Steinesongo Too many fans seem to be blown away

Sharkflei Your blood may run cold, but you now find yourself pinioned to the story.

Griff Lees Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

Dana An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

bentheimpaler In many ways, this film is as tragic as Spawn's own backstory. As mentioned above, the actors are beautifully suited to their roles. Particularly Michael Jai White and John Leguizamo in the leading roles. Everyone breathes a real life into one of the greatest comic series ever written.The story, on the other hand, is unbecomingly light-hearted for Spawn. Perhaps they were worried about the movie being to broody, but if that was the case, they grossly overcompensated. Some of the most emotionally pivotal scene of the opening comic issues are instead played for laughs here. It isn't Joel Schumacher's Spawn, by any means. But the out-of-place gags can take you out of the story when the horrid CGI doesn't. The make-up, costumes and practical effects are honestly breathtaking, but that and the strength of the actors alternates from helping you forget that you're watching the generic cola of Spawn, and highlighting all that now seems even weaker by comparison. In short, it's a lukewarm movie at best. With good points and bad in equal measure. I can't recommend it as such, but it is an interesting study in "so close, and yet so far".

guisreis When I watched this film for the first time I hated it passionately, considering it as an aberration. Years afterwards I watched part of it again on television and had a completely different opinion. It is a quite innovative film for the genre, with some smart dialogues. Visual effects are no bad as I considered for the first time (well, some of them are, like the horrible CGI master demon); the way Spawn's black costume appears and connects to his body is nice. The blue clown demon Violator seemed to be awful when I saw images of him before watching the movie; after watching it for the first time I thought it not good, but still the best thing in the film; now I consider him a very funny and interesting character.

TheMovieDoctorful The '90s were NOT a good time for comic book movies. The comic book movie was a genre in its infancy and, like all infants, it was stupid...REALLY stupid. As much as people hated Josh Trank's "Fant4stic", I would give that film an Oscar before sitting through garbage like "Captain America 1990", "Batman Forever", "The Phantom", "Steel" or "Batman & Robin" EVER again. With that being said, there was ONE superhero movie released in 1997 that, although it may not have achieved TOTAL greatness, came closer to achieving it than any superhero film pre-2003. That film? Mark Dippe's "Spawn." Yes, I enjoyed "X-Men" and the Burton "Batman" movies, Sam Raimi's first "Spider-Man" movie was a lotta fun, and while I don't consider "Blade" a GOOD movie persay, it IS something of a guilty pleasure. "Spawn" is the only superhero film pre-2003 that I flat out LOVED with every fiber of my being.I will admit that the movie is not perfect. Martin Sheen is REALLY silly as Jason Wynn. Everything from his dorky bow-tie to his rosy red cheeks to his chubby figure is just comical. His voice sounds like a bad Captain Planet villain and he's got a cringe-worthy evil laugh to boot. Not to mention, his character makes decisions so stupid and nonsensical I'm surprised The Three Stooges haven't drafted him into their ranks. I will also say that while I can forgive the CGI for Hell, as the initial design is at the very least artistically unique and the effects team only had two weeks to animate it, the CGI for the devil Malebolgia is truly abysmal. Putting it as nicely as possible, he looks like something out of a late 90s video game. The dialogue is something of a mixed bag. While there are some lines I can't defend ("If you won't lead my army, then you must DIE!" says Malebolgia. "NEVER!" replies Spawn), when the dialogue works, it can be both hysterically funny ("How come God hogs up all the good followers and we get all the retards?!") and surprisingly meaningful and touching. ("Your vengeance. Their pain. Wynn, Wanda, none of them are worth the cost.")Apart from the CGI of Malebolgia, the effects of "Spawn" are incredibly impressive. The makeup effects and costume design for Spawn look spectacular, and John Leguizamo isn't even recognizable underneath all his makeup. The CGI tends to get a lot of flack these days, but much of it is quite impressive for the time. Spawn's flying cape and retractable chains still hold up to this day, and The Violator's transformation from clown to demon form is as visually stunning as it is shocking. No wonder it took multiple months to complete!Sheen aside, the film's fantastic performances make up for the inconsistent dialogue. Michael Jai White as Al Simmons is hands down my favorite superhero (Not comic book character, but superhero) performance of all time. He brings real emotional weight, sincerity and humanity to a role that many actors would have just growled and grumbled through. His amazing facial acting (Even through all that makeup) and screams of torment in his scenes mourning his life with his former wife Wanda bring a depth and tragedy to the character of Spawn that make him incredibly sympathetic and easy to root for. In particular, the scene in which Al first encounters Wanda as a Hellspawn on her daughter's birthday party shows that Jai White was born to play this role. It's one of the saddest scenes in superhero movie history, and that's due in large part to Jai White's performance.John Leguizamo is almost as impressive as The Violator. This is a tough role that requires an actor who not only has comedic timing, but can step up his game to deliver some genuine terror when needed. Leguizamo does both of these flawlessly, bringing absolutely perfect comedic timing to already hilarious lines while being downright horrifying when the film requires him to be. The scene where he threatens to devour Al's wife Wanda, licking his lips as he does so, is downright chilling to watch.Nicol Williamson does an excellent job as Cogliostro, the former Hellspawn who forces Al Simmons to face his demons and the consequences of his actions. Williamson brings wisdom and experience to the role of Cogliostro, as well as enough humanity to emphasize that he knows exactly how Spawn's suffering and pain feels.One reviewer on IMDb claimed that Dippe's "Spawn" removed "any philosophical underpinnings of the character." I respectfully but totally disagree. The film has very deep and meaningful themes on how even the smallest of choices can have the most severe consequences and how sometimes, we must put what others need over what we want. "Spawn" is very much a story of unconditional love. Al Simmons, a seemingly good person who has merely made terrible mistakes, must learn to look past his own hate (For both his murderer, Jason Wynn, and himself) and desire for vengeance against the man who took everything from him to protect and honor the woman he loves most. It's a well written, tragic story of man's conflict between his capacity for hatred and his capacity for love. Would the movie have been deeper and more emotional with a longer run-time and a couple more character scenes? Absolutely. But what we get is still a tragic, smart and emotional movie in its own right with character scenes far superior to any other comic book movie pre-2003."Spawn" is not perfect, and admiteddly could have been even better. Lord knows that a longer run-time, a better Jason Wynn and less cringey dialogue would have vastly improved its quality. That said, it's well acted, exciting, funny when it wants to be and emotional when it tries to be. It was a homerun in an era where nearly every comic book movie was a strikeout and is the FARTHEST thing from "bad."

