Frank Miller's "The Spirit" is an entirely different kind of superhero movie, and we only learn just how different it is by watching the special features on the DVD.
Without the DVD, you probably already knew that the film is something so absurd and silly that if you were able to turn off your brain, you found it absolutely hilarious and mindlessly exhilarating. If you were not able to do so, you came to the realization that, at heart, Frank Miller is a 13-year-old boy just going through puberty, translating Will Eisner's character into a hero that, while invincible, has barely an idea of what he's doing, with the most beautiful women and the most ridiculous villain ever.
The DVD has four important special features in addition to the trailers. The "Green World" featurette is a making-of documentary. "Green World" shows how the film was built from the ground up, revealing just how faithful Miller was to Will Eisner's source material, owing largely to the fact that Eisner was a real-life mentor to Miller. Audiences come to appreciate just how technological a movie like "The Spirit" is, since the film was shot almost entirely on a green screen. Knowing that, we realize just how visually artistic the film is, watching the layers and shots that went into building the visuals of the movie piece by piece. Through this we realize exactly how the film was made and why it looks and feels the way it does.
"Miller on Miller" is a massive geek out, aimed explicitly at the comic book-reading fans of the film. Comprised of Miller talking about his career and the film itself, it shines enormous light on his background and his artistic process, mostly for those who've been reading comic books for years but also for those just coming into comics and trying to understand them. We gain an appreciation not just of Miller and his comics but also the 70-year-plus history of comics in general. An enormous amount of detail on the entire genre is laid out, a level of understanding almost impossible to impart in such a short period of time.
The alternate storyboard ending, while certainly not as good as the ending that actually was in the film, still manages to shine a little more light on what "The Spirit" is capable of. The storyboard ending manages to reveal an entirely new aspect of the character.
The last of the film's special features is a running audio commentary with Miller and producer Deborah Del Prete. Funny and insightful, you learn and see things about the film that you never would have appreciated otherwise. Incredibly conversational, it sounds and feels entirely like a theater conversation, one in which you gain incredible insight into how the creators see their work.
If you didn't like "The Spirit," you won't like the DVD. If you managed to just let yourself enjoy the film, you'll come to realize many things about it through the special features. If you care to, you'll look at the film in entirely new ways that will allow you to watch the movie in the future with new appreciation.
You can reach this writer at thescene@theeagleonline.com.
