Now Showing: The Spectre

 

The Spectre

Genre: Supernatural / Thriller / Superhero

Director: Michael Sarnoski

Writer: John Malone

Based on DC Comics characters

Cast: Nicolas Cage, Marlon Wayans, Marton Csokas, Heather Graham, Adam Goldberg, Stefanie Scott, David Meunier, Michael Berryman

Plot: Mardi Gras is in full-swing on the bustling streets of St. Roch, Louisiana. Detectives Jim Corrigan (Nicolas Cage) and Waylon Grant (Marlon Wayans) sit in their unmarked police cruiser waiting for a meeting with a confidential informant. Corrigan anxiously looks at his watch several times, eventually causing Grant to comment. Corrigan tells Grant that he has an anniversary dinner planned with his wife soon and he promised he wouldn’t be late. Grant asks how long he’s been married now, and Corrigan says 15 good years and 25 years total. Grant laughs as their informant, low-level fence Louis Snipe (Adam Goldberg) gets into the backseat of the cruiser. Corrigan gruffly tells Snipe that he better have something good for them. Snipe tells them that he just got word of a big buy that is happening that night - in just 30 minutes - down at the docks involving some big-time Markovian wheeler and dealer called Gaspar. Corrigan asks what Gaspar is moving. Snipe says he heard it is a big top secret shipment that was stolen on its way to Gotham. Corrigan jokes that the bust better be a good one or he’s going to rip Snipe’s heart out. Grant knows it’s a joke and laughs, but Snipe is intimidated and hustles off, disappearing into the nearby crowds. Corrigan immediately begins speeding the car through the Mardi Gras parade, expertly navigating through the congestion.

Corrigan and Grant arrive at the docks in time to catch one of Gaspar’s men, Reno (David Meunier), ordering a stolen shipping container to be loaded up onto a truck. Corrigan tells Grant that he can call for backup now. While Grant handles the radio, Corrigan can’t help himself and jumps into action. He aims a gun at Reno and orders him onto the ground. Reno goes for a gun instead, so Corrigan shoots him in the leg. Corrigan then walks over to Reno and kicks his gun away. Corrigan opens up the shipping container, finding it is filled with young girls who have starved on the trip from Markovia. Corrigan turns back to face Reno, but the criminal has managed to sneak away. Corrigan tries to follow a trail of blood to track him down, but finds that Reno must have jumped into the ocean. Backup arrives. The young girls are taken into protective custody. Corrigan asks Grant if he can handle the crime scene and the accompanying paperwork while he runs off to dinner. Grant agrees, but tells Corrigan that he owes him one.

Corrigan watches the time in his watch as he hurries to the restaurant. He rushes inside to find his wife Clarice (Heather Graham) and their daughter Aimee (Stefanie Scott). Corrigan is surprised to see Aimee there and gives her a big hug. Clarice tells Corrigan that she was supposed to arrive halfway through dinner as she flew her in from college for a visit as an anniversary present for him, but since he was so late the surprise was kind of wasted. Corrigan assures them both that he was still wonderfully surprised. Clarice asks her husband what took him so long, and Corrigan tells them that he had to follow up on a time sensitive lead. Aimee excitedly asks if it ended up being a good bust. Corrigan says yes and no. They recovered a container full of girls being trafficked, but those responsible got away.

Markovian crime lord Gaspar Bence (Marton Csokas) has his men bring Louis Snipe in front of him. Snipe pleads for his life, claiming that he didn’t tell the cops any specifics so they must have figured out the rest themselves. Reno grabs Snipe and asks Gaspar for an order. Gaspar tells Snipe that if he doesn’t give up the name of the cop he informs for, he will be killed, but if he gives up a name he will merely be hurt. Snipe ponders the choice for a second. Reno pulls out a gun and holds it to Snipe’s head. Snipe then gives up the name Jim Corrigan. Gaspar thanks Snipe for making a reasonable decision. He then gives Reno a nod. Reno then proceeds to shoot Snipe in the knee. Snipe screams in pain as he rolls around holding his knee. Gaspar tells Reno to track down Jim Corrigan and make him suffer. Reno nods in compliance.

