spawn

i used to love this movie!  i saw it several times on the big screen back in the day when it came out.  i always new it wasnt that great, but i was so obsessed with the comic book that i convinced myself that it was everything i wanted in a spawn movie.  its not.
the story starts with our main character, al simmons, being killed by his double crossing government assassin boss.  then, mysteriously, he wakes up five years later.    the rest of the film is about him coming to terms with what has changed in the last five years and the deal he made to come back.  the comic book its based on is much much better than this film though, where the comic book is subtle and complex, this movie is blatant and simple.  it almost felt like the producers wanted it to be a generic comic book movie, so they just added in all the generic movie tropes that they felt they needed:  bad guy has gravelly voice, bad guy wants to take over the world, a young kid befriends our hero so that we can find him relateable.  none of this is in the comic book, mind you, just in the dumbed down movie.  also, one of the coolest visuals in the comic book is spawn's cape, in the movie it rarely makes an appearance, and when it does it looks super cheesy!  one question i always had about this movie even when i saw it back in the theater:  the devil confronts spawn and threatens him if he doesnt follow through on the plan.  he tells him 'do what you promised or else you will die!'  um, isnt he already dead?  how is that a viable threat?  i know so many things were much 'better' when we were younger, so i think i may have to chalk this one up to the fact that it didnt age well.  remember, at the time this movie came out we didnt have any other comic book movies, so this one was a bit of a rarity!