2004’s live action Devilman, consider yourself spared, as this year (due to recent events contributing to schedule changes) we’re doing instead 1997’s Spawn.
I did got the Blu Ray release by Arrow Video, and it was still in its factory wrap, so time to…. actually visit for the first time, i never saw this in theathers or TV, i was too young back then, my first time seeing Spawn at all was when Soul Calibur II console ports released and the X-Box version got him as the console exclusive guest character.
But it was hard not to hear about in the 2000s as one of the worst comic book films ever, an infamous reputation so widespread and radicated, a stink to it that even The Venture Bros couldn’t resist throwing a jab at it in late 2009-2010, a foul reputation that never really went away.
And just putting this out, i wasn’t aware until i decided to swap this into the 2004 Devilman‘s slot that they’ve been trying to reboot the brand with a new film for decades, and apparently this time around it most likely will happen, we got recent news of the reboot coming along… or maybe it won’t, as the superhero genre is well past his peak in terms of popularity.
I will not claim any responsability over that either way.
In the 90s, there was another attempt at making superhero comics do the big jump into live action film territory, heck, in 1990 alone we had Sam Raimi’s Darkman (which was an original script, even if originally was meant to adapt Walter B. Gibson character The Shadow) and also SGT Kabukiman NYPD, then we got the sequel to 1988’s Tim Burton Batman film with Batman Returns, the original TMNT live action movie trilogy released in theathers, we got The Crow, too.
So yeah, there was indeed a mini-renaissance of sorts for superhero movies based on comics, and hence it’s not too surprising newer comics attempted the jump, like Todd McFarlane’s Spawn, which debuted in 1992 as an Image Comics story, and it was successfull enough that in 1994 a figure-toyline was put into production, alongside videogame adaptations on many systems.
heck, in 1996 thrash metal band Iced Earth dedicated an entire concept album to Spawn with The Dark Saga, so it’s easy to see Spawn was indeed big enough to warrant Hollywood producers coming in to put the antihero of Spawn on the big screen for the delight of edgy teens.
It’s an origins story, introducing the character of Al Simmons, a government assassin whom one day is doublecrossed by his superior in a North Korean chemical plant, killing him and exploding the plant so to spread a virus in the nearby city.
Simmons is sent to hell, and accepts the offer of the high demon Malebolgia, as he’s sent back to Earth to see his wife Wanda, on the condition he will then act as a general for his hell army, as Spawn, the commanding Hellspawn, waging war on Heaven itself.
Simmons/Spawn goes back to Earth but years have passed, his wife remarried as he’s been dead for long, and he torn between heeding the wise worse of a mysterious stranger named Cagliostro, or concede to his desire for revenge, egged on by the demon Clown, working as Malebolgia’s direct servant, so he can ensure the plan goes smoothly…
There’s a bit more involving the virus, but nothing too complicated, and it plays into the obvious nature of Spawn as an antihero drawn to darkness but able to overcome his fate and his thirst for revengence…
It’s basically The Punisher via a super edgy 90s vague rendition of Dante’s Inferno, though curiously the head demon isn’t Lucifer but Malebolgia, a name given to the 8th circle of Dante’s Inferno, the “Malebolge” (which basically translates to “moats (full) of evil”), where a certain kind of fraudolent souls are punished, with Cagliostro acting (at least in the film) as a Virgil to Spawn’s Dante.
To be honest, i feel the movie does capture quite well the edgy vibe of the comic book or the franchise overall, with Spawn being an antihero that has supernatural powers but also uses guns because overusing the hellish abilities would condemn its soul faster, the Necroflesh, the super snazzy hellcape… i do wonder how i didn’t end up reading the Spawn comics back in the mid 90s, i would have loved them.
That aside, for the most part i don’t think “Spawn 1997” is even that bad of a movie, the acting is solid, Daniel Jai White is fairly decent as Spawn, so are Martin Sheen as the evil Wynn and Melinda Clarke as Wynn’s cold right hand killer, Priest, but especially good is John Leguizamo as the comedic Clown/Violator, he clearly has a lot of fun in the part, and is undeniably one of the best things in the films.
It’s not a badly acted film, overall, but it’s also not what i would call a “good movie” either, for two reason, starting from less obvious elephant in the room, as in, given the edgy premise and talks of demons, hell armies, chemical weapons worse than Ebola, super killers…. the Spawn movie isn’t even that gory or violent, all things considered, there’s barely blood, for instance.
Apparently the animated series that launched in 1995 was way darker, i haven’t seen it but i wouldn’t be surprised, because given the basic plot, its protagonist and villains, you’d think a live action film adaptation would be fairly graphic or tackle less savory themes.
Regardless, it feels toned down to what it should be, the script isn’t great or good, it’s really a case of style over substance, and it doesn’t help how it also insers some toilet humour with Clown farting twice, just in case the PG-13 audience doesn’t laugh at the first one.
And then there are the effects.
Superhero films are of those genres that do rely on the special effects in order to properly work, as you gotta make the monsters and weird demons or creatures somewhat believable…. which actually is the case for most of the practical effects and make up, those look fairly good.
I really can’t say the same for the CG ones, there’s really no way around how bad they look….and i’m sorry, but this isn’t just the computer effects looking bad now, almost 20 years later, they frankly looked like ass even back in 1997, Malebolgia looks like a fuckin muppet, basically everytime there’s a hell scene it becomes a CG fest of embarassing quality, especially if you look at the way the other “hellspawns” on the distant stone platforms cheer Malebolgia and “vibrate” about.
and again, it’s notable especially in the anticlimactic finale which also relies too much on the effects, especially when they look as they do, like ass, not that the action scenes are much better, to be quite honest, it’s not THAT bad in my opinion, but i wouldn’t call it good either, because Spawn 1997 just isn’t a good movie, either way you slice it.
The soundtrack is so very late 90s and i frankly i unironically love it, full of bangers.
It would have helped if it hadn’t its edges so obviously sanded off so it could be a PG-13 release, and while the AV release includes the Directors Cut alongside the Theathrical Cut (and a fuckton of extra, honestly impressed how much bonus material is included)…. this also doesn’t fix squat.
I didn’t expect the Director’s Cut to have improved CG effects, but i did expect a bit more violence and maybe some gore… you technically get a bit more graphic violence, but also not really.
You see, the Director’s Cut is just 2 minutes longer than the Theatrical Cut, and you won’t notice unless you comb the film frame by frame, as they basically linger 2 seconds longer on a scene with dead bodies, or just add half of a second of footage, when you watch the movie normally you just won’t be able to tell, and it doesn’t really matter as it all looks very tame by today standards anyway.
The ending teases a sequel that – as mentioned in the opening paragraphs – is still in production and frankly it’s most likely gonna stew in development hell some more, given the state of the mainstream cinema biz, or ironically release when the market is gonna be proper dead for new superhero comic book film adaptations.
In a way, this 1997 made Spawn film walked so the original Blade live action could run an year later… and Dominator The Movie could trip over his own cardboard shoes like 6 years later, but heck, at least the latter was an indie made on a shoestring budget AND rushed because the creator, Tony Luke, had cancer.
It’s not modern Marvel film division struggling to put out a new Blade movie, somehow.
