SPAWN (1997)

 

PHENOMENALITY: *marvelous*
MYTHICITY: *poor*
FRYEAN MYTHOS: *adventure*
CAMPBELLIAN FUNCTION: *metaphysical*

I never read more than random issues of the 1990s SPAWN comic when it broke sales records of the day. However, I've viewed a podcast which makes a pretty good case that over the years the series-- whether executed by creator Todd MacFarlane or by other hands-- never really climbed out of its rut. With that in mind, the live-action SPAWN perfectly represents its source material, though that doesn't make it any easier to slog through.

In essence, the SPAWN concept is the story of a sinner stuck between Heaven and Hell, whose "purgatory" consists of a never-ending war against Hell's minions. Al Simmons (Michael Jai White) is a government hitman, but you know he's a potentially good guy because he's handsome, has a hot wife named Wanda(Theresa Randle), and wants to quit killing people for a living. (I don't think he expresses any regrets for his targets though.) He takes his orders from corporate scumbag Jason Wynn (Martin Sheen), but Wynn decides that Simmons is a dangerous wild card and has Simmons shot and burned to death by another agent, Jessica Priest (Melinda Clarke, playing a character original to the film). 

The spirit of Simmons manifests in the Hell of the demon Malebolgia, who offers the dead man a deal: that he will be allowed to return to Earth if he accepts the bargain to lead an army of demons against Heaven. Why Malebolgia thinks Simmons to be such a great catch is not elaborated. Simmons accepts the deal, but it comes with some hidden clauses. Simmons does get some snazzy "necroplasm" armor that he can manipulate with his mind, including being able to whip a long red cape whenever, er, the budget permits it. But his flesh remains burned all over, and in the earth-world five years have passed. After her husband's death Wanda re-married so that her child Cyan would have a father, and the new hubby/dad is none other than Simmons' old partner Terry. 

Frustrated by this turn of events, Simmons, now known as Spawn, starts bumming around a demimonde of homeless people. There he becomes the bone over which two "dogs" fight. One is the obscene clown Violator (John Leguizamo), a servant of Malebolgia and a fellow who's taken elocution lessons from Michael Keaton's Beetlejuice. The other is the mystic Cogliostro (Nicol Williamson in his final film role), a former Hellspawn who now serves Heaven. However, there's not much to their ethical quarrel, and Spawn is still motivated only by the lust for vengeance. This dubious hero is eventually turned to serve the forces of good, but the conversion never seems like anything but a forced plot point.

Direction and special FX are pedestrian, but an imaginative script still might have salvaged something from this farrago. However, the only slightly imaginative scenes are those in which Violator is running his mouth, uttering various PG-rated blasphemies. When this character isn't on screen, everything slows down, even the action scenes. 

SPAWN was one of several films in which Hollywood adapted superheroes not produced by the more high-end Marvel and DC. Perhaps the studios were seeking properties that didn't cost much up front. However, the next-year success of the minor Marvel franchise BLADE might have convinced the money-men to pay more on the front end, since the early 2000s would focus almost exclusively in Marvel or DC properties.