The Spirit (2008)
I used to review all the films I saw at the cinema back on another blog a few years ago and am pretty sure I covered this one but that blog seems to not exist any more so I couldn't cheat and just copy/paste.
This suggestion comes from Andrew Jones and is a big reason I can't call these Film A Day entries 'Classics'. Re-Takes perhaps (I'm not sure why I even care about distinguishing between movies that are new to me or things I am covering that I have seen before but there we go).
I actually covered the teevee pilot attempt last year (back here) which was not particularly good but far, far, far better than Frank Miller's woefully tone deaf take.
Just about everything is misconcieved, The Spirit could be a fun throwaway book with some goofy humour but Miller has no awareness of how to build comic timing, how to have a groan inducing gag be endearing rather than stupefying.
The cast play it all as pantomine, and a terrible one at that (since it's across the board and some of these actors have given nuanced interesting performances in other things I can only assume they have been directed to be as broadly annoying as possible).
The comic had a great female supporting cast, that evenly allowing for the differing social norms of the time seem more progressive and rounded than the women presented here (it's hard to find anybody alluring when the film thinks photocopying someone's arse is sexy).
Horrid, horrid, horrid.
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