It may be hard to remember, but there was a time before the Marvel / DC stranglehold on comic book movies. There was a period post-Tim Burton's Batman and pre-Stephen Norrington's Blade when comic book films actually drew from more underground sources. Works like The Shadow, The Phantom, The Mask, The Crow and, in 1997, Spawn.

Spawn, 1997's New Line Cinema release based on the Todd McFarlane comic books, went on to do poorly critically and commercially, but it has maintained a strong enough fanbase that McFarlane has spent the last twenty or so years trying to reboot the series, and Arrow has given it this UHD restoration.

The film follows the comic's basic storyline that CIA operative Al Simmons (Michael Jai White) is killed on a mission and sent to Hell for his actions. There, the demon Malebolgia makes a deal with Simmons that if he becomes his agent and brings about Armageddon, he can see his wife again.

Spawn is an interesting film – not so much in the writing, which is fairly perfunctory, or in Mark A.Z. Dippé's OTT direction – but in where it stands within the comic-book subgenre. Large chunks of it feel very ripped off of what came before. Much of the design of the crime-ridden streets and the vengeance theme feels like it's taken from Alex Proyas' The Crow (it's no shock to learn Proyas was courted to direct this also). But Tim Burton's two Batman films loom over Spawn even more. The uneasy gothic tone, along with trying to appeal to a wide audience, feels so much like Burton, while John Leguizamo's obnoxiously annoying baddie, Violator, is a cross between Nicholson's Joker and DeVito's Penguin with added farting.

Despite this film coming out the same year as The Lost World: Jurassic Park the visual effects are poorly rendered and overdone. The Hell sequences look like video game cut scenes and the decision to have Frank Welker growl his lines as the demon leader makes it feel even more silly. The film is also so frantic in its pacing while mainly held together by Nicol Williamson's energy-less narration.

It's also interesting that Spawn isn't as remembered as, say, Blade, considering watching this feels like a “copy my homework but change some of it.” Blade so clearly ripped off the techno soundtrack, overblown punches and fight scenes, and it even has a long-haired hobo-looking mentor figure. It's also interesting that years later when Black Panther came around and people asked if you could make a film about a Black superhero no one thought to mention this film.

It's not without some charm, though. The transformation segments and Spawn's costume do look cool – if a little too Hellraiser for its own good – and the techno soundtrack is pretty enjoyable. There's also an admirable attempt by White to imbue a fairly boring lead role with some humanity. Scenes of him trying to hide his facial disfigurement while talking to his daughter have a Frankenstein-like tragedy to it. It also helps that Martin Sheen appears to be enjoying himself as a cigar-chomping villain.

The problem is that the film just never finds its footing. It feels like it wants to be a serious hardcore movie, but also wants to have fart jokes. Spawn is all tragedy and heartache, but Violator wants to take his underwear off and talk about skid marks. The tones never mesh, and it feels like a film that was hacked to pieces by the studio.

No wonder it never spawn-ed a sequel. Back to Hell for you.

Limited Edition 4K UHD Contents and Special features

4K restorations of both the Director's Cut and Theatrical Cut of the film from the original camera negatives by Arrow Films
Reversible sleeve featuring two original artwork options
Illustrated collector's booklet featuring new writing on the film by John Torrani
Double-sided foldout poster featuring two original artwork options

Disc 1 – Director's Cut

4K (2160p) UHD Blu-ray presentation in Dolby Vision (HDR10 compatible)
Original DTS-HD MA 5.1 surround audio and lossless stereo audio options
Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
Brand new audio commentary with comic book expert and podcast host Dave Baxter
Audio commentary with Todd McFarlane, Mark A.Z. Dippé, Clint Goldman, and Steve Williams (1998)
Hell's Perfect Son, a brand new interview with actor Michael Jai White
Spawn Support, a brand new interview with actors Melinda Clarke and D.B. Sweeney
The Devil's in the Details, a brand new interview with animatronic creature and special makeup effects artists Howard Berger and Greg Nicotero
The Devil's Music, a brand new interview with music supervisor Happy Walters
Order Out of Chaos, a brand new interview with editor Michael Knue
Todd McFarlane: Chapter & Verse, an archival featurette from 1998 in which Spawn creator Todd McFarlane reflects on how the film adaptation stacks up against his original comic book vision
The Making of Spawn, archival behind-the-scenes featurette
Preview: Todd McFarlane's Spawn – The Animated Movie
Theatrical trailer
Scene-to-storyboard comparisons
Original Todd McFarlane sketches
Spawn concept and sketch gallery