Did you ever want to see a movie really bad, then were really dissapointed by it? That's how I felt about Spawn. I had heard about this movie for a long time, it looked really good, and I just didn't like it that much. Let's start with the good things about the film. The special effects and computer generated images (CGI) were very cool. John Leguizamo (who played The Clown) was funny, in fact he was the best part of the film. And the entire look of the film I liked, it reminded me of The Crow, which is one of my favorite movies. The bad things about Spawn. First the plot didn't make any sense to me. Spawn is a man named Al Simmons who, when alive, killed people for the U.S. Government. One day he decides he wants to quit, his boss (Martin Sheen) say ok, but then doubles crosses him and kills him. Five years later Simmons comes back to life. I think. This is where it gets a little strange. Did he come back to life? Is he dead but back on Earth for revenge? Where exactly is he? It seems like he's right around the corner from where he used to live, but it never gets explained. And as good as the CGI was, some of it was too fast and unclear. The big fight scene in Hell just flew by, and it was very hard to see what was going on and who was fighting who. I remember sitting in the theater squinting, just trying to see what was happening. Even the opening credit sequence gave me a headache. These days studios are making films that look good, are filled with special effects, but have little or no story (see Speed 2), and that's just not good enough anymore. Spawn had the ability to be a great movie. It was a hot character, the look of the movie was great, and the idea behind the character works, but the story has got to be stronger. When the best lines in the film are, "Damn" and "Hell yeah", there's a problem. And what was up with the guy in the hat? I know what he was there for, to tell the story and to help Spawn realize bad from good, but he wasn't in most of the film, and when it came to crunch time, he failed. I'm a little tired of movies that look good but have no story. At least make the main characters people I can care about. I really didn't care if Spawn lived or died, hell most of the time I wished he would join the dark side just to make the movie a little more adventurous. I have never read the comics, or seen the television show, but I hope they have a plot. If they make a sequel, I hope the first thing they do is write a good story.
