First Teaser Trailer Up for Frank Miller's "The Spirit"

After seeing only stills thus far, we finally have an idea of what Frank Miller's adaptation of Will Eisner's The Spirit will look like -- apparently, not that different than Sin City. The teaser is fairly short, and we only get to see the titular hero, but it's enough to give me doubts about Miller's decision to adopt the same look Robert Rodriguez developed for Sin City.

Sure, the material is similarly noirish, but the look in no way reflects Eisner's original style. It also seems to me that forcing the harsh black/white/extreme color style on the film devalues The Spirit's individuality -- general audiences will assume it's just a Sin City sequel or spinoff.

And to move beyond my philosophical issues with Miller's decisions, it also seems as if he's doing a poor job of keeping the live actors attached to the digital world. I'm all for superhero-esque flourishes, but there's definitely something missing in the way the Spirit manuevers throughout the film's digital sets. Sin City for the most part avoided this problem by making most of it's characters interact with the world in a semi-believable way. Unfortunately, that seems to be lacking in this teaser.

I'll surely reserve full judgement until its eventual January 16, 2009 release, but for now I can't help but think this project may be doomed despite its impressive cast. You can judge for yourself by viewing the trailer below, or in HD at the MTV Movies Blog.

 [Source MTV via Slashfilm]