Spawn (1997) – Film Review

Director: Mark AZ Dippe
Cast: Michael Jai White, Martin Sheen, John Leguizamo
Certificate: 15

By Roger Crow

Todd McFarlane’s crispy eponymous hero, a Faustian eternal warrior resurrected in assorted forms, was one of the most interesting comic book creations of the 1990s. And when it was announced that a movie was in the pipeline, I, like many fans, was excited to see the result.

Alas, when a mate and I went to see Spawn on the big screen in 1997, it became a running joke in the days and years that followed. (That laughable fantasy epic didn’t stop us both buying it on VHS on the same day coincidentally).

“Insanely annoying”

I hoped that the decades since my last viewing had been kind to the terrible script, ropey effects, and asinine levels of alleged comedy.

I’d totally forgotten the great Nicol Williamson had a supporting role in this car crash of a production, but considering effects were provided by the guy who revolutionised the industry with CG dinos in Jurassic Park, it’s remarkable how bad they are.

Martin Sheen sports one of many designer beards in the movie, and manages to emerge from the wreckage with a degree of credibility intact. Michael Jai White, mostly under a load of prosthetics, is the slaughtered macho military expert hero who goes to Hell, makes a deal with the Devil, and returns to Earth to seek vengeance on those who killed him.

The also unrecognisable John Leguizamo is the flatulent, insanely annoying villainous Clown, who, along with Chris Tucker in The Fifth Element, won my award for most annoying supporting characters of 1997.

There is a great Spawn movie still to be made, and another live action stab at the saga has been mooted for some time. Given the terrible quality of this movie, both in terms of script and effects, it has to be an awful lot better than this.

“Crisp”

If you’ve never seen the film, then keep your expectations at zero and you may enjoy it. But that’s a pretty big ask.

The new 4K UHD version is as crisp as the hero’s skin, though at time it’s also very grainy, probably to accommodate those effects.

Time has not been kind to Spawn, so this shiny new release is for hardcore fans only.

Roger Crow( Writer )

Adopted Yorkshireman Roger Crow developed a passion for film and TV in the 1970s and 1980s. He has been a published film and TV reviewer since the 1990s; a world travel and restaurant critic since the noughties, and for the past decade has assessed the pros and cons of live gigs and theatre productions around the UK. His ideal day would involve reviewing a performance of Bat Out of Hell, followed by a Pad Thai while being serenaded by Texas on a cruise around Europe.
crowsfeat.com; nostalgiahhh film podcast

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