A new superhero is born

He can’t fly. He can’t read minds. He’s not your ordinary superhero. But he has been born again to save the city from crime. From Frank Miller, the visionary creator of Sin City and 300, comes the action-adventure The Spirit.

Director Frank Miller takes the comic book movie to dazzling new heights with his solo directorial debut. Adapted from the classic comic series by Will Eisner, the movie fuses masterful storytelling with brilliant CGI graphics to sweep us into a stylized world of adventure, danger and romance.

The Spirit is the story of Denny Colt (Gabriel Macht — Because I Said So, The Recruit, Behind Enemy Lines), a murdered cop mysteriously reborn as the masked crime fighter called the Spirit. Determined to keep his beloved Central City safe, the Spirit pursues Central City’s villains from the shadows and seeks to remove the worst of them all: The psychotic megalomaniac Octopus (Samuel L. Jackson — Snakes on a Plane, Star Wars). Yet as busy as his ongoing mission keeps him, the dashing crusader always manages to make time for beautiful women, though he never quite knows if they want to seduce, love or kill him. But there is one lady who will never betray him and to whom he will always be true: Central City, the proud old metropolis where he was born — twice.

The movie brings together two visionaries in the art of graphic storytelling: Miller, the creator of such edgy contemporary classics as Sin City, 300, and The Dark Night Returns, and Eisner, a pioneer of the modern American comic book. Eisner broke the comic book mold when he introduced The Spirit in 1940; now Miller achieves a similar feat with The Spirit, a comic book movie that looks like no other before it.

In bringing the comic series to the screen, Miller has recruited a dynamic cast of major stars and upcomers. As the titular hero, Gabriel turns in a star-making performance that harkens back to the golden era of Hollywood leading men. He is joined by Samuel L. Jackson as the fiendish Octopus; Scarlett Johansson (The Nanny Diaries, The Prestige, Lost in Translation) as the Octopus’ sidekick; the brilliant, frostly Silken Floss and Eva Mendes (Training Day, We Own The Night, Ghost Rider) as seductive jewel thief Sand Saref.

Released by Viva International Pictures, The Spirit also stars Sarah Paulson as the Spirit’s stalwart sweetheart Dr. Ellen Dolan; Jaime King as Lorelei, a bewitching underwater phantom; Paz Vega as the mad, knife-wielding dancer Plaster of Paris; Dan Lauria as the hand-boiled Commissioner Dolan; Stana Katic as Morgenstern, an enthusiastic young cop; and Louis Lombardi in multiple roles as the Octopus’ cloned brotherhood of henchmen.