Spawn (1997)

[MarcDickenson 5]

The only reason that I can think of them going PG-13 with this was that as the comic was at its peak with readers, who were early to mid teens, it was parents who were outraged by the content of the comics. So to combat that stigma, they made it PG-13 to appease parents who were already mad while allowing the fans of the comic to be able to talk their parents into letting them see the movie. To be honest, not much was really cut out from the R rated version to this, mainly just blood and I think a couple uses of the f word. The new X-Men was way more violent than what was shown in the R cut of this film.

 

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I guess you never saw the hard-R animated series on HBO from 1997-1999, which everyone liked and came out before this live-action film.. the material was always darker and didn't get approvals from the comic book code, because it was at Image who didn't give a shit.. I forgot all the nudity, the pedophile serial killer and brutal/bloody violence that the PG-13 movie included (not), this material was way too dark for PG-13 and they overlooked a bulk of the material to sell toys, merch and the video games.. it came down to the Batman films making more money from merch than box office, remember R-rated movies still were on a even playing-field with PG and PG-13 movies back in the 80s and 90s, since they weren't spending hundreds of millions on the budgets.. money was the factor, the material did not lend itself to a PG-13 rating..

 

[RyanSz 3140]

Loved the cartoon and still read the comic, which is way out of its prime. The cartoon actually went further with content than the comic in regards to sex and language, but as I said parents seeing that would need to definitely be convinced to take their kids to it. So by making it PG-13, teens could argue "hey it's not going to be that violent or filled with language since it's only PG-13."

[MarcDickenson 5]

Loved the cartoon and still read the comic, which is way out of its prime. The cartoon actually went further with content than the comic in regards to sex and language, but as I said parents seeing that would need to definitely be convinced to take their kids to it. So by making it PG-13, teens could argue "hey it's not going to be that violent or filled with language since it's only PG-13."

 

era of THE CROW and BLADE.. they could have made it R..parents mean nothing, R rated films were cash-cows in the 90s..

[RyanSz 3140]

 

era of THE CROW and BLADE.. they could have made it R..parents mean nothing, R rated films were cash-cows in the 90s..

While Crow made a slight profit, Blade did better but no one really knew it was based on a comic because the character didn't have a comic for quite a while and Snipes' version was very loosely based on the comic. But this article about the how the movie came into production shows that they intended it for PG-13 while trying to maintain its darkness because of a string of R rated comic adaptations, namely Barb-Wire, Tank Girl, and Judge Dredd.

http://articles.latimes.com/1997-01-12/entertainment/ca-17749_1_comic-book

[PlanBFromOuterSpace 3138]

 

While Crow made a slight profit, Blade did better but no one really knew it was based on a comic because the character didn't have a comic for quite a while and Snipes' version was very loosely based on the comic. But this article about the how the movie came into production shows that they intended it for PG-13 while trying to maintain its darkness because of a string of R rated comic adaptations, namely Barb-Wire, Tank Girl, and Judge Dredd.

http://articles.latimes.com/1997-01-12/entertainment/ca-17749_1_comic-book

Comic adaptations outside of Batman were still also a bit of a novelty at that point, and it was kind of the fault of whoever owned the rights of the characters for jumping at the first and/or only deal that came along. I can't imagine there was any kind of bidding war over Barb Wire, and it got the shitty failure of a movie that it deserved. Oh jeez, remember when Rob Liefeld was claiming every so often that one of HIS garbage books would be headed for the big screen? I'd like to think that he's been fine tuning that "Doom's IV" script for 20 years now...

[MarcDickenson 5]

Comic adaptations outside of Batman were still also a bit of a novelty at that point, and it was kind of the fault of whoever owned the rights of the characters for jumping at the first and/or only deal that came along. I can't imagine there was any kind of bidding war over Barb Wire, and it got the shitty failure of a movie that it deserved. Oh jeez, remember when Rob Liefeld was claiming every so often that one of HIS garbage books would be headed for the big screen? I'd like to think that he's been fine tuning that "Doom's IV" script for 20 years now...

