Rating: 
Summary: I want to violate the little girlie-man who directed this
Review: Oh dear. Spawn certainly falls short of everything that made the comic such a big hit. The action sequences are good, yes, but who cares? It's all show and no substance. More could have been done to: show the effect Spawn has on those around him; show his inner conflict, the 'whatever he does is bad' theme present in the comics; make Cogliostro less an interfering Yoda-figure and more of a mentor, the only one who gives a rat's ass about Spawn; make Malebolgia more convincing, and fix the Hell scenes; cut out the random elements which spoil it, such as the Clown's face on the spade, the way the Violator turns into a bookshelf and back again, the way Spawn's cape never seems to know whether it's coming or going.
It was a good idea, the opening sequence is fantastic. The hell vortex? Then the example of Simmons in action? Excellent. You know he's a good guy straight away. But a crap script, horrendous miscasting of Leguizamo as Clown, and a dumbing down of the major themes turned this potential blockbuster into a B-movie nightmare.
Rating: 
Summary: ouch.
Review: the hell sequence in this movie, with "the devil" is without a doubt the worst CGI i have ever seen in my life. I think I've seen more convincing effects on atari video games. god this was weak.
Rating: 
Summary: Not as bad as everyone says it is...
Review: "Spawn" is one of those comic-book movies that you hate to enjoy because it is cheesy and poorly written. But you have to admit in the end that it was pretty fun.Al Simmons is a professional government assassin. He is one of the best that the agency has. But when he decides to quit, his boss won't let him go that easily. He sets him up on one last mission before he goes. But the mission turns into a set-up from the boss and Simmons is brutally killed and summoned to hell. In hell, he meets with satan and his army. Satan tells Simmons that if he goes back to earth to kill his boss, he will let him be with his wife again. Of course Simmons accepts the mission and is followed by the evil Clown. But Simmons is then encountered by a religious man who knows that Simmons can use his power for good instead of evil. Through the movie, he mentors and helps Simmons control his powers and use them to turn against satan and Clown and still seek revenge and set everything right. "Spawn" was a decent comic-movie. Could have been a lot better, but what it turned out to be was surprisingly good. The action scenes were definatly well done and the special effects were also very good. If you are just looking for an hour and half to waste with a half-decent fun movie, Spawn is definatly a good pick. But if you are someone who acts like a movie critic and analyzes every flaw within a movie, this is not for you. "Spawn" runs for about 90 minutes. It was originally rated PG-13 but was changed to an R rating when it came to video. It is rated R for strong violence, some strong language, and brief crude humor.
Rating:
Summary: "You've been violated little girlie man!"
Review: Al Simmons is killed by his boss and goes to hell. He comes back to Earth to take revenge on Wynn and to see Wanda again. With him is the hardly recognizable John Leugiazamo (I know I misspelled that) as a clown from hell. Leugiazamo has the best lines in the movie in my view. Al is soon called "Spawn" by the clown.
Rating:
Summary: All effects and no story. No taste either.
Review: Why McFarland though his Spawn character would make a great movie, who knows. Only that he was very wrong. With a non-existent script, terrible acting, and very gory effects work. This movie would be more at home on Mystery Science Theater 3000. It also shows that characters from Image Comics do not work on film.
Rating: 
Summary: An overdose of style over substance...
Review: "Spawn" is not a great film. At best, it's average. But it did help to pave the way for new superhero movies like "Spider-Man" and "Daredevil." With its neat-o special effects and really fast pace, this film based on Todd McFarlane's graphic novels (comic books) would be a great movie had the bad guy (Martin Sheen) not been so darn wimpy. Spawn could have seriously kicked some ... had he not been busy crying over losing his wife to his best friend. But the special effects are amazing, and I suppose that's what this film is all about: special effects. Well, there are tons here, ranging from Spawn himself to the fiery pits of Hell, to Satan himself. John Leguizemo is mostly funny as Clown, another of Spawn's nemeses. "Spawn" was definitely one of the better superhero movies of the nineties, but there weren't many good superhero movies in the nineties to begin with, so I don't know if that's a complement or not. See it if you must, but avoid it if you can.