Corrigan and Clarice wave to Aimee as she leaves back for college on a train headed for Keystone City. As they drive back home, their car is rammed by a truck driven by Reno. Corrigan tries to outrace Reno through the St. Roch streets, but Reno is eventually able to ram them off the road and into a ditch with a horrific crash near the river. Corrigan is knocked out by the collision. When he comes to, Corrigan sees Reno and his men pulling Clarice out of the passenger seat. Corrigan struggles out of the car. Clarice pleads with her husband to help her, but Reno silences her with a smash to the face. Reno jokes that it is a shame to waste a woman that looks like her, but work is work. Corrigan goes for a gun in the car’s glove compartment, but Reno and his men drag Corrigan away from the car and beat him to a barely conscious pulp. Corrigan, unable to move, watches as Reno puts a bullet in Clarice’s head. Corrigan, still alive, is loaded in a barrel that Reno and his men fill with concrete. Corrigan screams for help until concrete muffles his yells. Reno then rolls the barrel into the river. The barrel sinks to the bottom of the river. 

Corrigan sees a bright, blinding light. Corrigan finds himself surrounded by smoke. His skin is a pale white and he wears a green robe. Corrigan hears a voice telling him that his mission on Earth is unfinished - Corrigan will use new supernatural powers to punish those who commit crimes. Corrigan tries to interject, but before he knows it his body is sent hurtling through space and time until he finds himself on the bottom of the river looking at the barrel containing his dead body. He levitates out of the water and looks over his wife’s dead body. He wants to cry, but no tears fall from his ghostly eyes. Corrigan flies over St. Roch, vowing to make those who killed Clarice suffer for what they’ve done.

Corrigan watches the funeral of his wife and himself. He sees their daughter Aimee crying, having lost both her parents. Grant tries to comfort her, but she simply demands to know how Grant plans to find her parents’ murderer. Grant tries to explain that her father was really the brains behind their partnership, but he is going to do everything he can to make sure the killers are brought to justice. Aimee, in her grief, tells Grant that she doesn’t want them brought to justice - she wants them to suffer like her parents did. After the funeral ends, Corrigan watches as workers fill in his grave. As he watches, Corrigan is approached by the Phantom Stranger (Michael Berryman). Corrigan is caught off guard by the Phantom Stranger being able to see him. He tells Corrigan that he has been given his powers for a reason and that anyone Corrigan wants to see him will be able to do so. The Phantom Stranger also warns Corrigan against using his newfound supernatural abilities for anything other than their intended purpose - vengeance. Corrigan asks how he is supposed to use them. The Phantom Stranger tells him to “think it and it will be” as he is Earth’s newest Spectre. The Phantom Stranger then disappears into the sea of graves. 

Louis Snipe is moving some stolen merchandise into a storage unit when he feels his entire body freeze against its will. Unable to move, Snipe is approached by Corrigan’s ghostly figure. Corrigan demands to know where to find Gaspar Bence or his men. Snipe doesn’t even pay attention to the question as he is still too scared of the ghost in front of him. Corrigan shows his face to Snipe, who is scared even more since he knows about Corrigan’s murder. Snipe insists he doesn’t know anything about Gaspar or his thugs. Corrigan can tell Snipe is lying. He phases his hand into Snipe’s chest and pulls out his heart. Snipe looks at his heart, still beating, in Corrigan’s hand. Corrigan tells Snip that his body has mere seconds before it notices that his heart is gone and completely shuts down. Snipe frantically tells Corrigan where some of Gaspar’s men are known to hang out - Bailey’s Bar down by the docks. Snipe pleads with Corrigan to put his heart back. Corrigan then asks Snipe how Gaspar’s men knew who he was. Snipe apologetically tells him that Gaspar and his right-hand man Reno beat the information out of him. Corrigan hands Snipe his heart back. Snipe’s body finally reacts to his heart missing and dies, still holding his own heart in his hands. 

Waylon Grant is called to the morgue where he is shown the body of Louis Snipe. Grant asks what the cause of death was. The coroner tells him that Snipe’s heart was removed from his chest, but then he shows Grant the lack of chest wound on Snipe’s body. Grant is absolutely baffled by the situation. He then remembers Corrigan joking about ripping Snipe’s heart out. Grant suspects that Snipe’s death could be related to the murder of Corrigan and his wife, but knows he will need to find more evidence to support such a connection.

