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* (PG-13)
BY FRANK LOVECE
Special to Newsday

ill Eisner's "The Spirit" was

the "Citizen Kane" of com-
Y Y ics, pushing the limits of the
medium and expanding its visual
vocabulary. Appearing in a Sunday-
paper comic-book supplement from
1940 to 1952, it starred an average-
foe masked crime-fighter in a rum-
pled suit
- a vulnerable
ant Everymah
but insouci-
in humanist fables.
Little of that makes it on-screen in
' this adaptation by writer-artist
turned
filmmaker Frank Miller. The auteur of
Gabriel Macht as "The Spirit"
PLOT A masked crime-fighter
WE
battles a megalomaniac scientist.
CAST Gabriel Macht, Samuel L.
Jackson, Scarlett Johansson, Eva
HEAR AMASTERPIECE!
A WORK OI OVERWHELMING ACCOMPTISHMENT
Mendes, Sarah Paulson, Dan
Lauria, Paz Vega, Jaime King THAT Wtt BE ONT OF THE MOST UPLIFTINC
MOVIE EXPERIENCES OF YOUR I.ITT.
erptctrlion un prepare 1ru for'lhe Reder5 errtional impacl The artinq is ruperb.
N0
LENGTH 1:48 X& Wmlel giws an 0raf.calilrr pe rformamr tlul k one of tht moji dffitaliriir of lier mr
I on lhinl of no pnise high enoulh for oirector Sbfln Daldry I mt wait to see it again "

comics "Sin City,"'300" and "Batman: PLAYING AT Area theaters KATE WINSLET RALPH FlENNES
The Dark Knight Returns," Miller Questions about
retained only Eisner's film noir sur-
face, jettisoning characterization" soul
and anything remotely human.
The Spirit (Gabriel Macht), a dead
BOTTOM LINE Gorgeous cinema-
tography and design can't mask the
hollow core and bizarre ugliness of
this mishandled comics adaptation.
Newsday?
The Re ader Unlock the mysrery.
cop brought back to life, battles mega- Call *fl *fi
lomaniac scientist the Octopus (Sam-
tilfimffiflt flHrufi( mffinlil mffi Tff ffitaflil mnil{
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t-sffis"Nat&f$sAY.
uel L. fackson) and encounters
femmes fatale Sand Saref (Eva
dad (Dan Lauria). In one endless
scene, the Octopus dresses like a Nazi
.H;3ffi;H#'H.ffi,.ffi
Mendes), Silken Floss (Scarlett ]o-
hansson), Plastei ofParis (Paz Vega)
and liquefies a kitten.
Worst of all, the Spirit now has a
irewpaaff
newsday,com
(r{lfitl[lTlEm
and Lorelei (Jaime King), plus good- superpower a healing factor. t*. 3i"fiI'*
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Eisner's own -spirit must be spinning

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son) and her police-commissioner in its grave. 8oo.FAilDAilco *788777.F[-M #898 631.777.8080 7r8.14r.9835