The Grand Master I hadn't heard much about Spawn previously until the movie was released in 1997. The trailer promised a lot of awesome action and it looked as if a new superhero would gain another following on cinema. Unfortunately (or just as well) I missed out on watching it at the cinema but once it was released on home video I grabbed it with both hands. I felt cheated that Spawn was a bad experience from start to finish. It was a visual effects mess that hurt my eyes and the story was not interesting.Black Ops soldier and assassin Al Simmons (Michael Jai White, Exit Wounds) is double-crossed while on a mission and murdered by his evil boss Jason Wynn (Martin Sheen, The Departed) and another fellow assassin Jessica Priest (Melinda Clarke, The O.C.). While in hell Al makes a deal with the devil and returns to earth as Spawn to see his wife Wanda (Theresa Randle, Bad Boys) who moved on after his death. Spawn is ordered by the devil's minion, The Clown (John Leguizamo, Executive Decision), to kill Wynn. Wynn is also secretly conspiring with The Clown to unleash a deadly virus onto the world and wipe out all of mankind.I have nothing against Michael Jai White as Al Simmons/Spawn who I felt did his best. He could have been another actor that earned himself a spot right up there with spectacular martial artists such as Jean Claude Van Damme, Steven Seagal, and Dolph Lundgren. Instead, Michael Jai White finds himself as an actor with a cult following with middling direct to DVD movies.Martin Sheen made a decent villain but this is one movie I certainly won't remember him for.John Leguizamo as The Clown was one of the worst characters I have had the misfortune to endure. He was extremely irritating and his appearance got on my nerves.Spawn was a waste of time and a forgettable experience. It's a total shame that the trailer promised so much yet the movie failed to deliver. What a pity.2/10.