The Phantom

Rating:
Summary: Awesome!
Review: This picture is pretty good. It has all the elements of a good comic-book film. It doesn't beat Batman, or Superman, but what ever does. Billy Zane does good as the hero, plus he is good looking for a super hero. Kristy Swanson is a Lois Lane meets a female Indiana Jones, and she plays it out well. Treat Williams plays a good villain, Xander Drax, an evil industrialist. Cary Tagawa(mortal kombat)also plays a good arch-villain Kabi-Sangh, I wish he was in it longer, much more of a scary villain then the fun Drax. Billy Zane plays out well as Kit Walker, deffinatley not a Clark Kent. Catherine-Zeta Jones plays a good and sexy Catwomen like Villainess, James Remar was alright as usual, as a bad or tough guy. I particularly liked Patrick McGoohan as the hero's ghostly father. The film over all is good. The cinematographey is to die for, as it is in all of the comic book films. Great Picture!

Rating:
Summary: Another Comic to Film that failed....
Review: Not even the pretty good acting talents of Billy Zane could salavge this film that just as no story going for it. They should try to make this movie again, with a different cast and crew working on it.

Rating:
Summary: I liked it
Review: Billy Zane is great as the Phantom, nice locales, and nice era for a superhero film. Very old-fashioned.

Rating:
Summary: Extremely Awful
Review: This movie is the dumbest thing I have ever seen in my life. The acting is stiff, but who can blame them? How could anyone possibly say those terrible lines in any other way? And the suit! What on earth were they thinking? A guy in purple spandex riding around the jungle on a white horse, with a wolf tagging along? I'm a person who tolerates Batman and really liked Spider-Man, so I'm not just anti comic book hero. This movie manages to make mincemeat out of everything it tries to do. The action is boring, the dialogue is rotten, the fx are cheap at best, the characters are non-dimensional, the romance is cheesy to the extreme, and the whole plot is lame. If you want action/adventure reminiscent of '30s matinee, just watch Indiana Jones. Forget this; I can hardly believe I endured the whole thing. ZERO stars.

Rating:
Summary: A car wreck of a movie
Review: And like a car wreck, it's hard to look away. In the case of this film, it's because it's fascinatingly bad. Rarely have I seen such a lead-balloon of a movie. Nothing works except the scenery. The Phantom is ridiculous. He wears black make-up on his eyes to disguise the fact his the holes in his mask are too big. Yet, when he takes the mask off, the make-up mysteriously disappears. His whole get-up is preposterous. A purple uniform? And this guy's supposed to be a superhero? Treat Williams doesn't cut it as a villain, either. He purposely made his voice squeaky. Now that's scary! This is obviously an attempt to make an Indiana Jones knock-off. It doesn't work, not at all.

Rating:
Summary: THE PHANTOM...and NOT of the opera
Review: First off, let me reccomend the first Phantom movie, a serial made in the 40's with TOM TYLER who was also the mummy in one of the mummy movies and CAPTAIN MARVEL in a serial before this one but best known as the star in a bunch of old b&w westerns. Also I want to say (because Batman creator/co creator Bob Kane did'nt but would claim he invented sliced bread if he thought he'd get away with it no doubt) like Zorro before him,THE PHANTOM had a secret cave headquarters, had a butler of sorts and was the FIRST masked hero in tights too. Basicaly he's part Tarzan and part Batman. NO boy sidekick but he does have a pet wolf and a great horse as his aids in fighting evil. The story is a bit of an effort to go with an Indiana Jones like flavor, many consider this movie a flop but The Phantom has'nt been seen much in the USA since the 60's and his heyday was the 30's and 40's like THE SHADOW. The newspaper strip has only been in 500 papers these days so it's not like he's seen as much as the PEANUTS kids who're in maybe 5 or 10 times as many papers. Who knows, sometime even movie characters so well known NOW may meet this fate decades from now. I reccomend this movie to any fan of super heroes period. It's as good as THE ROCKETEER in my opinion. Billy Zane is great as the Phantom and Lee Falk who created the strip as well as Mandrake the Magician strip, once hugely popular, thought so. The Indy trimmings story does'nt hurt it at all. I know the buffs will want to crucify me for saying this but I feel it's too true these days....see the USA box office for THE PHANTOM and THE SHADOW, both good movies if you don't believe it. Spielburg or Lucas could do a Tarzan or Captain Marvel a.k.a. Shazam movie but how many people would line up in multitudes for it 'eh? As the characters are NOT popular now as they had been decades ago (when the character's name alone would attract hundreds of thousands and more), only the director's name OR Disney's would be the primary attraction. I know the Phantom character is huge in Australia and more popular in Europe than in the USA, that's swell, I'm glad. Anyway, see it!

Rating:
Summary: The Ghost Who Walks
Review: Lee Falk himself would be proud to see this adaptation of his Classic Super Hero.

Rating:
Summary: The Phantom is Phantastic Phun!!
Review: "The Phantom" is high-octane family entertainment at it's best, a fun film to watch over and over again!
My family and I saw this film in the theatre and was so impressed that we invited others to go back with us for a second time! I must admit though, the first time we saw it, we had gone to see another movie that ended up being sold out, so we opted to see "The Phantom" sort of by default. What a pleasant surprise!
Now it's one of our all-time favorites, and what a treat to have it on DVD on the Big-Screen at home!
Others may not agree, but as far as I'm concerned, this is Billy Zane's best character of all the films I've seen him in! He's the perfect fit, making one of my comic book favorites come to life!
Treat Williams is great as the "smooth" bad guy, and some of the island scenes are breath-taking!
The action is non-stop and there's just enough romance without being mushy.
If you're an "Indiana Jones" fan, you'll enjoy "The Phantom" with it's similar style!
In an age when clean family entertainment is hard to find, "The Phantom" is just the right recipe!

Rating:
Summary: The Ghost who walks!
Review: Comic book adaptions are a mixed bunch. Some are excellent (Batman), some are good (Superman) and some are just awful (The Shadow). And the first outing for the purple-masked "ghost who walks" rests somewhere in the middle. The premise is taken directly from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984), with rugged expolorers with fedoras searching for 3 mystical stones that possess an incredible power, including one set-piece where our hero is trapped on a rope bridge, and you start to wonder if Indy himself will show up to save the day. However hackneyed the plot may be, however, it is fun, and there are just enough good action scenes and impressive effects to cover the film's flaws. Billy Zane as the title character, fits into the role suprisingly well, and you leave the film feeling satisfied, regardless of it's faults. Not the best superhero movie, but a solid additon to the genre.

Rating:
Summary: What was the costume designer thinking!
Review: Billy Zane portrays the Phantom as a confident, masculine, buff hero, clad in the silliest costume seen on film since Howard the Duck. The story is entertaining, reminiscent of the serial comics from which the original Phantom sprung. Good supporting cast with Kristy Swanson and the always-entertaining Treat Williams. Billy Zane of course went on to bigger roles (and better costumes) in Titanic and Cleopatra, but he seems to truly be having fun here. Well worth watching, if you can get past the purple suit.