1997 was not a good year for superhero films – Batman & Robin – the fourth film in the franchise that had started with Tim Burton’s version was a camp malfunction that would stop the franchise temporarily in its tracks until Christopher Nolan took over. But released the same year was Spawn a far less well known superhero that was more of an anti-hero.
The film saw Al Simmons (Michael Jai White) a top-tier Black Ops agent, ruthlessly efficient and fiercely loyal—until he’s double crossed and executed by his commanding officer, Jason Wynn (Martin Sheen). But Simmons is resurrected by the devil Malebolgia and becomes Spawn, a demonic antihero with terrifying powers. Caught between Earth and the Underworld, Spawn is determined to exact bloody revenge on Wynn, and must choose to serve his new infernal masters or fight for the salvation of his immortal soul.
It was quite a departure and a bit of a gamble for the genre more used to Batman and Superman and was far darker and for some a little uncomfortable that it dealt with demonic entities and visions of Hell in what was a comic book format. But perhaps it’s really notable contribution to the genre was the casting for the first time of a black man in a lead role in a comic book adaptation and it was martial arts maestro Michael Jai White who was bestowed the honour. But it would not be a comfortable experience for him primarily because of the hours it took to apply his make up and body suit albeit by Oscar winning make up marvels Howard Berger and Greg Nicotero. The pair relished the opportunity to create a range of terrific make ups the best being being John Leguizamo’s Clown, a fat demonic entity that followed Spawn with instructions from their Hellish master. But as impressive as the make up undoubtedly was it was an irritating character that annoyed audiences more than any other in the film.
It was also an age when CGI was coming into its own. After Terminator 2 and Jurassic Park had demonstrated just how good a tool it could be films started to embrace the technology and here it created fiery Hellscapes but more impressively Spawn’s cloak , a slick whirling entity that replaced the one built by Berger & Nicotero which could not replicate the swirling cape as that which CGI could so impressively render.
Alongside White were respected actors that included Martin Sheen as the villain of the piece in a role that he accepted as he wanted to appear in a comic book film. Of equal calibre would be Nicol Williamson as a sort of narrator / guide to the story in what would be his last film that would be directed by Mark A. Z .Dippe in his directorial debut. A former visual effects man who had worked on The Abyss, T2 and Jurassic Park he had a handle on what the film would require from a technical point. But the films modest budget would soon be eaten up by the extensive visual effects which were so involved that several shots were not finalized until a few weeks before the films’ release by which time the films budget had already doubled to $40m to accommodate the cost of them.
Released on 1st August 1997 the film garnered less than stellar reviews and the film earned $87m at the box office meaning that the planned for sequels were binned although rumours of a reboot have seen a script in development hell for decades.
Whilst that rumbles on we have a Spawn limited edition blu-ray that sees both the theatrical and a longer directors cut although this longer version is really more of extended scenes as the theatrical version had cuts made here and there to tone down some of the imagery and violence to get a more family friendly certificate.
Those bonus features are as follows:
LIMITED EDITION BLU-RAY CONTENTS
• 4K restorations of both the Director’s Cut and Theatrical Cut of the film from the original camera negatives by Arrow Films
• Reversible sleeve featuring two original artwork options
• Illustrated collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film by John Torrani
• Double-sided foldout poster featuring two original artwork options
DISC 1 – DIRECTOR’S CUT
• High Definition (1080p) Blu-ray presentation
• Original DTS-HD MA 5.1 surround audio and lossless stereo audio options
• Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
• Brand new audio commentary with comic book expert and podcast host Dave Baxter
• Audio commentary with Todd McFarlane, Mark A.Z. Dippé, Clint Goldman, and Steve Williams (1998)
• Hell’s Perfect Son, a brand new interview with actor Michael Jai White
• Spawn Support, a brand new interview with actors Melinda Clarke and D.B. Sweeney
• The Devil’s in the Details, a brand new interview with animatronic creature and special makeup effects artists Howard Berger and Greg Nicotero
• The Devil’s Music, a brand new interview with music supervisor Happy Walters
• Order Out of Chaos, a brand new interview with editor Michael Knue
• Todd McFarlane: Chapter & Verse, an archival featurette from 1998 in which Spawn creator Todd McFarlane reflects on how the film adaptation stacks up against his original comic book vision
• The Making of Spawn, archival behind-the-scenes featurette
• Preview: Todd McFarlane’s Spawn – The Animated Movie
• Theatrical trailer
• Scene-to-storyboard comparisons
• Original Todd McFarlane sketches
• Spawn concept and sketch gallery
DISC 2 – THEATRICAL CUT
• High Definition (1080p) Blu-ray presentation
• Original DTS-HD MA 5.1 surround audio and lossless stereo audio options
• Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
This limited edition is something of a must for fans of the film as there are a number of features that are very good most notably the directors commentary as are the interviews with Michael Jai White and several of the cast and crew. Especially good is the chat with FX geniuses Howard Berger & Greg Nicoterro whose expertise and enthusiasms for their work on the film shines through. All of these feature give an insight into what was ultimately a flawed project almost from the start and suggests that with technology as it is today a reboot and a brave studio could make this a viable and profitable project.
related feature : Oscar winning make up genius Howard Berger talks about ‘From Dusk til Dawn’ with Tarantino
related feature : What the power of the uberfan has done to superhero films……
Here’s the Spawn trailer…….
