The Phantom (1996)

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nTitle: The Phantom (1996)

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nDirector: Simon Wincer

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nCast: Billy Zane, Treat Williams, Catherine Zeta-Jones,nJames Remar, Kristy Swanson

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nMy introduction to the Lee Falk’s The Phantom was by way ofna cartoon show from the 80’s called Defenders of the Earth; boy I was a fan ofnthat show! It united Flash Gordon, Mandrake the Magician (another one of Falk’sncreations) and The Phantom in a show that turned them into a team of supernheroes who in every episode would go up against Ming the Merciless in hisnattempt to conquer the earth. Back then I must have been about 11 or 12 yearsnold but little did I know that The Phantom had such a legacy as a character! Here’sna character that started way back in the 1930’s as a syndicated comic strip. Itnhas gone on to appear in all sorts of media outlets including films, cartoons, videongames, comic books and novels. Sad part about the character is that even thoughnLee Falk constantly made efforts to get the character out there to the public,nfor some reason modern audiences never connected  with the character, which is probably thenreason why the film made back ’96 flopped in such a big way.

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nAfter the mega success of Batman (1989) and its sequelnBatman Returns (1992) all the major studios were looking for a way to duplicatenthe success of those films and so suddenly, comic book films where the hotnticket. Before Burton’s Batman, big budget comic book films were a rarity. Yesnmy friends, there was a time when comic book lovers were starving for superheronfilms! We earned for worthy adaptations of our favorite comic book characters. Anglimpse of light showed itself on the horizon when Burton’s bat films made itnso big. After Batman comic book fans got least one big budget comic book movie everynsummer. The problem was that most studios didn’t go for modern comic bookncharacters, for some reason they opted to go with old comic book heroes, likenThe Rocketeer (1991), The Shadow (1994) and the film I’ll be reviewing today, ThenPhantom (1996). I guess studios wanted to go the safe route by making films ofnthese established characters. No matter how old they were, studios thoughtnmovies based on these characters would make huge bank at the box office becausenthey were classic super heroes. But boy were they wrong! Studios didn’t know itnback then, but people didn’t want to see super heroes from the 30’s, theynwanted to see modern day super heroes brought to life. The disappointing boxnoffice success of these three super hero films based on old characters taughtnfilm studios that what people wanted was something else, something modern. Itnwas 20^th Century Fox who finally went the right way and did a filmnbased on Marvel comics X-Men (1999). Comic book movies haven’t stopped since,nthe new age of comic book films was born. But it seems studios haven’t learnedntheir lesson entirely, cause they’ve just gone and spent 200 million dollars innmaking The Lone Ranger (2013), which has immediately lost a ton of money at thenbox office and is poised to become this year’s runaway turkey.

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nBut what of The Phantom? Why did it flop? Aside from it beingnan old comic book character? Well, to be honest, the film isn’t all thatnexciting. I mean, be it old or new, what really matters at the end of the daynis if the film is worth a damn, if it entertains. So doe it? Well, in my book it half way does. For me the film never truly takes off. Even thoughnit was written by Jeffrey Boam; the guy who wrote Indiana Jones and The LastnCrusade (1989), The Phantom still managed to be boring and flat. Even the fightsnwere filmed in a boring way! Here I was watching the climactic fight betweennthe good guy and the bad guy and I was like, that’s it, this is the best theyncould muster? The film isn’t impressive enough. I mean, I did appreciate thenway the film tried to convey this feeling of old adventure films, of the oldncliffhangers from the 50’s. Hidden caves, hidden treasures, good guys chasingnbad guys while riding horses, the hero jumping off planes, pirates, swords…coolnideas, my only problem is in the execution, it all amounts to a boring film,nwhich is a sad thing to be if you’re a superhero film.