 

I think the key with Deadpool is that Rob didn't write it, and talented comedic screenwriters with an understanding of a budget did..also, concerning Deadpool.. David Goyer writer of Blade tried to make the film around the time of Blade: Trinity, when the project wasn't even at Fox..

[PlanBFromOuterSpace 3138]

 

 

I think the key with Deadpool is that Rob didn't write it, and talented comedic screenwriters with an understanding of a budget did..also, concerning Deadpool.. David Goyer writer of Blade tried to make the film around the time of Blade: Trinity, when the project wasn't even at Fox..

Deadpool wasn't in the cards back then, but I was afraid that with it being so huge now, and Liefeld being his co-creator (even though DP wasn't any good until he was long out of the picture) that some of his "original" works would start getting some traction again, which has thankfully not been the case. the extras on the Deadpool blu-Ray are pretty great, and it does go into how Ryan Reynolds was introduced to the character while working on "another movie" or something. It's weird that they don't mention the Blade movie by name.

[RyanSz 3140]

Deadpool wasn't in the cards back then, but I was afraid that with it being so huge now, and Liefeld being his co-creator (even though DP wasn't any good until he was long out of the picture) that some of his "original" works would start getting some traction again, which has thankfully not been the case. the extras on the Deadpool blu-Ray are pretty great, and it does go into how Ryan Reynolds was introduced to the character while working on "another movie" or something. It's weird that they don't mention the Blade movie by name.

Thankfully Liefeld wasn't the original writer for Deadpool, he just stole the look of the character from Deathstroke, so it was up to Fabian Nicieza to write a decent personality for the character. While it was very 90s Xtreme, the first issues of Deadpool had some promise for the future. Liefeld is such an incredible hack and its unfortunate that he's so oblivious he doesn't realize it. When asked about his bad artwork he would go on to say that all of the Image founders were pretty terrible at drawing or writing, please remember that the other founders include McFarlane, Jim Lee, Marc Silvestri, and Whilce Portacio. Also, regarding Blade Trinity, I wasn't surprised that Reynolds didn't want to mention it as it was apparently such a horrible experience, something Patton Oswalt has talked about at various points since it was released.

[ShainaSwedburg 1]

Surprisingly, Roger Ebert praised this film as he gave it three-and-a-half stars out of four, calling it a visual stunner.

 

Guys. Oh no. This was a mistake, but one I don't think I blinked through and gaped at with a half-dropped jaw -- I could actually hear an episode forming around it (mostly every time John Leguizamo appeared -- how is this the same human from Romeo + Juliet that I loved in 1997!?)

 

I've been planning to go to a seasonal screening featuring Blade Runner & Fifth Element, so I *accidentally* started watching Spawn at the beginning of a night shift (1am, when all the best movie mistakes get made) in the spirit of this visual godknowswhat that Roger Ebert was apparently on board for (?!) hahah what a joy. I sincerely hope they watch it someday, even just for their own enjoyment. There's even a Jason of the group, and my the pleated pants and sculpted facial hair. I think I need to go to some sort of rehab after having experienced this film.

[MeghanHarper 1]

Just rewatched this awhile ago and man its pretty terrible.

 

The fight sequence while in hell- couldn't they have changed the colors around, you cant even tell what is going on?

 

Also how is it the CGI in the very last scene is better than anything else in the movie? what, did they do that one first then run out of money?

[Give Me Your Baby 2 22]

.. this also pretty much ruined Michael Jai White's career..

 

 

He deserves so much better. But at least we got Black Dynamite out the deal.

[Jesse Carrigan 119]

Guys, this is on Netflix. Get up on this if you want to see some of the most beautiful nonsense the 1990s could produce.

[Ofcoursemyhorse 1043]

Hearing that giant shitty CGI devil creature say the name Wanda repeatedly was pretty wonderful.

[Give Me Your Baby 2 22]

MJW is so much better than this movie. Watch Blood and Bone to see him kicking all kinds of ass.

[KelseyKing 2]

Yesssssss

[Jordan 0]

An elite mercenary is killed, but comes back from Hell as a reluctant soldier of the Devil.

