By Nick Nitkowski

If you’re a fan of comic books or even comic book movies, there is a good chance that you’ve heard of the name Frank Miller. The man who wrote such iconic graphic novels that inspired the comic book superheroes and the movies we know today such as Sin City and 300. An artist, writer, and even director. Now comes a documentary on the life of the legend himself that I was very excited to see. Mainly because it only had one showtime at one theater that I didn’t have a subscription to, so it cost me some money, but regardless, I was excited to see it and seen it I now have. 

I have been watching a lot of different documentaries this year. A number way more than my usual one or two a year. And while watching them, I’ve noticed many different and unique techniques that make each documentary stand out from the last. They all had interesting way to convey the story that each doc wanted to tell and they always managed to keep my attention since I can easily lose interest in a documentary if it’s not engaging enough for me. And while this documentary managed to hold my attention, it was far from unique.

Starting off with the good, I am a fan of Frank Miller and his work. The things that he has accomplished in his life deserves all the admiration and respect. I really enjoyed learning a little bit more about Frank Miller and his artistic techniques that made him stand out from other well known comic book artists and writers. 

However, this documentary had a lot of issues. For starters, I noticed pretty early on that there is very little music in this documentary. Most of the interviews and stock footage are presented with silence for a large majority of the film. And in the few moments that did have music, it was over with pretty quickly and then it was back to music-less talking and that can make a documentary feel kind of boring or at the very least lack the spirit necessary to keep the audience engaged.

Another noticeable issue is that the documentary felt like it was presented in segments. For instance, it would start on one topic for a bit and then completely move on to the next topic. And some of those segments were shorter than others. Especially the ones dealing with struggles or anything considered negative. Sure, they would bring it up and then Frank Miller would say something briefly about it and then they’d move on to the next subject. The main issue with this being that it felt like the filmmakers didn’t have a set story in mind to tell. There was no natural flow or transitions between topics.

Overall, this film did manage to hold my attention, but that was strictly because of the subject matter. If the same techniques that were used in this film were utilized in a documentary on a subject that I don’t have much interest in, it would have definitely put me to sleep in the theater. It really felt like the filmmakers didn’t know what kind of story they wanted to tell about Frank Miller. So, they chose only to touch on a few key moments. I only just discovered that this film premiered in Italy back in 2021, which means that this film is already almost three years old.

I must say that I am disappointed with how this film turned out. With a title like “Frank Miller: American Genius”, you have to be able to back up that title in your film. Otherwise, it just sounds arrogant and you should change the title. At the time of writing this, I am not sure if this will be getting a wider release or a streaming service deal any time soon. But if you do happen to stumble upon this film and you’re a big Frank Miller fan, feel free to give it a shot if you want. But to be Frank, as it stands for me personally, I found it to be very uninspiring and void of any emotion where I find it would be a Sin to recommend. 

2/5 stars

Nick Nitkowski