Al Simmons,a government assassin played by Michael Jai White, is killed in the line of duty. He makes a deal with the devil, in order to return to earth and see his wife again. Simmons agrees to become Spawn and lead the army of Hell against Heaven. When Al/Spawn returns five years have passed and things are not as he left them. The internal battle for Spawn is not an easy one, does he exact vengeance on his killers and do Hell's bidding or does he embrace his new situation and make the best of it? To complicate matters Hell has sent someone to keep an eye on Spawn. Clown, John Leguizamo, makes life hell for Spawn by constantly pestering and nudging he in the proper direction. White's performance as Simmons/Spawn is average and pales in comparison to Leguizamo's. He was perfect as the Clown, right on with the comic. Hard core fans of the comic will be disappointed, the movie is true to the comic in spirit only. Most of the things in the comic have be changed if only slightly. Seeing as McFarlane, the creator of the comic, was a producer I guess this is the best we could expect. The special effects were very well done with the exception of the final scene in Hell, there were way too many things going on and none of it was very good. This is also a short movie, if more time had been taken to develop the characters the movie would have been better. You hardly have time to get the names straight before everyone is thrown into the mix. This is a good movie but it is nowhere near the level of the comic book.
