Spawn (film)
Spawn, a movie
adaptation of
Todd McFarlane's creator-owned
Image comic book, was released in the United States on
August 1,
1997. The film was directed and co-written by Mark Dippé (a former animator at
ILM) and executive produced by McFarlane and
Alan Blomquist. The movie starred
Michael Jai White as Al Simmons/
Spawn,
John Leguizamo as Al's demonic guide
Violator, veteran
voice actor Frank Welker as
Malebolgia,
Melinda Clarke as the assassin Priest,
Nicol Williamson as Al's mentor
Cogliostro,
Theresa Randle as Al's widow
Wanda Blake,
D.B. Sweeney as Wanda's husband
Terry Fitzgerald, and
Martin Sheen as
Jason Wynn, Al's former government employer.
The premise of the movie is similar to the initial storyline of the original comics. Al Simmons, a military soldier/assassin, has been betrayed by a covert government agency head named Jason Wynn. Wynn orders his top assassin Priest to assassinate him. After Simmons dies, he is immediately transported to
Hell, where Malebolgia, a demonic ruler of the various realms, offers him a
Faustian deal. If Simmons becomes his eternal servant and leader of Hell's army in
Armageddon, he will be able to return to Earth to see his beloved wife, Wanda Blake. Simmons accepts the offer and is transformed into a
Hellspawn, which is a servant of Malebolgia in a
necroplasm suit that is not only a living, breathing creature, but is also his only protection in the world.
Once he returns to the land of the living, Simmons learns that five years had passed. Wanda is now remarried to his best friend Terry and living the life he had always longed for, including the daughter he never knew, Cyan. Along his journey in this new life, he encounters a strange clown-like demon called Violator, who acts as a guide to put Spawn (as Violator calls Simmons) on the path to evil, and a mysterious old man named Cogliostro, who, as a fellow Hellspawn, teaches Al how to control his energy, which is very sparse. Jason Wynn is now a high-class weapons dealer rather than a government bureaucrat. He is also the ultimate target of the Spawn, who doesn't realize that by killing Wynn, he will create the sign that will launch Armageddon. After not killing Wynn, a final battle ensues between Spawn and a transformed Violator, ending with the villain going back to Hell and his reputation is ruined, thanks to his mission failed and Spawn revealing himself to Wanda, Terry, and Cyan before Wynn goes to prison after the bomb inside him is destroyed, having Spawn dedicate himself to justice.
|
The Hellspawn, as seen in the movie. |
Although Al Simmons remained an
African American, some of the characters from the comics were completely changed for the theatrical version of Spawn. Terry Fitzgerald, a Black man in the comics, was a White man in the film while Priest, a White woman in the movie, wasn't the original killer of Al Simmons. Chapel, a Black male
comic book character created by
Rob Liefeld, was the original killer, but since Liefeld and McFarlane severed professional ties, Al Simmons' killer was retrofitted to become Priest, although Chapel remained in the
Spawn (TV series) which premiered on
HBO months before the film was released.
Spawn featured, for its time, impressive special effects courtesy of Industrial Light and Magic. Though critically panned, it was considered a modest box-office success, earning $54.97 million domestically, a little over $69 million worldwide.
A Spawn 2 is thought to be in the works, which should be coming out in 2007. [
1]
There are two versions of the film, the PG-13 version and the R-rated Director's Cut. The Director's Cut is available on DVD with special features such as commentary, a "Making of Spawn" featurette, a Spawn sketch gallery, the original trailer, a preview of "Spawn: The Animated Series" and the music video for Filter and The Crystal Method's "Can't You Trip Like I Do".
* The two detectives that arrest Jason Wynn near the end of the movie are Sam And Twitch, two detectives in the Spawn comic book.
* At the big government meeting, one of the ladies has earrings that look exactly like the Spawn comic book logo and is rumored to be the angelic Spawn-hunter Angela.
