SPAWN REVIEW

Trashy "Spawn" is no waste
Comic-book characters romp through a gorefest on-screen in one of summer's delights

By Tim Appelo (as seen in The Oregonian. Used with permission)

"Spawn" might be shameless, artless garbage, but it's the best silly romp of the summer -- more fun and faster on its feet than "Men in Black."

"Spawn" the fihn version of the cult comic book that has sold more than 100 million copies, sure ain't Shakespeare -- though it does show a certain kinship with Bass Luhrmann's recent film "Romeo a Juliet."

Besides a cinematic style that out-rocks MTV videos, "Spawn" shares with Luhrmann's film the invaluable actor John Leguizamo. This time, clownish Leguizamo plays a character named Clown. He has Kiss style makeup and twice as many hideous teeth as anyone has a right to.

Clown holds the movie together. He's like a John Wayne Gacy painting possessed by Michael Keaton's Beetlejuice.

Clown has a dirty job: He must persuade Spawn (Michael Jai White) to lead the armies of hell in the destruction of humanity.

But Spawn is a hard sell. He never wanted to be the scarfaced superhero he has become. He yearns for the good old days when he was just Al Simmons, a regular guy who loved his wife, Wands (Theresa Randle), and worked in the governments covert-actions department.

It turned out that his boss, Jason Wynn (Martin Sheen), was more covert than most and had him killed. Spawn is Simmons' pasthumous form, like a less pretentious version of the hero of "The Crow."

Spawn makes a pact with the devil whose hair makes him look like a Chia pet. The devil lets Spawn leave hell - which is wonderfully imagined in this film - and see his wife one last time, but then he has to destory mankind.

Clown cheerleads Spawn on this mission. Just as Satan was the best character in "Paradise Lost," Clown is hands down the top dog in "Spawn." Spawn himself just seems wishywashy, and Wanda is too dull to be worth the deal.

Clown's antagonist Cogliostro (Nicol Williamson) - who urges Spawn to be nice, beat the devil and master his new brawny, Spawny powers - is like an incredibly boring Yoda, the midget instructor of Luke Skywalker. He dresses in floppy hats and medallions, like an undead fashion plate from the 1960s.

Spawn isn't much of a character, but boy, does he have some cinematic powers! His grandly fluttering cape can turn into an armored car or mimic the building Spawn is stading on, so that police snipers can't find him. He can make chains emanate from his body and do his clanky bidding.

Clown can do way more fun staff - bug his eyes out like Jim Carrey in 'The Mask," turn into an imposing monster, move his severed head around with his muscular tongue - but Spawn is always worth keeping your eye on, too.

No matter how closely you pay attention, you'll probably find the plot confusing. The central dramatic premise (Spawn wants'to kill Martin Sheen to get even, but a trigger implanted in Sheen's heart will bomb the Earth if he dies) is unsatisfying.

But none of the film's ample flaws matters. "Spawn" is a gas, inventive even while it's being derivative, and is a fit, trashy successor to its filmmakers' previous efforts. Director Mark Dippe and effects master Steve "Spaz" Williams handled breakthrough effects in "The Abyss, "Termenator 2" and Jurassic Park," and producer Clint Goldman was as effects supervisor for "The Mask."