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Spawn - New Line Platinum Series

Spawn - New Line Platinum Series

List Price: $14.97
Your Price: $13.47
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A must see
Review: This movie is a must see.I rented it on video and it was cool.so buy it today and tell me what you think.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Solid fantasy adventure...
Review: Spawn, the Director's cut, presents a more complete vision of Todd MacFarlane's comic book creation, than the PG13 version featured in its theatrical release in 1997. Having never read the comic, I can't speak with any authority how successful the movie is at capturing the true spirit of the comic. Nevertheless, I found Spawn to be very entertaining, with a style and tone that reflects its comic book genesis. The characters are not particularly deep, motivations are basic, and the dialog is at times, pretentious, grandiose and ridiculous. The reedited version flows better, is more violent, and is punctuated by a quick-cut editing style, and creative scene transitions. It is the story of a man burnt to death, who returns to Earth after making a bargain with the Devil (Malebolgia).

Since the story is based on a comic book, I was willing to cut the movie a bit more slack than normal. But such additional allowances are not really necessary. The film does a fairly good job of explaining Spawn's significance, and the nature of his powers. He goes through a continuous learning process, discovering just what he can, and should do. Gradually evolving from using firearms, to utilizing the intrinsic weapon of his own body armor. The commentary track is very helpful in understanding what the whole story is about. As is Todd McFarlane's edgy, "take it or leave it" style interview.

Spawn, taps into a number of man's basic fears, fire, burning alive and eternal hell. For justice to be done to this story, the special effects needed to be outstanding, and they are. Costuming and makeup, for the primary characters of Spawn, and Clown are great. Computer generated (CG) effects became prevalent in the late 90's, and Spawn is a good example of a film where CG effects begin to take over. Almost all of the effects work very well. The "capework", Spawn's protective armor, and his spike and chain defense mechanisms are particularly effective. The fiery tunnel down to Hell looks cool, but the vision of Hell didn't quite work for me. The "masses" look way too fake, and the character of Malebolgia, (the Devil) just made me laugh. With flapping jowls, he conjures up images of a hellish "Big Bad Wolf", crossed with a CG monster from a USMC recruiting commercial. The final battle in Hell looks a bit disjointed, and the quality suffers a bit. The budgetary reasons for this are explained in the commentary.

Spawn, is a story of a man, struggling to understand his place, in a world where he no longer belongs. Learning about himself, his powers, and how to control them. You don't see much of his real face, but Michael Jai White brings a great deal of humanity, and sadness to the character. Unfortunately for Jai White, a man who is blessed with an incredible physique, this film does not appear to have done too much for his career. John Leguizamo's transition to the lewd, rude, and evil Clown, is quite remarkable. His performance is creative, and with humor that does not appear forced. Martin Sheen, provides name recognition, and does a serviceable job as the ruthless "Wynn". Spawn, is a solid fantasy adventure. Worth your time if you are interested in the genre. The restored "R" rated director's cut, is an improvement.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: A Guy From Hell Doesn't Deserve PG-13
Review: Spawn is my favorite super hero of all time. This movie is not the comic book. All they did was take the title, the concept, the characters and made a super hero disaster. The comic book starts off him already established and trying to cope with his existence. This movie is nothing but plain, boring ... about this assassin coming back from the dead, already knowing his mission and planning to do it. In the comic book, Spawn had to find his way into discovering his past and discovering his mission on Earth. It would be great if they had that and they showed his journey into discovery and at the end, going after Jason Wynn. The Clown in the movie (took) the whole thing. He is the reason why I give this a *** stars. But still, it's a disappointed.

Besides the story and the adapting from the comic book that disappionted me was the cast. Who the hell is this Michael Jai White guy. No body knows who he is and he ... . He looks like a black pretty-boy. Spawn in the comic book was a rough and tough assassin. Michael "whatever" Jai White is not tough. Wesley Snipes would've been a great pick for the role of Al Simmons and he definately has the attitude and physique for the character. What also disappointed me was this Wanda girl. Whoever played Wanda, Al's former wife, is ugly, a terrible actress and is a terrible pick. Halle Berry would've been a great pick for Wanda or Vanessa Williams.

And what's up with this PG-13 ... . People, where's the R-rating!?! The cartoon is the best Spawn I've ever seen but this PG-13 is terrible. The movie should've followed the cartoon's footsteps: bad language (this is a guy from hell, I'd be cursing my way out of town if I just died and resurrected from hell), violence (they should've shown his anger against Wynn with violence against evil), and nudity (if this movie involves hell, we need rated R and since we got Wanda in the picture, we got to show something nice).

