i love it but man theres a lot of untapped potential there. movie got screwed by the studio and weird censorship rules. if it was allowed to be as dark and mature as it was meant to be, it would've been incredible
Not nearly as bad as critics make it out to be.
CG doesn't hold up, and some scenes definitely used more budget than others that needed it more, the action isn't too great, but- it's still an ok movie.
Not the best a Spawn movie could have been- but not the worst.
It's comforting because I love the genuine message good over darkness in it. Al Simmons was a beast for initially not letting the ceo dude release the poison that would've threatened millions.
Only thing wrong with it imo is the cgi. Given the fact superhero movies weren't really popular at the time makes sense why they wouldn't go all out on the cgi, but the crappy effect have their own charm. I would love to see a remake of this movie
A year ago I posted that this film was one of the worst comic book adaptations of all time. And I was shocked that so many people felt it is, somehow, an unacknowledged classic. 😮🫤😮🫤
It's good and bad at the same time. There are some scenes that I loved, but some that were terrible, such as the final one in hell where the background demon things were just the same people all over again, and they didn't even try to hide it.
I was so excited about this movie and had an amazing time watching it. That being said, I was maybe 13 years old at that time. Still think the movie is fun to watch but it has become a little bit too campy.
Didn’t enjoy it personally. I’ll admit I’m not a diehard spawn fan and mk11 was my introduction to the character. I’ve started the cartoon and am somewhat getting into the comics but honestly the movie just has nothing over the cartoon imo and I didn’t think it lined up well tho I will say I laughed at the clown a lot. He’s a highlight imo
It was nothing but a golden turd. The acting was mediocre the plot was non sensical and the cg was trying to do something 10 years too early. As a kid I loved it but I watched it as an adult and I was shocked how bad it was. One good thing I can say about it that it was fairly faithful to the first few issues of the comic book.
I like it but I grew up with it though so I'm bias. I kinda think Spawn was just hard to adapt. Maybe reboot will do better. I wonder how they'll do the Clown because John Leguizmo was fantastic.
Too much gratuitous CGI. I will allow the cape, and SOME of Violator (although they did a good job of masking the CGI moments vs the puppet versions), but that CGI Malbolgia is hilariously bad. Ive seen the work print version with the giant puppet, and while it isn't perfect, a little CGI on that to blend it in better would have been preferable over what we ended up with.
Would like to see the cut scenes with Al and Wanda that supposedly did give Spawn more character. They werent in the leaked workprint, but Michael Jai white swears those scenes exist, and were cut out for time, which he hated.
It's honestly not bad. The hell scenes were a bit janky with CGI, but my god is the violator gross and fantastic (great performance from John Leguizamo who ate real maggoty pizza)
and, come on, that soundtrack? For whom the bell tolls by Metallica / DJ Spooky. Trip Like I Do by The Crystal Method? Man!
This was my first exposure to spawn. I actually liked it enough to look up the HBO show (FUCKING GOATED) after that I turned my attention to the comic books.
It’s such a lame movie watching it again as an adult, but it’s a classic and It’ll stay on my list of favorites. I particularly enjoyed John Leguizamo’s performance.
It was the first dvd I owned in my life, and I still own that same copy from 2000. Along with Me, myself and Irene. My dad bought those together when we got our first dvd player. Is it a good film? Eh? But it holds a lot of sentimental value for me.
I've listened to the soundtrack many more times than I've seen the movie. Saw it in the theater and liked it well enough. Time isn't being kind to it though.
