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The Phantom

The Phantom

List Price: $14.99
Your Price: $13.49
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: SUPER FAMILY ENTERTAINMENT five stars
Review: He is a hero who is simple a decent person. A hero without super powers or trust funds. A very humane person with a code of decency. A hero who is certainly needed today. It is a film that is needed today. It is a film to watch and enjoy. This movie leaves one with a good feeling. It is not a film to nitpick or compare to others because that would totally miss the reason for escaping into it. A truly wonderful family film, that will live in the memories of those lucky enougn to watch it together. What a great cast! Billy Zane,his penetrating eyes framed by the Phantom' mask, brings the hero to life. Kristy Swanson and Catherine Zeta-Jones are strong,independent women. Veteran actors such as John Capaodice, Al Ruscio, and Samantha Eggar to name a few,lend their considerable expertise to the production. Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa appearence dominates the screen, generating much excitement. Patrick McGoohan's presence and voice is a outstanding. He is truly an screen legend.

Unfortunely the critics in their wisdom contributed to the short run at the box office office nevertheless the viewers know quality. The Phantom and all he stands for lives in the hearts of those willing to understand.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Entertainment the whole family can watch!
Review: My wife and I saw this movie when it was in the theater. When we left, we regretted we had not taken our then 11-year-old child to see it also. Is it the greatest movie ever made? No, but it doesn't try to be and that's part of the appeal. Unlike the top-heavy Batman and Superman films, The Phantom is a fun, simple movie. It's got a lot of action, very little profanity, and a sex-and-violence level that would be hard-pressed to offend anyone. Billy Zane is terrific as the title character, tongue firmly in-cheek and looking like he's having a great time. Treat Williams chews scenery like a dog gnawing on a bone as the over-the-top villain. And yes, that is Catherine Zeta-Jones as the femme fatale. The action sequences and special effects aren't up to the level of Indiana Jones, but I doubt they were given the budget of an Indiana Jones film considering the source material--a comic book character no one under the age of 21 has ever heard of--but it doesn't really matter. It's a fun movie that stays true to the source material (which explains the purple costume criticized by so many other reviews here). This movie, just like Alec Baldwin's underrated "The Shadow" (another superhero no one under 21 has heard of), is worth a look.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Could be better
Review: Along with "The Shadow", "The Phantom" is a lavish showcase of Art Deco settings and opulent epoch recreation. It's such a shame that the screenplay cannot be up to the standard set by the painstaking and meticulous production, soigné to the tiniest details. The film starts off fine, with the introduction of the Phantom's story and his family's century-long rift with an evil-doing sect of buccaneers, which by the 1930s seeks to conquer a world then seething with dictators. The rhythm is fast-paced but the film's resolution is wishy-washy and perfunctory. The Phantom himself is very meek and for all his brawn, he lacks the crafty self-assertiveness of the Shadow or Indiana Jones, two characters this film harks back to. The four stars count only for the extraordinary effort of epoch recreation. The story itself is hardly worth two.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: (IN)DIANA AND THE PHANTOM
Review: This picture was ignored by most critics and few people saw it on the theaters here in Brazil. But it is a very good action movie. It has the spirit of Indiana Jones films, as it takes places in distant places, in a deep forest, it has a lot of mystic in the air and it happens during the II WW. The scenes of fight and action are very exciting and the famous super-hero seems to move very fast. Billy Zane is perfectly cast in the title role. Kristy Swanson was very beautiful and charming in her first movies, but seems to be loosing her attraction. The role of Diana here should have been played by gorgeous and athletic villain Catherine Zeta Jones, whose hair is even similar to the comics character (later she would appear in another comics character, "Zorro"). One of the reasons for the good production is the presence of Joe Dante as Executive Producer. He now could film the story of the honeymoon of the Phantom, which would be a great hit.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Great Comic adventure
Review: The Phantom is quite good and the cast is great too. The Phantom was an enjoyable facinating comic, and any fans of the comic book will find no reason not to watch the feature-length movie. This movie is a great action ride adventure and i'm sure you'll love the story. Same charecters and no flaws, this movie is perfect. 8.5/10.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Nifty live-action comicbook
