90's Throwback Month - Spawn (1997)
Hey guys, Chuck here. Well, he we are. Today, we'll be looking at the movie that pretty much inspired me to make the month of February 90's Throwback Month this year. A movie that, in my opinion, is the ultimate 90's Throwback movie. That movie is the 1997 comic book movie Spawn.
Based on the comics by Todd McFarlane, this 1997 action flick was directed by Mark A. Z. Dippé. The movie starts with Black Ops agent Al Simmons, who kills a high profile target with a missile, and then returns to his boss, Jason Wynn, to say he's done. Wynn rebuffs this and sends Al on another assignment. However, this assignment is a trap, and Wynn is there, along with Jessica Priest, and the two of them kill Simmons by burning him to death. This ultimately sends Simmons' soul to Hell, where he makes a deal to lead Malebolgia's army in exchange for Malebolgia sending him back to Earth to see his wife, Wanda, one more time.
However, it seems that Malebolgia keeps Simmons in Hell a bit longer than Simmons thought, as he arrives on Earth, and it's five years after Wynn and Priest killed him. Simmons is greeted by an old man named Cogliostro, who offers to help him, but Simmons turns the offer down and returns home. It is there that we see that Wanda is now married to Simmons' best friend, Terry, and the two of them are raising Wanda and Simmons' daughter, Cyan. Simmons is led away from the party by the party clown in attendance. However, it turns out that this is actually Clown, a demon in human form. Clown explains to Simmons what has happened to him, and Simons is enraged to the point that his body is covered by a protective suit powered by a substance called necroplasm. With this suit, and the new name of Spawn, Simmons goes to work seeking his revenge on Wynn and Priest. Simmons eventually kills Priest, but has to escape before he is able to kill Wynn, who eventually has a device placed into his heart that will trigger a device known as the Heat 16 if his heart flatlines.
It is at this point that Clown, under orders from Malebolgia, goes to confront Simmons and send him to kill Wynn, unleashing the Heat 16 on the world. Simmons refuses, and Clown turns into his demonic form of the Violator. After a fight between Simmons and Violator, Violator turns back into Clown and goes off to deal with Wynn. Cogliostro arrives and helps Simmons learn to control his new powers, as his necroplasm suit has many abilities that Simmons can use to his advantage. Simmons, with Cogliostro in tow, heads out to his former home to rescue Wanda, Terry, and Cyan from Wynn and kill him. However, Wynn reveals the trigger in his heart, and Simmons removes it with his powers. Simmons and Cogliostro confront Malebolgia and Violator in Hell, and they make their escape after Simmons declares that he will no longer serve Malebolgia. Simmons beheads Violator, who eventually returns to Hell, and leaves. Wynn, meanwhile, is arrested by two officers, who fans of the comics will recognize as Sam and Twitch, whose role in the comics is much bigger that their two second cameo in the movie. The movie ends with Simmons, as Spawn, perched on a rooftop looking out to protect the people of the city.
Spawn is one of those movies that was both a product of its time and way ahead of its time. By that, I mean the over-the-top action, visual effects, and the story of the movie are very much what one would expect from a late 90's action movie, and the tone, type of comic book character the movie was adapting, and so on were something that most comic book fans weren't quite ready for in 1997. Heck, that was the year that Batman & Robin came out in theaters and pretty much killed superhero movies for good up until X-Men hit theaters in the year 2000. But what most stands out for me about Spawn is the cast. Michael Jai White was perfectly cast as Simmons/Spawn, John Leguizamo was hilarious as Clown/Violator, Nicol Williamson was terrific as Cogliostro, and Martin Sheen was pretty good as Jason Wynn. I also really liked Melinda Clarke as Jessica Priest, who was created for the movie, but later went on to be featured in the comics and eventually, she becomes known as She-Spawn. However, I definitely feel that Frank Welker was the wrong voice actor for Malebolgia, and the visual effects for that character are definitely dated, even by 1997 standards, but the visual effects for things like Spawn's cape and Violator still hold up. Now on top of the Sam and Twitch cameo, which I mentioned before, there is another blink-and-you'll-miss-it cameo in the movie by Angela, who at the time had a major role in the comics, as she was an agent of Heaven who was sent to hunt Spawn down, but they ultimately become allies. Now, much like with Mortal Kombat, the filmmakers released Spawn in theaters with a PG-13. Nowadays, the film is available on Blu-ray as an R-rated director's cut. However, much like with Mortal Kombat, Spawn's PG-13 came as a means to get the fans of the comic, most of whom were teenagers, to see the movie. This would have been almost impossible had the film been R-rated upon release. Overall though, Spawn is a fun, sometimes dark, action flick that got me into reading the comics, and the comics are freaking awesome. As for the movie, I have to give the Spawn movie a rating of 4.25/5. I should point out that Todd McFarlane is working on a reboot of the Spawn movie, which looks to be produced by Blumhouse and star Jamie Foxx as Spawn and Jeremy Renner as Twitch. Well, we'll see what that movie will look like when it gets made. Until next time, though, this is Chuck signing off. See you guys next time when we continue 90's Throwback Month.