Corrigan watches his daughter Aimee as she cries over family photo albums in the Corrigan family home. Corrigan sits beside her, but does not reveal himself to her as he does not want to scare her. Grant pays the house a visit to inform Aimee that he may have a lead - their confidential informant was mysteriously murdered. He reveals to Aimee that he believes that it may be related to her parents’ murder. Aimee asks him how he knows, and Grant says that something her father said made the situation make a little more sense to him. Grant goes back to his car where Corrigan is waiting for him. Grant is startled by his former partner’s new ghostly form and vomits all over the sidewalk. Corrigan tells Grant that he was the one who killed Snipe. Grant asks why, and Corrigan tells him that Snipe gave him up to Gaspar’s crew. Grant pokes at Corrigan, with his figure passing right through him. Corrigan tells Grant that he is indeed dead, but that he was brought back as The Spectre to enact justice upon those who need it. Grant asks Corrigan who killed him, offering his assistance in finding them. Corrigan tells Grant that Reno killed him on orders from his boss Gaspar Bence. Corrigan says that he already has a lead on Reno, but asks Grant if he is willing to begin looking for Gaspar. 

Corrigan stakes out Bailey’s Bar, waiting for anyone associated with Gaspar Bence to show their face. Reno finally steps out of the bar to smoke a cigarette in the alleyway. Corrigan glides over to the alley. He reveals himself to Reno, who doesn’t recognize him at first. Corrigan duplicates himself. The duplicates of Corrigan’s figure close in around Reno, who finally catches a glimpse of Corrigan’s face. He throws down his cigarette and pulls out his gun. He fires his gun several times at the various duplicates of Corrigan until his gun is empty, but the bullets all pass right through The Spectre. The duplicates all combine back into one form. Reno launches himself at Corrigan to attack, but as he touches Corrigan’s figure, Reno’s skin begins to wrinkle. He rapidly ages until his clothes and flesh all disintegrate until only a skeleton remains. Corrigan demands to know where to find Gaspar, but Reno’s skeleton gives Corrigan the middle finger. Corrigan says “Die” and the skeleton collapses into a loose pile of bones as Reno’s spirit is destroyed. Once he is finished, Corrigan flies back to his home to watch over his daughter Aimee as she sleeps.

Grant is called to the crime scene in the alley outside of Bailey’s Bar where Reno’s skeleton has been found. He smiles to himself knowing that Corrigan is responsible for killing Reno. In an effort to help Corrigan track down Gaspar, Grant scans through stacks of immigration documents until he finally finds one with the name Gaspar Bence. Excited, he makes a copy of all of the documents to bring to Corrigan. When Grant gets to his car, he finds Gaspar Bence waiting for him. At gunpoint, Gaspar forces Grant to drive to a warehouse. Inside are several cages filled with young girls. Grant tells Gaspar that he is a monster. Gaspar replies that he is simply now rightfully profiting off of a way of life that he was also once forced to live through. Gaspar asks Grant who killed Reno - he knows it is not a mere man, but something else more supernatural. Grant feigns ignorance, claiming the coroner said Reno killed himself. This angers Gaspar, and he begins to beat Grant. Grant, weakened, says that Corrigan will get him, before passing out.

Corrigan bends space to see the entirety of St. Roch all at once. He is able to pinpoint Grant’s location and teleports himself there. Gaspar can feel Corrigan’s presence even before he has revealed himself. Gaspar aims his gun at Grant’s head and calls out for Corrigan, who then reveals himself. Corrigan asks Gaspar why he ordered the death of himself and his wife. Gaspar says that he never ordered his wife murdered, but that he did order the death of Corrigan as payback for costing him a ton of money when he intercepted that shipment of young girls. Corrigan reaches out and melts Gaspar’s gun. Gaspar backs away from Corrigan, frightened. Corrigan closes in. Gaspar’s face begins to melt off, revealing his skull underneath. Gaspar asks what Corrigan is. Corrigan says he is The Spectre. Gaspar’s body continues to melt until there is nothing left but a puddle of ooze. Corrigan wakes Grant up. Grant looks at the puddle on the ground, but decides that he doesn’t even want to know what Corrigan did to Gaspar as long as justice was served. Corrigan tells Grant that he doesn’t know what his afterlife is going to hold now that his and his wife’s murder has been avenged, but that he would appreciate it if Grant would keep an eye on Aimee here and there to make sure she is safe if he isn’t around anymore.

Corrigan goes back to the river where he was killed. The Phantom Stranger gives Corrigan the choice to have his soul at peace and go to Heaven or stay on Earth and continue to serve as the Spectre of vengeance. Corrigan is conflicted, but ultimately decides to stay on Earth as the Spectre so that he can watch over Aimee. Corrigan then suddenly finds himself in the Corrigan family home. He decides to reveal himself to Aimee. She is stunned to see her father in front of her. He tells her that he is still dead, but that he was given a chance to still be on Earth so that he can still be with her. Aimee tries to hug her father, but her arms go right through him. He focuses on making his body solid, allowing Aimee to give her father a hug.