Not Much Change Is a Good Thing for ‘Spawn’ Fans

TUSTIN — In “Spawn,” a dead soldier is reborn as a body-changing superhero faced with the choice of doing good or evil. He opts for good, along the way exacting revenge on the bad guys who killed him in the first place. Rated PG-13.

The verdict was clear: Spawn would have no trouble slapping Batman around. As for Robin, that little twit wouldn’t have a chance against this latest comic-book-to-screen superhero.

How did the disappointing “Batman and Robin” stand up to “Spawn”? Again, no contest.

“Spawn” was “a lot better,” said 13-year-old Randy Possner of Tustin. “A lot better fights and action.”

“Spawn” is a far moodier movie than “Batman and Robin,” which, despite opening to much fanfare earlier this summer, stalled under the weight of lame jokiness. Randy said the darker tones surrounding “Spawn” made for a more compelling flick.

He especially liked how the hero was so tortured (before becoming Spawn, he’s burned to death and spends a few hours in hell) and that the movie-makers closely followed the popular comic book on which the film is based.

Randy, a longtime fan of the comic, said he wondered if he’d recognize the hero because “sometimes they screw up [and] change them too much.”

Not this time. Todd Mathis, 15, of Santa Ana agreed: “It was just like the comic, [and] it looked like it too. Very intense.”

Both boys applauded the computer effects, which are often startling. Spawn’s body keeps changing shapes, which the film’s creators show dramatically and convincingly.

Randy and Todd were fascinated by the chains that fly out of Spawn’s body to ensnare an enemy or save him from a fall. Deadly spikes also shoot from his head, back--and you name it--whenever he wants. For a final touch, Spawn can become part of anything he’s near, like a wall.

“How could you fight something like that? He’s awesome,” Randy decided.

Many boys also liked Spawn’s nemesis, the Clown. He’s ugly, huge and great at trash-talking. And, besides a mime, what’s scarier than an in-your-face clown? Plus, this clown can change into a dragon-like monster the size of a small office building.

“I loved when he did that,” said Danny DiGiacinto, 11, of Tustin. “He was big and creepy.”

Danny was also thrilled by the scenes in hell, where Spawn confronts Satan. The landscape looks like a swirling mass of lava, peopled by lost souls and a gigantic devil with a beast face and Don King hair.

Danny, who wasn’t familiar with the comic book, did admit to being confused by the plot, which begins with Satan sending Spawn back to Earth to help him destroy it. Danny had a hard time putting that part of the story together with Spawn’s need to avenge his murder by his former boss, the corrupt head of a CIA-like organization.

Kathy Mayberry, 14, of Irvine had the same problem.

“None of it made much sense to me. . . . I couldn’t really get into it because of that.”

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Parent Perspective: Though the violence is comic-book stylized and not terribly bloody (the Clown does bleed, but it’s green ectoplasmic goo), Cynthia Smith said the movie was too disturbing for her 10-year-old, Tim.

“It was very intense,” said Smith, 33, of Tustin. “It didn’t look so bad [on the movie trailers], and he kept begging me to take him. I think that might have been a mistake.”

No way, said Robert Hernandez, 38, of Anaheim. He took his teenage sons, Robert Jr. and Albert, and thought “Spawn” was tame by genre standards.

“This one wasn’t a big deal at all,” he said. “There were some battles and the like, [but] it wasn’t like everybody got killed, just blown away. It was more like a fantasy.”

* FAMILY FILMGOER, Page 18