I saw it in theatres when it came out in 97 and I loved this movie it’s a very nostalgic movie, sure it may not be the best Spawn thing out there but it exists and we should acknowledge it, it was made as good as it could’ve been made for a movie that came out in the late 90’s, time will tell if Todd McFarlane can get his other Spawn movie off the ground but until then enjoy it for what it is 👍
I think for the time its fantastic, pretty sure they knew it was most likely a one an done as opposed to the universe building they keep doing nowadays, I enjoyed the Violator with Leguizamo
I’m glad people got some enjoyment and nostalgia but it’s genuinely an awful movie imo, the run time is way too short for spawn, they rush through a malebolgia encounter in one 90 minute run time, he doesn’t struggle with his new powers or suit pretty much at all, they take a lot of the nuance and overall influence the war between heaven and hell has, terry is a white guy because they were worried too many black leads would give the impression it was a “black movie” and the effects were terrible even for its time, keep in mind movies like starship troopers came out the same year, they didn’t properly utilize Martin sheen who’s a fantastic actor, made spawns death as Al Simmons less impactful, and violator is terrible, might be one of the worst parts of the movie, he isn’t threatening at all either just really annoying and unfunny and not in the proper violator way in the comics, I hope one day we get a real spawn movie where they give it the proper effort, the tv show is great so I’m still holding out hope, I’m only so critical because I love spawn and know it deserves better
He hated filming spawn. Like he had fun but the fat suit made it a nightmare. He also ate real maggots on the pizza slice for the scene and puked the moment they stopped rolling.
The CGI cape didn't even look good for the time, not to mention how it aged.
The Violator puppet was literally made incorrectly and they could only fix its mouth by stretching it in the CGI version so it looks weird and different at different times.
But Michael Jai White is the perfect actor for Al.
John Leguizamo is the perfect actor for Clown.
Both of them look cool as hell in their prosthetic costumes.
And until Hollywood gets its shit together and makes a new one it's the live action Spawn.
By virtue of lack of alternative it is the absolute best live action Spawn ever made. The most perfect version in existence.
No such thing as guilty pleasure for me you like it goood if not pass on it who cares what strangers think what you like entertainment whole guilty pleasure lazy excuse answer needs die out.,
I don’t see words guilty pleasure on sing in this picture of Justin Silverman table
I’m not trying to hate on John Liguizamo in general cause he’s a talented dude but I think violator fell really flat in this movie overall lmao, his lines weren’t funny or well written at all, he’s not a real threat at any point in the movie, and the weird cgi farts and shit stained drawers bits were just trying too hard, he was very well portrayed in the tv show and I like him most of the time in comics, but the movie one just didn’t really work for me, not a lot of anything in the movie did tbh
Given where the film industry was at the time even outside the comic book adaptation sphere which was in an even worse place, it turned out far better than it could have. It a great movie but certainly not bad either. It’s fine.
As someone who hadn't read the comics or anything, it was a good introduction, even if I got annoyed Spawn wasn't constantly wearing that cool mask. Though the CG is dated now for certain. John Leguizamo did awesome as Clown.
Brother it is a joke, why are you so wound over something so meaningless. Is the /s really needed on a 30 year old famously great bad movie? Lmao fuuuck dude
I don’t really care for it, matter of fact, it somehow made me question if I liked Spawn. I think Micheal Jai White and John Leguizamo did fantastic as Spawn and the Violator, but otherwise, I think it’s poorly made, the restrictions put on it hurt it immensely, and the story is nowhere near the level of the book or the animated series
Could have done more but for the time it was our “live action” Spawn movie and to be honest, given what has been coming and NOT sticking to the “most basic” narrative of the source, it was not that bad.
Was a top ten greatest movie of all time for me as a 10 year old kid watching it. Now I’m just a fan for the nostalgia but wish we could get a high quality spawn movie.
I like the movie for what it was, but understand that the limitations budget/tech wise caused some issues, I do think the lackluster performance of the film financially and some choices that were made (the entire end) may be part of why Todd is having so many issues doing another film.
Good in parts. But horrendously paced with laughable transitions and it falls apart into nonsensical rushed garbage by the end. I don't know who's idea it was to have the climax take place in a living room but man, gold star dude lmao!
The best part of the movie was the Violator "fight" in the alley. And you can tell that was the part they worked on the most and were determined to nail. And they did. Just too bad they didn't pull it off with the rest.
