The Spawn live action film from 1997 could have been SO much better....

Warning: The Spawn franchise is dark and disturbing. Some clips I show here may not be for kids and may include profanity or disturbing imagery along with possible spoilers for those who have not seen the Spawn film or animated series.

Spawn is a comic book character created in 1991 by the comic book creator and artist Todd

 McFarlane and was one of the biggest characters in Image comics which was formed in the 90s by Marvel comic artists that wanted more control and creative freedom in their work. Spawn was one of the biggest and bestselling image comics in the 90s. and rightfully so the comics are drawn and written beautifully in my opinion. 

Anyway, due to this popularity in the 90s it brought it action figures, collectibles, an adult animated series, and even a movie in 1997! However, I feel that the movie could have been a lot better. Mind you it's not the worst movie but personally as a big fan of Spawn I feel it had a lot more potential to be great if only they went a few different directions then they did....

1. None or much less CGI

I'm not a CGI hater by any means but we can all agree that in the 90s CGI just wasn't quite as advanced as it is now. I know everything has to start somewhere and hey some CGI in the 90s worked. For example, I personally think the CGI in The Mask film from 1994 actually fit the wacky and cartoony exaggeration of the film. However, in the Spawn film it gives me more of a cheesy early 2000s video game vibe. Which I admit I love that old videogame style, but I feel like the Spawn film could have been a lot better with less of it.

I feel like if they replaced some of the CGI with practical effects, puppets, and costumes much like movies of the 80s it would of gave it a much better feel. It's definitely not like they couldn't at the time. I mean look at some of these crazy costumes and puppets from 80s films!

 

Prince of Darkness character 

from the 1985 Legend film

The Skeksis from the 1982 film The Dark Crystal.

Creepy but very fitting for a dark movie like Spawn. Created by the amazing puppeteer Jim Henson!

The Fireys puppets from another Jim Henson film the 1986 film Labyrinth!

This is just a few examples that come to my head but there's a bunch more! These costumes and puppets gave old films a special charm in my opinion. Getting someone like Jim Henson's creature shop to work on a film like Spawn would have been perfect! While I'm sure the name Jim Henson may bring something more child friendly or colorful like Sesame Street or Muppets, but you can't forget that Jim Henson has also created darker films like The Dark Crystal and Labyrinth that I mentioned before. Jim Henson has even worked on films like Star Wars in the 70s and 80s! There were so many different costume artists or groups that could have made the Spawn film look amazing!  

2. A film like Spawn would have probably been better as a Rated R movie... 

The 1997 Spawn film had a PG-13 rating. I know they most likely did that to reach a larger audience among other things but for those who know the subject matter and the overall vibe of Spawn it would of been much more appropriate for it to have a R rating it's just the type of story Spawn is. I am not saying that it has to be super graphic or vulgar, but a more mature rating would give them more freedom to work more closely towards the original comics. 

3. The Cast

Okay so to be honest I don't have to many big complaints about the cast, but I had a few ideas. First of all, while I thought Michael Jai White did an alright job as spawn/Al Simmons and he was a nice fit for the part, but my favorite portrayal of Spawn will always be Keith David who voiced Spawn in the animated Spawn series on HBO in 1997 to 1999. His voice fits with Spawn's character amazingly in my opinion just listen to this! 

I believe he'd do awesome as a live action Spawn as well.

Okay and this one I myself am not sure about but it is a thought that came to my head. 

I thought John Leguizamo was great as the Clown in the Spawn film I don't have many complaints there. However, one other idea I thought about was possibly someone like Danny DeVito. I know it may sound a bit silly, but I thought he was good as the Penguin in the 1992 Batman Returns so he might fit that villain part well. 

These are just some random ideas and thoughts I had about the 90s Spawn movie, and this is just my own opinion. Let me know your thoughts! 😊