Online Ranter Calls 'Spirit' "The Worst I've Ever Seen"

Ain't It Cool News has a tendency to be a little hyperbolic. Something's either the best or the worst thing they've ever seen. That's an oversimplification, but it happens quite a bit. Case in point: Jondough saying The Spirit is not just worse than Battlefield Earth, it's the worst movie he's ever seen.I'd like to point out that even saying Battlefield Earth is the worst movie ever smacks of hyperbole. It's bad, maybe even magnificently so, but it's not even the worst John Travolta movie. Moving on...If you have the time, read all of Jondough's rant, but I must warn you that it's over 2,500 words long. So we'll sum up, and keep it much more on point.He hated the acting, particularly Sam Jackson as The Octopus (and made some potentially libelous comments about Jules Winnfield while he's at it), said that Frank Miller not only failed as a director but wondered if could direct anything at all, and blamed Lionsgate for not catching its mistake in hiring Miller in the first place and suggesting that the studio has to know just how bad it is, "no matter how cynical you are about the intelligence level of Hollywood producers."Jondough describes the events of his evening seeing the film with a friend:

"After 2 hours of ruminating, pondering what had just happened, we came up with this description of what the viewing experience was like: 'I feel like I just watched a movie in a foreign language, where you speak just enough of the language to realize that the main character just said he had sex with your mother and then wrote a movie about it...a movie that you can’t fully understand except for the nagging feeling that that’s your mother up there getting reamed.'"Or, as said about a half hour later by my buddy, in all seriousness, 'I think I now know what it feels like to be raped.' (The sense of betrayal, the sense of loss, the sense that somehow it was his fault.)"

So that's one verdict. I highly doubt that it's going to be the worst movie I've ever seen. I can tell you already that as long as there's sound it won't be as bad as Disaster Movie, no matter how big a mess it might be.

Comments

[Will]

Ain't it Cool has Hollywood by the "En You Tee Ess", which is sad, because more often than not they are wrong in their analysis, and their "fanbase" actually represents a very small portion of the movie going audience. That's why I really like Nintendo's business model: They realize that the public has no idea what they want. Generally speaking, fanboys are the same. They will tell market researchers they want an X-Box, but fall in line and buy a Wii.

That's not to say that The Spirit is a Wii. I'll save that association for Watchmen next year. But, even being a fan of the Harry Knowles story (check out his biography!), the fear that his site puts in the hearts of studios seems a little unwarranted...

That said, studio chiefs who think like the guys who run Nintendo will fare alot better than chiefs who listen intently to the people lurking at AICN.

[Lengthy Johnson]

Those comments tell us a lot more about Jondough and his buddy than they tell us about The Spirit.

I have no doubt that The Spirit will be bad, though. Not just to us who really liked Will Eisner but to anyone foolish enough to try to see it.

Frank Miller is not a movie director and Lionsgate should have realised it. In this day of decent comic books to movies conversions, The Spirit was always on the cards.

Unfortunately, there isn't even enough quality materialin the film to make a decent trailer that isn't laughable.

[lara Petersen]

That's sad..........I really like Gabrial Macht : (

[Julian Francis]

I'm definitely with you on this... especially that last part there. I can't wait to see this one though!

[Jeremy]

Anyone who's read a Frank Miller comic in the last few years already knows he lost his mind a long time ago.