DVD: “Spawn” – Yikes!
By stephanie - Tuesday, April 25th, 2006
I caught the Sunday matinee showing of “Spawn” on Fox a few days ago. The 1997 film is, I believe, a comic book rip – a man, killed in a terrible explosion, makes a deal with the devil to lead his army. He is sent back to earth to be reborn as “Spawn,” with all sorts of special powers and a very cool superhero suit.
The movie is mostly a disaster (it’s hard to believe anyone makes these sorts of films with any sense of seriousness), but it’s still entertaining in its way. Part of the entertainment comes from the worst performance Martin Sheen has ever done – he’s the bad guy, and speaks with a bizarre, cheesy, gruff voice that makes it sound like he’s trying to pass a gallstone.
The scenes in Hell are particularly bad – the CGI at the time certainly couldn’t keep up with the director’s vision, though the poor implementation gives Hell a cartoon quality that almost works. Satan himself is a huge hairy beast who opens up a tooth-filled jaw that does not move when he speaks. It’s a riot!
This is one of those clunkers to watch when you’ve got nothing better to do or you are looking for a cheap laugh. I myself was working on organizing my files while the show was on, which was the perfect way to enjoy this little sci-fi disaster.
April 26th, 2006 at 11:00 am
Spawn was an unintentional comedy. Kind of like Showgirls…in hell. What other reason would inspire the casting director to put Jon Leguizamo in a fat suit as the role of “Clown”?
BTW, digging your podcast. You’ve done for hot tubs what Spielberg’s “Jaws” did for swimming in the ocean.
pjk