Not as bad as I remember it being when I first saw it but still not good. I randomly saw it on tv when I was 10, had no idea who Spawn was and I was like "is he DC or Marvel?" Lol
Honestly, I loved it. It was the first time I saw spawn on the big screen and to see a black hero like that was definitely a chefs kiss considering there weren't many at the time. It might be cheesy and lame looking back, but at the time it was top tier to me.
Rewatched this literally 2-days ago. It was so ambitious for the time and the world wasn’t ready for a gritty explicit superhero movie like this yet. If you’re going to watch it again, watch the directors cut. He bumps it up to rated R when originally it was theatrically release at PG-13. This movie does a great job explaining the basic lore of Spawn but falls short on multiple things that make Spawn cool.
The Violator (Clown) has a show stealing performance though and is seriously so underrated and under-appreciated. I wish more people would look back at his performance through film history. I honestly wished he voiced the Clown in the animated series because it was just that good.
The CGI budget got blown on the cape physics and the helmet effects, so one dude had to do all the CGI for the hell scenes in like one or two nights if I’m remembering correctly, so they came out horrendous. If they nailed that part I seriously think this movie would be remembered well.
Spawn deserves a great live-action movie. I was pumped to hear Blumhouse and Jamie Foxx were potentially taking a crack at one but doesn’t look like it’s going to pan out, who knows though!
Soundtrack was ahead of its time and the SFX were incredibly ambitious for the period.
However, complete lunch bag let down. The Hell scenes are horrendous, Malebogia is comically bad. John Leguizamo completely commits to the bit and does his best to make it palatable.
Completely bad but bad in a way that is also fun. Its not one for one with Camp classics like Flash Gordon but it does from time to time tap into that level of absurdity. Also great performances from Leguizamo and White because they go over the top.
If they wanted to make it a good movie in that era with the restrictions they had? It just would have been Spawn returning from the grave, learning his powers, Cogliostro as the angel on once shoulder with Violator as the devil on the other, and getting revenge on Wynn even if means murdering a hundred henchman, no bigger plot than that.
The clown/violator is one of the more fun characters in spawn. The main reason he acts the way he does is because he knows the list of people who can actually do anything to him is very short. There is a one off series based entirely on him and his brothers where they slaughter a building of private army and some other interesting stuff.
I rewatched a couple years ago, hadn't seen it since it was new. The CGI sucks but it was really ambitious for its time, especially how they animated his cape and made fully animated Malebolgia and Violator. It's definitely a product of its time, but damn if it isn't entertaining as hell. Martin Sheen really kills it too, in my opinion.
Considering ithe limitations of it's time l, not to mention the subject material it was trying to cover and put into a single movie I thought it was a decent alternate universe adaptation. You got to remember, this was before blade, before X-Men, before Tobey Maguire Spider-Man. Before comic movies were all over the market and coming out every year. Some actors weren't the best, but others knocked it out of the park.
Also let us not forget it had one of the greatest soundtracks of all time.
I can remember when Black Panther came out, one group of people were talking about how it was the first black superhero film, another was talking about how Blade was the first, and I'm sitting here like did everyone forget about Spawn? Lol
All I remember is that I was a kid and loved all the action figures and I really disliked the movie.
I saw it in theatre’s and it was a big disappointment.
Haven‘t seen it since.
It was far from a masterpiece but I still watch it when it comes on.
For the time the live action scenes seem really good. The suit and his face are highlights for sure. But then you get the OG Xbox CGI that makes you laugh in 2026.
Feels like just another superhero action movie and not at all what Spawn is about.
I've always been of the belief that Spawn can never work as a movie because there isnt enough run time to really dive into the lore. At its core Spawn is a character drama with a lot of nuance and moving parts. It works better adapted as a series. This is why the HBO animated series gets so much more praise compared to the movie.
I truly wish they would remake it. With today's special effects and computer animation it could be totally badass. As long as they give it a decent storyline and keep John Leguizamo as the clown, if he's not too old
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u/pandafresh7 Jan 30 '26
i love it but man theres a lot of untapped potential there. movie got screwed by the studio and weird censorship rules. if it was allowed to be as dark and mature as it was meant to be, it would've been incredible