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nAnother thing that rubbed me the wrong way was how manynelements were ripped off from the Indiana Jones films. I mean, okay, you gotnthe same guy who wrote Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade to write this, butndamn the similarities are so many that you almost feel like you are watchingnthe Indiana Jones films all over again. Let’s see, the whole film is aboutnthese three magical skulls, kind of like those three magical stones fromnIndiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984)? When they get together they arenall powerful? Been there seen that. They have this scene where the bad guysnunite the three magical skulls and laser lights come out of the skulls eyes andnthe lasers point out a spot on the map that shows the bad guys where they neednto go to get the third skull….which instantly reminded me of a similar scene innRaiders of the Lost Ark (1981) in which Indy does the same exact thing. Therenthis scene in which The Phantom jumps off a plane with his girl and the planencrashes on a mountain, a scene plays out in the same exact fashion in Temple ofnDoom, even the shots are similar! Even the opening of the film takes place innan old bridge, same as that old bridge that Indy dangles from in Temple ofnDoom, so yeah, the filmmakers behind The Phantom used the Indiana Jones filmsnas a blue print. Unfortunately, they were unable to duplicate the excitement behindnthose films.

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nOn the positive side of things, the film does screamnSaturday Morning Matinee, and it does manage to have that old fashion sense ofnadventure to it, and come on, let’s face it, that cheesy, cliffhanger stuff isncool if you’re a genre fan. The overall vibe is fun and nutty, and when we takenin consideration Treat Williams performance as the villain ‘Xander Drax’, thenfilm is also over the top, not meant to be taken seriously at all. This is not anserious or close to reality take on a super hero like The Dark Knight (2008), innfact, this is the complete opposite, pure ridiculousness. In fact, the writernof the film, Jeffrey Boam, wrote his original script as a spoof. Unfortunately,nthe director didn’t go with the funny vibe, he tried playing it straight.nStill, you can see glimpses of the comedic elements that Boam put into the script.nI mean, we are talking about a guy wearing a purple skin tight suit while swingingnfrom tree vines in the middle of the African jungle! In fact when I think aboutnit, this film has a lot in common with the Batman television show from the 60’s!nYou almost expect a WHAM! to appear on the screen when The Phantom punches anbad guy. So I guess if you go in expecting pulpy, over the top, campiness, thennyou should have a better time watching this, but still, there are many thingsnthat hinder the enjoyment of the flick, for example, the sets are so obviouslynsets! They didn’t even try to make them look realistic. The ending of the film,nwhich takes place inside of a cave is so obviously a sound stage it’s not evennfunny! The whole thing looks so cheap.

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nMany directors were interested in bringing The Phantom tonthe big screen. At one point, even Sergio Leone himself expressed interest in directingnthe film! He even wanted to follow it up with a Mandrake the Magician film! Cannyou imagine that? The Phantom directed by Sergio Leone? Damn, that sounds coolnjust reading it! Joe Dante and Joel Schumacher were also at one time going tondirect, but the project eventually fell on the hands of Simon Wincer, thendirector behind D.A.R.Y.L. (1985), Free Willy (1993) and Operation Dumbo Drop (1995).nIf you ask me, any of the previous directors that came before him would havenmade a better film. The studio had wanted to make this film since the lateneighties and early nineties, but various factors stumped the production. One ofnthe reasons why the project came to a screeching halt was The Shadow, which ended up being an abysmal failure, so suddenly, comic book films based on characters from the 1930’s didn’t seem like such a good idea. Still, the project pushed on andnwe got The Phantom, which while not the worst comic book movie ever made,nleaves a lot to be desired. Still, the film does have a good performance fromnBilly Zane as The Phantom. He actually pumped iron for more than a year so hencould get all beefed up for the part. He didn’t want to use fake muscles likenother superhero films. But then again the mind wonders: what would BrucenCampbell have looked like playing The Phantom? That’s right my friends he wasnup for the part! So was Dolph Lungdren! Instead we got Billy Zane, a lifelongnfan of The Phantom. So in the end, I’d say that The Phantom is still a funnwatch, just go in with low expectations and you just might have some fun.

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nRating: 3 out of 5   

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