ALT.SF4M

  SF4M: A Movie Review of Spawn

   • John Cholewa
     04/08/1997 00:00:000 UTC

     Just saw "Spawn" (the movie) this afternoon. Wasn't as good as I had

     anticipated, but wasn't my personal Hell, either. If you've read the

     comic or seen the cartoon, this is basically the same thing, but made

     a little too much for the kiddies. John Leguizamo gives a wonderful

     performance reminiscent of Jim Carrey's "Mask" while Martin Sheen shows

     his age playing an all too generic ultrarich villain (i.e.."Ha Ha Ha,

     the world will be MINE!").

     The special effects were great at times, but horrible in some scenes (in

     any of the Hell scenes, it looks straight from a video game, not even

     slightly realistic). The costuming was, though, far better than I had

     feared it might be. Luguizamo's writhing contortions made Clown's

     transformation into Violator seem real (this is the kind of thing that

     they should have made the villain in "MIB" do).

     Not much else to say. I was wise enough to avoid Batman & Robin (and

     that's a feat for a guy who sees one or two films a week), so I can't

     give

     you a comparison there. Ummm...the opening credits sucked in this

     movie.

     B&R might've done better there.

     Did I mention Leguizamo was impressive, the high point of the show?

     Well,

     he was. The bottom line is, if he wasn't here, this movie would be

     below

     average, but because he is, the movie is slightly _above_ average (but

     not

     by much).

     Yeah, that pretty much sums it up.

     -JC

     PS: Got any short SF or Fantasy stories you've written recently? I'm

     always collecting submissions for my weekly Forum Newsletter.