This film was in the amazing world of early BAD comic movies and has a great combo of strange and disturbing lines (Leguizamo), both B actors (Michael Jai White- love this guy) and hollywood heavy hitters (Martin Sheen and Legz), as well obvious moments where the CGI budget fell way short. That all being said, this is guilty pleasure as far as bad movies go. Loved the comic series but it's very understandable why they are currently rebooting this film with Jamie Foxx. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WukhbpAhvrc

[RyanSz 3140]

http://forum.earwolf.com/topic/55474-spawn-2019/

I already started a topic for the reboot, as it's already sounding like a dumpster fire with McFarlane writing and directing, along with some of the people cast for the bigger roles.

[Ofcoursemyhorse 1043]

Jamie Foxx is a good enough actor that I am genuinely interested to see what he does with the role, that said he's terribly miscast and Bushmaster would have been an infinitely better decision. 

I understand that it was a non decision from the studio's perspective, there wasn't a chance in hell that they would cast a relatively unknown actor instead of Jamie Foxx. But I still think they made a fundamental mistake going for a bit of stunt casting rather than finding someone who really wants to make something out of the role.  

[Jordan 0]

On 8/27/2018 at 6:59 PM, RyanSz said:

http://forum.earwolf.com/topic/55474-spawn-2019/

I already started a topic for the reboot, as it's already sounding like a dumpster fire with McFarlane writing and directing, along with some of the people cast for the bigger roles.

I agree fully that I don't think this reboot is set up to succeed, especially since McFarlane is directing/writing. I am sure I will see it anyway but not expecting it to turn out well haha. 

That all being said, I completely forgot to mention the HBO series in my initial post, which is flippin' great! Definitely griddy and Keith David as the voice of Spawn is perfect. I am hopeful they give this one a go. It really does have such ridiculous scenes and themes to discuss, like the "in hell fight scene with worst CGI ever", "clown shooting a rocket launcher on top of a truck with no driver", "spawn can fly...but needs a motorcycle?", "old man with endless exposition (also the narrator)", and tidbits like Chris Farley (RIP) is at the red carpet of this event for some reason...

I really hope they watch this one!

[NitsujRelis 8]

Rewatched Spawn this week. What a garbage fire.  The trio need to see it!

[Ofcoursemyhorse 1043]

I watched this within the last few months as well, and I was about to come on here and post a minor defense that this movie was released in 1997 so it stands to reason that some of the CGI is of course going to look a bit dated. 

Then I saw what also came out that year, and that defense went right out the window. Movies that also came out the same year as this hunk of garbage include: Titanic, Jurassic Park 2, Fifth Element, Men in Black etc. It's insane how terrible some of the CGI is in this, I can understand having issues with the cape because of how it was animated in the comics and whatnot. But the scenes in hell are fucking next level terrible. Like so bad that when I was playing Phantasmagoria recently, I couldn't believe how similar in quality the CGI was between the two. 

DB Sweeney's character in this almost seems like he wandered in from a different movie. He just seems like such a normal person in a movie otherwise filled with broad caricatures of people.

[RyanSz 3140]

Yeah Sweeney is so miscast in this film, as the comic book character resembles MJW actually, and can carry himself in a fight. Sweeney looks like the dad in every movie who is likely to sue the main character's dad because their kids got in a playground fight. He's basically Travis from Kazaam.

[Ofcoursemyhorse 1043]

It's pretty amazing to think about the fact that D.B. Sweeney was cast because they thought he added diversity to the movie. 

[RyanSz 3140]

Yeah I was legitimately surprised when I read the comic after seeing the movie and seeing that Terry is black, rather than milk white like Sweeney. It also predated Marvel in how they modify their comics now to match up with the movies, as they would retcon Al Simmons being killed by his protege, Chapel, to being killed by Jessica Priest as he was in the movie.

[Ofcoursemyhorse 1043]

They really thought that having the best friend be black would have affected ticket sales, which is stupid to a degree I cannot even put words to it. 

Such a weird choice for them to alter the comics storyline to match this one. It'd be like Dennis Hopper showing up in the next Super Mario game.