Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on August 2009

©2008 SPIRIT FILMS, LLC. All Rights Reserved. THE SPIRIT trademark is owned by Will Eisner Studios, Inc. and registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office

Graphic novelist Frank Miller throws away all the points he gained for Sin City and 300 by trying to direct, resulting in this joyless, emotion-free extreme example of style over substance. The reborn title ex-cop, played with stunning blandness by Gabriel Macht, does endless battle for a loveless city with the villainous Octopus, played by a joyously overacting Samuel L. Jackson. Endless because they’re both immortal or something, so what’s the point? Plenty of tits & abs (also Scarlett Johansson and Eva Mendes), but no direction, momentum or rhythm. Or discernable plot, for that matter.