REVIEW DATE 3:3:99
REVIEW DATE 3:3:99
Up until now I had lost almost all faith in superhero movies. Seeing something as soul shattering as Batman and Robin will drive a man to lose faith in almost anything. And the irony of it all is that the Batman franchise also happened to produce two of the grene's best. The first two Batman movies were full of dark, gritty realism and were almost the perfect copy of the Batman comic books of today (as opposed to the Batman comic books of 30 years ago). Those movies were the only superhero movies that I really, really liked and occupied a special place in my heart that no superhero movie has been able to intrude upon.
Until now, that is.
Before we get into a plot synopsis I should tell
you that, no, this is not a review of the live action movie that was released by New Line
Cinema in 1997. I'll get around to that latter. Instead the movie I watched began life as
the first season of a TV show on late night HBO. And I mean real late night. So
late at night it was probably only put on the air when a tech at HBO hit the wrong button
with his head as he nodded off to sleep. So late that, if HBO had commercials they would
probably be for phone sex adds. So late that not even I, the man who once stayed
up until 4:00 in the morning watching I Was a Teenage Frankenstein, couldn't
catch ever episode. For those of us with lives HBO has taken the first season and put it
together on this one tape.
Much like Batman, Spawn is much better in his cartoon form then in a live action form. No surprise there, since here the story isn't dumbed down so twelve year old boys can stair at the screen and go, "Cool, he blew stuff up and stuff." No, this cartoon is very adult oriented. How adult oriented we'll get to after this.
Just who is this Spawn, you ask? Well, Spawn (as in Hellspawn) began life as a human named Al Simmons. Al had it all, wife, house, dog. Everything. He also had a job as a government trained assassin, and just where do you think someone who makes a living killing people will go when they die, humm?
Yep, you guessed it, Al dies and goes to Hell were he strikes a deal with Hell's current ruler (there have been lots of them, yah know?) the Malebogia. The Malebogia can have his soul, all Al really wanted in return was to see his wife again. Al sells his soul for love. . .awwww, isn't that sweet?
As it turns out the price Al has to pay is higher then he bargained for. Transported back to Earth, Al discovers that he has become a Hellspawn, a ranking officer in the Devil's army. Given a high amount of power and a costume that seams to be alive, Al seams to have become the perfect weapon.
But not all is right in the world. Eventually Spawn
discovers that it has been more then 5 years since his death, his wife has remarried to
none other then his best friend, and said best friend has been able to give her the child
he never could. To make things worse he is hounded by a small, demonic man named Clown,
who has the power to transform into a rancidity ugly creature called the
Violator, a true native of Hell.
Now, the series could have just stooped there, like other cartoons before it. I mean, we have our hero and our villain, and the rest of the show could have simply been a big fight between the two. But no, like the comic book it was biased upon this show has an intricate, interweaving plot. I won't spoil it for you, I'll just simply say it involves a secret government organization, a senator running for president, and the senators son, who just so happens to be a child killer.
In the review of Volcano I gave you a brief bio of Keith David. After sinking to the depths of doing a movie for Charles Band (son of Al Band who made Zoltan: Hound of Dracula) Keith got into voice acting, and here is where he really shines. This guy can do more with his voice then most actors can do with their whole body. As Spawn, he makes the character standoffish, brutal, and, at times, just plain mean. And yet there is real pathos to Spawn. He really was a good man at heart, and nobody deserves this. Well. . .maybe Ken Starr deserves this, but not Al Simmons.
The one real problematic actor here is Richard A Dysart as a mysterious homeless man/our humble narrator. The problem is that, as a narrator, he can get damn annoying at times. Especially since he says the same thing over and over during the course of the movie. Though, this was a series so I might cut it some slack. Some of you in the crowd might not.
Also making a staring role is Ronny Cox as Senator McMillan. You'll most recognize that voice (or at lest I did) from Robocop. Here Ronny's voice acting is almost as good as his whole body acting. Unfortunately his character is so mysterious, and not purposefully.
Those who are suppose to be mysterious are Jason Wynn, our head villain, and the Clown, our other head villain. Wynn looks and acts spooky, just like the head of a secret government agency should. The Clown looks and acts totally and utterly disgusting. . .and that's a good thing. One of the problems I had with the live action Spawn movie was the fact that the Clown made me laugh at him. Now, call me "crazy"
(YOUR CRAZY ! !)
but I don't think demons from hell should be that funny. They should be dirty, disgusting little bastards who make you hate and fear them. Both the Clown and Violator do that nicely, and I thank my lucky stars that neither dialogue is weighted down with fart jokes.
But be warned, this ain't your normal cartoon. It is gory, it is bloody, it is violent, it is almost a carbon copy of the comic bo ok Spawn. Fans of the comic will love this movie because it takes the entire origin of Spawn in a whole new direction without dumbing it down to sell tickets. Fans of Keith David will love it even more. Everybody else. . .well. . .rent at your own risk. And don't be surprised by what you find in Spawn's world. . .it ain't pretty, not by a long shot.
RATING (OUT OF A POSSIBLE FIVE)
SPLATTER PUNKS, THIS IS THE CARTOON FOR YOU.