For Those Who Came In Late….
I’ve quietly been a fan of the Phantom since I was a child. I was never that familiar with the comic strip since it didn’t run in any local papers, but I remember reading the strip every chance that I got whenever we would visit friends and family or vacation in areas where the newspaper carried the comic strip.
It wasn’t until 1996’s The Phantom film that I really began to love the character. I began to read more of the old strips and picked up a couple of the comics as well. I’ve watched that film and the classic 1943 serial featuring Tom Tyler on multiple occasions. This post will focus on the 1996 feature, but sooner or later I’ll revisit Tom Tyler’s run in the purple costume.
Following the release of The Rocketeer (1991) and The Shadow (1994), The Phantom was the third film in an unconnected trio of films set in the early 1900’s that called back to the days of cliffhanger serials. While the Rocketeer wasn’t actually created until the 1980’s, he was based on classic serial characters. The Shadow arrived in 1930 and found an audience in pulp novels, eventually spreading into film and a successful radio program. The Phantom came six years later in a comic strip and eventually spread to other forms of media including two moderately successful cartoon series, Defenders of the Earth (1986-87) and Phantom 2040 (1994-96).
Much like The Rocketeer and The Shadow, 1996’s The Phantom found an audience, but it wasn’t big enough for the studio to put a second film into production. Perhaps it was too nostalgic or maybe the core demographic of the time just didn’t care for these films, but interest wasn’t very strong.
The plot was simple enough. An evil business tycoon from New York sets out to find three skulls that will give him power to control the world. He stops at nothing to find all of the skulls, but one man stands in his way…..the Phantom!
I don’t blame the cast, particularly Billy Zane (Titanic, Tombstone) or Kristy Swanson (Buffy The Vampire Slayer), nor do I blame the special effects team, the writers, or director Simon Wincer. The film just didn’t generate enough interest to pull in an audience.
Granted, the film is far from perfect. It sets itself firmly in its time period, which means that an audience that had just witnessed the beloved Batman (1989) film and the highly stylized and glitzy Dick Tracy (1990) was being asked to take a couple of technological steps back and watch a film that features pirates, magic skulls, and a superhero whose greatest weapons are a magic ring that he only uses once in the film, a pair of guns, a horse named Hero and a wolf named Devil. Sure, Hero and Devil do some pretty amazing things, but I honestly believe that the lack of whiz bang technology hurt the film’s chances to draw in a crowd.
The film’s primary villain, Xander Drax, is played with joyful abandon by Treat Williams. Williams holds nothing back in his performance, chewing and gnawing his way through every scene that he appears in during the movie. Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa portrays the Great Kabai Sengh, leader of the Sengh pirates and the owner of the third skull that Drax is in search of in the movie. While Tagawa’s role is small, he does an excellent job.
Catherine Zeta-Jones, who would go on to a much bigger and more successful career in films like The Mask of Zorro and Entrapment, appears in the film as Sala, leader of a band of female air pirates that capture Diane Palmer (Swanson). She does a great job as a character that develops rather nicely despite having a standard villain story line in the early parts of the film. Swanson channels her inner tough lady as Palmer, and handles her own against multiple villains in the film. Sadly, Swanson never did seem to break out into larger films.
Simon Wincer’s direction allows the cast to play to their strengths, especially Zane, who delivers multiple humorous lines throughout the movie with a wink to the audience. He’s the consummate lady’s man and delivers an excellent performance. Zeta-Jones cranks up the sex appeal, Williams is a ham, and Swanson is simply captivating.
The score, guided by David Newman, manages to skillfully capture the heroism of the Phantom and delivers the right mood for each setting in the film. The jungle is mysterious and full of adventure. New York City is loud and bustling. Overall the score is very good. It’s not as breath-taking as The Rocketeer’s score, but it’s still quite nice.
I don’t know how many times I’ve watched this film. Of the trio of 1930’s flicks, it’s my second favorite behind The Rocketeer. If you haven’t seen this film, you really should check it out. It’s a fun romp that expertly catches the tone of its classic hero.
As always, thanks for reading. I think that The Phantom is ripe for a new audience, and I’d love to see a new film released that’s worthy of the character’s name. There have been a couple of attempts at bringing the character back to the big screen, but none have come to fruition. SyFy treated viewers to a mildly passable mini-series, but nothing has come close to the 1996 classic. See it if you can.
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