There's a lot of irony in Dogma, the latest film from writer/director Kevin Smith and perhaps his most ambitious project yet. One of the more delicious metaironies of the film, though, is that Smith's devoted followers observe his movements with the same sanctity and seriousness that many Catholics employ in following their own personal Jesus. (Just try telling a devout Smithite that you've never managed to make it past a half-hour into Clerks, and you've never even TRIED watching Chasing Amy. You may as well be claming Smith's the Anti-Christ, which oddly enough, William Donohue would probably have you believe is the case.)

That's right: Dogma was my first foray into the Smith universe. After enjoying the film quite a lot, I must confess that I'm not a newly-minted zealot ready to defend the guy's work to my death, as many Smith fans seem to be. But I am in awe of his many talents as a filmmaker--and equally disappointed in his flaws.

What's most stunning about Smith's work in Dogma is the sheer brilliance of his dialogue. The movie has all the pacing and momentum of an action thriller, but none of the special effects, chase sequences or quick-cut fights. Instead, all of the tension is developed solely through dialogue. What a novel notion--that the conflict between two characters can set up as much dramatic payoff as some kung-fu tinged boxing match between a "good guy" and a "bad guy." There's a scene between Loki (Matt Damon) and Bartleby (Ben Affleck) in a parking garage that had me on the edge of my seat, simply through the power and grace of Smith's dialogue. It's breathtaking stuff.

Smith also has a great gift for comedy, one which he puts to use in Dogma most effectively as a counterbalance to the (literally) earth-shattering events of cosmic importance that form the spine of the plot. This is why Jay and Silent Bob are so essential to Dogma's success. They don't contribute in any major way to the movie's plot or themes; they're only around to be themselves--Jay the constantly clueless scene-stealer and Silent Bob the quiet man of action. When he needs them to get involved, Smith can call them into duty, but they're also just as happy smokin' dope and makin' dirty comments about any chick in earshot.

As you might expect, the comedy in Dogma also surfaces in Smith's canny satire of Catholicism. Pay close attention, because if you're not careful some of the more clever touches will zing right past your head--watch for the mocked-up box of "Hosties" cereal in the Cardinal's office, for example. There's a sense in which his satire's dead-on. The Catholic Church has become as much a big business as it is a centerpiece of faith. By focusing on that faith and playfully mocking the religion that surrounds it, he sends a fairly scathing indictment toward Rome: all your doctrines and hokey slogans can't resurrect the dying faith in the faithful. His answer to the problem seems to be this: ignore the rules and focus on the souls you're trying to keep afloat. How else can you interpret a pro-choice employee of an abortion clinic becoming God's instrument in saving the world from its own unmaking?

Those are Smith's strengths at this stage in his career: his dialogue, his clever comedy and his ability to layer a script with varying levels of meaning. His major weakness can be summed up in one simple indictment, meant not as a personal slight but as a simple fact: he probably reads too many comic books. That's the only reason I can come up with for Dogma's finale, in which all the tension he elegantly sets up with his beautiful prose whimpers out in a flurry of gunshots and deadly mayhem. Perhaps it's hard to concieve of any other way such a film could end--when you threaten Armageddon, the least you can do is bump off a few innocents before the End is averted--but it would have been nice to see Smith try an alternate approach, instead of heading for the easy ending.

For him to have created such an atypical character in Bartleby, then proceed to push him into shatteringly typical bad-guy behavior in the movie's finale, is a nearly criminal creative offense. It's somewhat redeemed by the anguish in Bartleby's face as he confronts God after an eternity of yearning for Her presence, but on the whole it's a flat and uninspired ending.

Maybe that's why the Smith dream project so far seems to be some kind of comic book adaptation. Consider all the excitement surrounding his rejected script for the aborted Superman Lives film project--he's also been linked with such heroes as Daredevil and Green Lantern. Imagine a Daredevil feature film produced through his new Miramax deal, with Matt Damon as Matt Murdoch in a movie written and directed by Smith. It makes me salivate with anticipation.

Either Smith should seek out a comic book project and give it the best damn film adaptation it's ever seen, or he should learn to weed out the kind of cheap and easy comic book plot devices he relies on in Dogma. To see all that brilliant dialogue and characterization blown away by a crazy angel with centuries-old bloodlust is as big a mortal sin as you'll ever see.