Rating:
Summary: Good intentions gone bad
Review: Well, I actually saw the movie last night, and don't get me wrong, I love action movies but this was just terrible. There really was not a large amount of action to begin with and the action there was was just mediocre. The character Spawn is amazing, incredible, I loved him, but they could have dome so much more with him. Some characters seemed so out of place like the little kid Zach and the old guy who ends up helping him while wearing chain mail, I mean come on! Anyway, I would not waste my time purchasing this at all, the plot is terrible, the casting is terrible, the effects are terrible, and the action is terrible.
Rating: 
Summary: I Love It!
Review: I know that I am one of the few that actually like this film, but I find it to be very good. The acting is alright, and there is enough action to satisfy even die hard action people like me. There are more extras in this DVD than most and is well enough. I feel that the movie doesn't really seem like it has much to do with the actual "Spawn" character, it deals more with his personal life "Al Simmons". There are good special effects and is worth the viewing. The only downside is that this "Director's Cut" is the only version for this film out on DVD and it actually gets cut. The actual film is 96 minutes and is rated PG-13, while the director's cut is 94 minutes and is rated R. Some of the scenes may have been changed, but I don't think they were, back when I saw this film for the first time. Just give this film a chance. You may be one of the few that likes it like me! :-D
Rating:
Summary: not much fun
Review: This flick was a belated attempt to cash-in on the run of dark comic book heroes sparked in 1989 with "Batman". Though having CGI graphics, and even tossing in a demented clown character, nothing here comes close to matching that earlier hit. The Story: Al Simmons (White) is your basic can-do spec-ops master. Doing various impossible dirty jobs for a super secret agency run by the odious Jason Wynn (Sheen) that require him to sneak around fortified installations across the world with timed charges and a sub-machine gun, White is seeking a way out. He knows he's being set by Wynn and his toady (Sweeny), but doesn't have an idea of how deep Wynn's betrayal goes. When Wynn turns on White during The-Last-Mission (an intentionally botched demolition of a classified bio-warfare installation), he incinerates White and leaves him to burn with the rest of the factory. Wynn, it turns out, was in league with no less than Hell itself - selling his country (and White) to the devil in return for immeasurable power. Hell, it goes without saying, has its own plans, which include an army of the damned ready to march on the land of the living, and led by a savagely scarred warrior who is none other than White himself. Agreeing to lead the forces of Hell in return for a chance to see his beloved Wanda, White becomes "Spawn" - an unstoppable warrior clad in living armor - and returns to Earth. Forgetting the deal (and just about everything else) when he first returns, White gets a rude wake-up from "The Clown" (Leguizamo), one of Hell's more lewd minions. (Clad in what looks like gallons of laytex, Leguizamo's hard to recognize - for years, I thought Chris Farley had the part). When the his dirty jokes don't make the point clear enough, Clown morphs into the horrible "Violator" a hulking terror that tosses Spawn around like a rag-doll. Though not quite in league with old scratch, Spawn can't divorce himself from the pact since obeying it will allow him a shot at Jason Wynn. Wynn, learning of Spawn's pursuit of him, and still thinking himself in league with Hell, has himself implanted with a device triggered to detonate and release huge stockpiles of the deadly gas, should he should die. Spawn doesn't know about the implant, but then Wynn doesn't know that the devil is playing him and Spawn off each other. With its unspeakable powers, the forces of Hell could overrun the world, but even the devil must follow the laws of irony (in short, the plan is for Spawn to freely kill Wynn in revenge, and thus release the toxin that will destroy our world). To balance out evil, the forces of good have their own warrior - Cogliostro (Nicol Williamson, and no, he doesn't redo the Merlin act from "Excalibur") - who tries to show Spawn that he still has free-will, and that his powers can defeat evil. While Spawn eventually turns to the way of good (dark powers, living-armor, machine guns and all), the tug of war between good and evil insures that we'll see a lot of those powers and other CGI. So what's wrong with this movie? The plot is convoluted - the elaborate plan by which Spawn will destroy all live on Earth by killing