Review: This is the type of DVD that works best if you watch it on a rainy Saturday morning. I missed "Phantom" when it was released theatrically many years ago and discovered it on DVD. This is an old-fashioned comicstrip/movie serial sort of film that's perhaps too straightforward for most tastes. There's no irony or winking references here, which sets it apart from most other superhero movies. I liked it, but didn't love it, and I can fully understand if it's not to everyone's taste. I suggest you rent it, watch it on a gloomy weekend and see if it doesn't make you feel like a kid again if only for a few minutes.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: A Good-Looking if Otherwise Mediocre Movie
Review: While the basic look of Simon Wincer's version of "The Phantom" is right, the film suffers from a sense of "liteness" that retards it from finding its legs as a swashbuckling adventure. The often-creepy Billy Zane turns in a decent "aw shucks" performance as The Phantom, the latest successor to a long line of superheroes who've donned a purple costume and black mask to serve justice. In this version, he's up against-predictably-a megalomaniacal millionaire (Treat Wiliams) who is bent on acquiring three skulls that will give him supernatural powers. Williams provides some laughs with his perennially excited villainy-he's like an evil, hyperactive six-year-old on metamphetamines-and the luscious Catherine Zeta-Jones does her turn as the dark-haired spideress that keeps butting heads with The Phantom's girl (a plucky if pouty Kristy Swanson). The story is Indiana Jones meets Batman, right down to caves, jungles, hidden fortresses, and pirates, with a little Jules Verne thrown in for spice (there's a cool mini-submarine that just screams "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea"). But even with the addition of the delightfully craggy Patrick McGoohan as an earlier Phantom, the films seems to lag, in part because it seems so derivative. And though it's set in the 1930s and imitates serials of the era, its playing to ugly stereotypes gets tiresome-the blonde being the "good girl" and the brunette the "bad girl," the Yellow Horde seeking to enslave the world, Italians as mobsters willing to double-cross their own brothers, etc. Sure, there are lots of Americans who actually believe such hoo-ha, but that doesn't make it worth putting in a film that seems aimed at impressionable kids.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: The Phantom is an enjoyable movie, and true to the comics.
Review: The Phantom is an enjoyable movie and true to the comics. The film's setting being in the 1930s really captures that time period, from the costumes to the vehicles. Billy Zane was just excellent in the role of the title character (with real muscles not fake rubber muscle suits like the Batman movies). He brought this classic comic book character to life with great personality, from humour to the serious, making a great superhero. Kristy Swanson (the original "Buffy the Vampire Slayer") plays the Phantom's love interest, Diana Palmer. She was just great in this movie as well, reminding me how underrated this actress is. This movie also stars Catherine Zeta Jones (the sexy lady in 1998's "The Mask of Zorro" film). She didn't have much to do here unfortunately. Treat Williams is the bad guy in this film, who, for some odd reason, portrayed it campy. This movie has some great stunts and action scenes but fails to be an Indiana Jones movie wannabe (ironically written by "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" writer Jeffrey Boam, who's also written "Lethal Weapon 2" and "Lethal Weapon 3"). The film's story could have been much better. Overall though, its still enjoyable to watch. Film director Joe Dante served as one of the executive producers on this movie.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Nifty live-action comicbook
Review: This is the type of DVD that works best if you watch it on a rainy Saturday morning. I missed "Phantom" when it was released theatrically many years ago and discovered it on DVD. This is an old-fashioned comicstrip/movie serial sort of film that's perhaps too straightforward for most tastes. There's no irony or winking references here, which sets it apart from most other superhero movies. I liked it, but didn't love it, and I can fully understand if it's not to everyone's taste. I suggest you rent it, watch it on a gloomy weekend and see if it doesn't make you feel like a kid again if only for a few minutes.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Fun Fast Phantom Fists of Fury
Review: When looking for a fun action film one can certainly do far worse than The Phantom, based upon the newspaper strip of the same name. Billy Zane plays the title role with Treat Williams as the main villain.

The plot revolves around a quest to find three sacred, and powerful, skulls that together form a powerful weapon. To prevent the skulls from falling into the wrong hands the Phantom must travel to New York in his disguise as Mr. Walker (a play on The-Ghost-Who-Walks).

This is an excellent movie for swashbuckling fans with plenty of action and derring-do. There is also the nice touch that the women are not helpless as we so often see in movies. There are also little touches brought in from other movies and comic strips (but I'll let you see it to figure them out). Classic imagery is combined with good action and good lines to make the Phantom a movie well worth seeing.


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