Dom Robinson reviews

Cat.no: EDV 9002

Cert: 15

Running time: 95 minutes

Year: 1997

Pressing: 1999

Region(s): 2 (UK PAL)

Chapters: 24

Sound: Dolby Digital 2.0 (Dolby Surround)

Languages: English

Subtitles: English

Widescreen: 1.85:1

16:9-enhanced: No

Macrovision: No

Disc Format: DVD 9

Price: £19.99

Extras : Scene index, trailer, 'making of' featurette, Todd McFarlane interview, music video, director's commentary track.

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Director:

Mark A.Z. Dippe

Producer:

Clint Goldman

Screenplay:

Alan McElroy

Music:

Graeme Revell

Cast:

Al Simmons/Spawn: Michael Jai White (City of Industry, Tyson: The True Story, Universal Soldier, Universal Soldier: The Return)
Clown: John Leguizamo (Executive Decision, The Fan, Romeo and Juliet, Super Mario Brothers, To Wong Foo...)
Jason Wynn: Martin Sheen (Apocalypse Now, Badlands, Firestarter, Gandhi, Gettysburg, Hear No Evil, Hostile Waters, Roswell, Storm, Wall Street, TV: Babylon 5)
Wanda Blake: Theresa Randle (Bad Boys, Beverly Hills Cop 3, Girl 6, Sugar Hill)
Cogliostro: Nicol Williamson (Black Widow, Excalibur, Exorcist III, The Hour of the Pig, Venom, Wind in the Willows)
Terry Fitzgerald: D.B. Sweeney (The Cutting Edge, Fire in the Sky, Hear No Evil, Memphis Belle)
Jessica Priest: Melinda Clarke (Killer Tongue)

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However, killing Wynn won't be quite that easy. Like most movie villains, he has a plan for world domination which involves making threats and killing anyone who gets in his way. He has developed the Heat-16 virus bomb, a device powerful enough to kill the entire population of Earth and he's not afraid to use it. In fact, Wynn proclaims :

Hence, Al will have his work cut out as Spawn because after being sent to Hell when death comes calling, he must agree to lead Hell's army and kill Wynn just to see his beloved Wanda again. Just to make his job harder is Hell's representative, Clown (a completely unrecognisable John Leguizamo), who tries to goad Spawn into committing just one more sin and then Spawn's soul will go to hell - permanently. About the only one on Spawn's side is Cogliostro (Nicol Williamson) who acts as his mentor and helps him as best as he can. Finally, D.B. Sweeney, lends support as Al's colleague Terry Fitzgerald, but he's not quite all he seems at first. Curiously, his character's name and that of the dog in the film, Spaz, appear to be the name and nickname, respectively, of two of the crew working on the film. Coincidence or intention ?

Even super-heroes can
have chip-pan fire problems.

There's a fair bit of violence in this film, but there was less in the 12-certificate cinema release. When it reached video, the BBFC agreed to two versions coming out to rent - the same version in pan-and-scan as well as a 15-cert Director's Cut, also in pan-and-scan, which added approximately a minute to the running time. Both versions were also available to buy six months later, with a widescreen version being released for the director's cut.

The question I want to ask is, since EiV would have to pay the full whack to the BBFC for the 12-cert rental video and the 15-cert pan-and-scan version, the widescreen equivalent costing exactly half of that to certify, why did they waste their money when most 12-year-olds will still get to see the higher-rated edition either due to video rental shops doing what they shouldn't and allowing them to rent it, or getting their parents/elder siblings to do it for them. That extra money could have been put towards an anamorphic print...

However, the most 'offensive' moment comes when Clown is seen eating a piece of pizza topped with grubs. Bleah! On the other hand, there are plenty of one-liners from this mostly-annoying creature, including one that Sheen is sure to recognise :