Wynn seems like irony for irony's sake. Since the devil is neither a real character in the story nor the hint of a bigger character (he appears as a big CGI affect in one of the supposedly climactic scenes) it's hard to see the plan as actually being a plan put in motion by a character, instead of just an excuse to plump the plot. Actually, there aren't any real characters at all - once White's outer body is stripped, he never forms anything real to replace his identity. Wynn is just odious, Cogliostro just noble, Sweeny is just...well, Sweeny. The script gives a lot of attention to the Clown, but then he becomes the Violator, and his character disappears entirely (which is little loss, since the Clown's good for nothing but vile and obvious jokes - the worst one delivered at the end after he's been de-capitated. The sanitized version of that line is the single least-inspired TV-edit ever). The action sequences lose it after a while, boiling down to pointless CGI romps. During the climax set in Hell, I kept wondering - "what the hell's going on?" There are no funny lines, memorable characters or anything else to stick in your head. This flick is like "The Phantom Menace" with pitchforks instead of lightsabers. McFarlane once said he was ready to go on the sequel - all he needed was the cash (I don't remember how much he said, though $40 mill sounds familiar). Hollywood must be full of guys with the same idea, but at least some of them could have done a better job than this. In short - it's just no fun.
Rating:
Summary: Never Trust a Fat Clown
Review: Todd McFarlane began the 'Spawn' comic series in 1992. The series went on to set records for comic sales. My own personal knowledge of 'Spawn' comes from the large number of imaginative action figures that appear on many toy and comic store shelves. I have bought and set up several, and I decided to see the film to get some insight into the story behind the figures. The film starts like a buzz saw. You are dumped right into the life of secret agent/assassin Al Simmons (Michael Jai White) as he destroys a planeload of people, realizes what he had done, and tries to leave the agency for whom he worked. Needless to say, his evil boss Jason Wynn (Martin Sheen) has no intention of letting him go. Wynn tricks Simmons into one 'last' assignment. It's a setup, and Simmons is toasted for real. Suddenly (everything is sudden in this film) it is five years later. Simmons pops back into existence, looking like the aftermath of a nuclear explosion, with a severe memory shortage. A really gross clown (John Leguizamo) keeps trying to be his buddy, his best friend has married his girlfriend, and the only thing that remembers him is his dog - Spaz (I don't know who played the dog). This is a situation that can only get worse, and sure enough, that's what it does. The basic plot turns on Simmons' (now called Spawn) moral progress. Hell has been tempting souls all over the world in order to create an army of badness. Now they want Spawn to be the general of that army and lead the last apocalyptic attack on heaven. In order to qualify, that have to play on Spawn's anger and thirst for vengeance until he does something so bad that he loses all his humanity. Of course, this involves killing most of the people in the world. Cogliostro (Nicol Williamson) plays the good guy, trying to help Spawn keep his humanity. My immediate problem with 'Spawn' was that it was not 'Blade.' It took me the first 15 minutes of the film to get over that. I think this was really a matter of seeing 'Blade' just before viewing 'Spawn.' Once I was able to get into the movie a bit, I found that my original reaction was overkill. Even so, most of the script is people morphing into things that kill and then smashing other people into smithereens. Yes, there is a plot, but its primary purpose is to provide an excuse for a steady procession of outrageous (but bloodless) violence. Exactly how it managed to hold on to a PG-13 rating is beyond me. 'Blade' had an element of style that is simply lacking in 'Spawn.' The cast consists of many skilled and experienced players (Martin Sheen's film credits are probably longer than the script). Unfortunately, the pace is so intense that the only character you get to know well is that godforsaken clown, and you will really wish that you hadn't. Most of the other characters are limited to parts that are heavily typecast. Despite this, 'Spawn' is almost a very good film. Many of the special effects are great, and there certainly isn't anything wrong with a lot of fast-paced action. However, the story never completely gripped me, and the film work is a bit too claustrophobic. Still, it's worth seeing if you get a chance.
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