Based on the comics by Todd McFarlane, this 1997 action flick was directed by Mark A. Z. Dippé. The movie starts with Black Ops agent Al Simmons, who kills a high profile target with a missile, and then returns to his boss, Jason Wynn, to say he's done. Wynn rebuffs this and sends Al on another assignment. However, this assignment is a trap, and Wynn is there, along with Jessica Priest, and the two of them kill Simmons by burning him to death. This ultimately sends Simmons' soul to Hell, where he makes a deal to lead Malebolgia's army in exchange for Malebolgia sending him back to Earth to see his wife, Wanda, one more time.
However, it seems that Malebolgia keeps Simmons in Hell a bit longer than Simmons thought, as he arrives on Earth, and it's five years after Wynn and Priest killed him. Simmons is greeted by an old man named Cogliostro, who offers to help him, but Simmons turns the offer down and returns home. It is there that we see that Wanda is now married to Simmons' best friend, Terry, and the two of them are raising Wanda and Simmons' daughter, Cyan. Simmons is led away from the party by the party clown in attendance. However, it turns out that this is actually Clown, a demon in human form. Clown explains to Simmons what has happened to him, and Simons is enraged to the point that his body is covered by a protective suit powered by a substance called necroplasm. With this suit, and the new name of Spawn, Simmons goes to work seeking his revenge on Wynn and Priest. Simmons eventually kills Priest, but has to escape before he is able to kill Wynn, who eventually has a device placed into his heart that will trigger a device known as the Heat 16 if his heart flatlines.
It is at this point that Clown, under orders from Malebolgia, goes to confront Simmons and send him to kill Wynn, unleashing the Heat 16 on the world. Simmons refuses, and Clown turns into his demonic form of the Violator. After a fight between Simmons and Violator, Violator turns back into Clown and goes off to deal with Wynn. Cogliostro arrives and helps Simmons learn to control his new powers, as his necroplasm suit has many abilities that Simmons can use to his advantage. Simmons, with Cogliostro in tow, heads out to his former home to rescue Wanda, Terry, and Cyan from Wynn and kill him. However, Wynn reveals the trigger in his heart, and Simmons removes it with his powers. Simmons and Cogliostro confront Malebolgia and Violator in Hell, and they make their escape after Simmons declares that he will no longer serve Malebolgia. Simmons beheads Violator, who eventually returns to Hell, and leaves. Wynn, meanwhile, is arrested by two officers, who fans of the comics will recognize as Sam and Twitch, whose role in the comics is much bigger that their two second cameo in the movie. The movie ends with Simmons, as Spawn, perched on a rooftop looking out to protect the people of the city.
Spawn is one of those movies that was both a product of its time and way ahead of its time. By that, I mean the over-the-top action, visual effects, and the story of the movie are very much what one would expect from a late 90's action movie, and the tone, type of comic book character the movie was adapting, and so on were something that most comic book fans weren't quite ready for in 1997. Heck, that was the year that Batman & Robin came out in theaters and pretty much killed superhero movies for good up until X-Men hit theaters in the year 2000. But what most stands out for me about Spawn is the cast. Michael Jai White was perfectly cast as Simmons/Spawn, John Leguizamo was hilarious as Clown/Violator, Nicol Williamson was terrific as Cogliostro, and Martin Sheen was pretty good as Jason Wynn. I also really liked Melinda Clarke as Jessica Priest, who was created for the movie, but later went on to be featured in the comics and eventually, she becomes known as She-Spawn. However, I definitely feel that Frank Welker was the wrong voice actor for Malebolgia, and the visual effects for that character are definitely dated, even by 1997 standards, but the visual effects for things like Spawn's cape and Violator still hold up. Now on top of the Sam and Twitch cameo, which I mentioned before, there is another blink-and-you'll-miss-it cameo in the movie by Angela, who at the time had a major role in the comics, as she was an agent of Heaven who was sent to hunt Spawn down, but they ultimately become allies. Now, much like with Mortal Kombat, the filmmakers released Spawn in theaters with a PG-13. Nowadays, the film is available on Blu-ray as an R-rated director's cut. However, much like with Mortal Kombat, Spawn's PG-13 came as a means to get the fans of the comic, most of whom were teenagers, to see the movie. This would have been almost impossible had the film been R-rated upon release. Overall though, Spawn is a fun, sometimes dark, action flick that got me into reading the comics, and the comics are freaking awesome. As for the movie, I have to give the Spawn movie a rating of 4.25/5. I should point out that Todd McFarlane is working on a reboot of the Spawn movie, which looks to be produced by Blumhouse and star Jamie Foxx as Spawn and Jeremy Renner as Twitch. Well, we'll see what that movie will look like when it gets made. Until next time, though, this is Chuck signing off. See you guys next time when we continue 90's Throwback Month.
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