Spawn (1997)

They play second fiddle to a flatulent clown and a host of effects, which is not to say Spawn is a bad film. Considering the comic on which it is based relies more on style than substance it's better than many fans could have hoped for.

Arguably better than the similar Darkman but not as good as The Crow, this also treads the mid-ground between Doom and Batman.

The plot is erratic to say the least and dialogue so mumbled that this would have benefited from subtitles. There are no doubt some excellent lines in there somewhere if only you could understand what they were saying.

In a nutshell, super soldier Al Simmons (Michael Jai White) is double crossed by his boss (Sheen) and instead of dying in an explosion, spends five years with old Nick himself.

Fast forward a few years and he is reborn as Spawn, a crispy superhero with a living suit which protects him from bullets, fire and bad dialogue (almost). The scene is set for a showdown of epic proportions and thanks to fast cutting, you rarely get the chance to nod off through slack pacing.

Now call me old fashioned, but when I was a lad 12 year old kids would have had a job getting in to see a movie as violent as this. Maybe it's a sign of the times that the censor is a lot more open minded when it comes to letting scenes of guntoting superheroes go through unharmed.

Sequels are inevitable but I'm not going to plump for the cliche of "by the time they are spawned lets hope the film-makers come up with something a little more original.'

Instead I just hope they spend a little more time working on coherent dialogue, some better effects and that simple thing that makes real movies work - a decent story and a director who knows how to tell it.