowadays it's fair to say that it hasn't aged well. Any criticism you may hear regarding how the special effects look like they've been rendered for a Playstation 2 are pretty on the nose (and even at the time I wondered why the beast-like Devil's lips never moved when he spoke), but, looking at it afresh, I can't help but notice how bad Martin Sheen's dialogue is. He's supposed to be the main villain and yet he's even more cliché than any Bond super-villain you've ever seen. The whole film basically 'tell' not 'show.' Every piece of dialogue is some sort of 'set-up' to give the viewer information and let them know what's happening, solely designed to move the plot forward and avoid confusion. 'Spawn' is never really going to be remembered as much more than a missed opportunity. It's certainly not up to the coherent standards of today's superhero movies. I still watch it, because - for some reason - I feel quite a twang of nostalgia for it (despite its numerous flaws!). But even people who saw it back in the late nineties don't hold it in the same - reasonably - high regard as me. I hear there's a 'reboot' on the way, so maybe that will bring Spawn to the audience he probably deserves to be show to. But John Leguizamo is definitely awesome in this - if you hate absolutely everything else about this film, you should appreciate his performance as sheer evil foulness.

adonis98-743-186503 An elite mercenary is killed, but comes back from Hell as a reluctant soldier of the Devil. Spawn (1997) is directed by Mark A.Z. Dippé and stars John Leguizamo, Michael Jai White and Martin Sheen and here is my problem with this film if it had less of the Clown played by Leguizamo and more of Al Simmons / Spawn played by Michael Jai White i would have given the film a 10 but don't get me wrong it's still a pretty awesome movie the costume is sick and 100% faithful to the original material, the action was handled pretty well and i loved those fight sequences with Spawn and the Violator although they have changed his origins because if i remember correctly he was a Cop and not an Elite Mercenary but that's fine i loved those shots with him walking away from the fire behind and all this carnage or even the last shot which kinda reminded of Daredevil and even the video-game for Playstation 2. Except the Clown what i didn't like also was some of the effects were really awful i mean like very awful every time the film cut and went straight to Hell you saw around the whole environment looking like a bad green screen and once The Devil Malebolgia appeared the effects went even more wrong as far as costumes tho and actual special effects the film was a genius it's not one of the best from that time but i gotta handle it to them they tried so hard and for a first time try it wasn't that bad and i honestly hope that one day Spawn will return to the big screen better than ever and there are many great actors out there that could take the role like Chiwetel Ejiofor or even Djimon Hounsou there are endless choices of great actors for the role of Simmons A.k.a Spawn and i heard that Todd McFarlane has actually wrote a script so we just have to wait and see what it's going to happen and by the way blink and you will miss it Todd McFarlane himself the creator of Spawn has a cameo in the film as a Hobo. Anyways guys in the end Spawn is not a Masterpiece but for the time it was created and released in Theaters it's still a pretty cool film 8/10 for me.

SnoopyStyle Al Simmons (Michael Jai White) is an agent of a covert government agency headed by Jason Wynn (Martin Sheen). He is angered by the civilian casualties of the latest hit. Wynn sends him on the next mission to attack a North Korean biochemical plant. Wynn double-crosses him with assassin Jessica Priest (Melinda Clarke). He is sent down to Hell where demon king Malebolgia offers him a deal. It's 5 years late. Al returns to earth to see his love Wanda Blake (Theresa Randle) who is now married to his best friend Terry Fitzgerald (D.B. Sweeney) and raising his daughter Cyan. Evil minion Clown/The Violator (John Leguizamo) reminds him of the deal to kill Wynn and lead the demon army upon Armageddon in exchange for Wanda. Cogliostro was also an assassin from Hell but he saved his soul and battle for Heaven.It tries to be a darker and uglier type of comic book movie but it ends up more or less campy. I can't really take John Leguizamo seriously. Danny DeVito would have been much better. Everybody is trying too hard to be a cartoon character. Martin Sheen doesn't have to act evil. He would be so much more effect if he acts Presidential. The visual style looks cheap although Spawn himself looks good. The makeup looks pretty good and the CGI is incorporated as well as can be expected. I guess most of the effort was concentrated on the look of Spawn and everything else took a backseat.