I just hope that in the near future, in a couple of years, Hollywood will decide to make another movie of "Spawn" and strip this piece of ... off the shelves of every video store. If you just want to see a movie with good special effects and funny jokes, go RENT this movie. But if you want to see a good super hero movie, go see Spider-Man or Blade (Blade 2 is better) or something because this is a disgrace to the comic book.

I feel so bad for Todd McFarlane.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Such a disappointment
Review: I give it one star for its special effects, another star for DVD's
commentary.

For those who doesn't know, Spawn is base on this premise-
Simmons is a government assassin. Just before he dies,
he made a deal with the Devil for the love of his wife.
When he woke up again, he became a grotesque monster and
cannot go back to his life. He was also obessessed with seeking
revenge on the person who kills him. However, if he kills bad
guys then it'll make Hell's army stronger, if he recklessly kills
good guys then it would be evil and causes chaos, which is
good for the Devil too. Worst of all, no matter what he does
he will waste his power (when he used up all powers he will die).
Doing nothing isn't an option either, since bad guys will go after
him and the people he loves. Hence he has to struggle with his
own morality, the fact that he cannot be with his wife, and his
own existance.

Interesting concept, eh? Unfortunately, the movie did not
capture the spirit of the original idea. We never really get
involved with Spawn's internal struggle, hence we don't really
care about the main character at all. The senses of irony associated
with "no matter what Spawn do it's bad" weren't created in the movie.
Nor did the movie really explain the hell/spawn relationship.
Only the action scences are somewhat worth praising.

Also, Cog in the movie is different from the original ideas. This is
OK if it's done well, but Cog the mysterious Yoda-type was changed
into a not-so-old guy with blade-hand, likes to interfer but cannot
fight well. It's just horrible.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Spawn Falls Short
Review: The plot is simple-a govt. agent is murdered before repenting his sins, is sent to Hell, and in exchange for returning to his love, will lead the forces of evil against Heaven. Once on earth, Spawn realizes the terrible consequences if he follows through and tries to redeem himself by saving the woman he loves and his daughter and killing the man who set him up and who threatens the world.
An interesting plot that nevers makes it past the simple, cut and dried "good vs. evil", tone. Spawn has spent 5 years in Hell but he is still human enough to love and hate. It's his humanity that gives him grief over his promise to lead the armies of Hell. WHile he tries to overcome his promise, his struggle is more self-pitying than heroic redemption. He wanders around "struggling" with himself while fighting both human and unhuman foes. The action scenes are good and the special effects are fantastic, but the storyline and dialogue fall short.
Eventually, Spawn defeats the bad guys but since he's betrayed Hell, he can't go there and Heaven won't let him in. So now, he must struggle for salvation and redemption.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Absolutely Horrible
Review: If all you look for in a movie is big explosions and cool computer graphics, you'll love this movie. Anyone who is interested in a plot will absolutely hate it. This was a terrible movie.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: A Super Zero
Review: Of the bad comic book companies, DC, Image, and Dark Horse. Spawn comes from the second of three mentioned above, and it is the worst comic book ever created. Bad artwork and story. Which shows how much of a no talent person it's creator is. By this then, the movie is also badly plotted, scripted, acted, and cheesy effects work that is a waste of the film it was done on.Even if Tim Burton had made this movie, as he was rumored to be attached to it at the time, I doubt he could have done anything with it.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Go, Spawnie! Go, Spawnie!
Review: I am a big fan of SPAWN the comic book and was thrilled at the live-action movie. The visual effects and make-up are unlike anything you've ever seen before! The R-Rate version is a little different from the theatrical release. Mostly, it's some dialogue from the clown (brilliantly played by Lequizamo)That's right. You might not recognize him, but it's true. As Todd has said, the extra footage was to enhance the enjoyment level. Plus, the R Rated Director's Cut comes with a behind-the-scenes featurette and an interview with Todd McFarlane. This flick is a real treat.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: I use to really like it.
Review: When I was little and this movie was just released on video I though it was awsome, because of all the flashy, fantastic special effects, but when I got older I got wiser. The reason this movie gets 3 stars is because of the great special effects job. This is recommended to people who don't mind dumb screenplays, direction, ect. and watch action pictures just for the thrill of it all.
The acting is ok, but the film is miss casted in my opinion. I don't think I will ever watch HBO's Animated Spawn series.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Listen to no one else
Review: I love this freaking movie. Jon Leguizamo does a picture perfect violator, and they picked a great spawn, whoever he is. everything is just as i imagined and it's one of my favorite movies of all times. it actually does the movie justice which you can't say about a lot of comic book movies. say what you will, it kicks the [heck] out of x men, that movie [stunk].


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