The Phantom (1996)

User Rating:

4.8/10   

Director:

Simon Wincer

Writers (WGA):

Lee Falk (characters)
Jeffrey Boam (written by)

Release Date:

7 June 1996 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure

Tagline:

The Ghost Who Walks. The Man Who Cannot Die.

Plot:

The Phantom, descendent of a line of African heroes, travels to New York to thwart a criminal genius.

Plot Keywords:

Superhero | Skull | Phantom | Motorcycle Cop | Locker Room

Awards:

2 wins

Cast

Billy Zane	...	The Phantom / Kit Walker
Kristy Swanson	...	Diana Palmer
Treat Williams	...	Xander Drax
Catherine Zeta-Jones	...	Sala (as Catherine Zeta Jones)
James Remar	...	Quill
Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa	...	The Great Kabai Sengh
Bill Smitrovich	...	Uncle Dave Palmer
Casey Siemaszko	...	Morgan
David Proval	...	Charlie Zephro
Joseph Ragno	...	Ray Zephro
Samantha Eggar	...	Lily Palmer
Jon Tenney	...	Jimmy Wells
Patrick McGoohan	...	Phantom's Dad
Robert Coleby	...	Capt. Philip Horton
Al Ruscio	...	Police Commissioner Farley

MPAA:

Rated PG for action/adventure violence and some mild language.

Runtime:

100 min

Country:

Australia | USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital

Certification:

Canada:G (Quebec) | Canada:PG (Manitoba/Nova Scotia/Ontario) | Iceland:12 | Brazil:Livre | New Zealand:PG | South Korea:15 | Argentina:Atp | Australia:PG | Finland:K-12/9 | France:U | Germany:12 | Portugal:M/12 (video premiere) | Spain:7 | Sweden:11 | UK:12 | USA:PG | Singapore:PG

Filming Locations:

Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

Company:

Boam Productions

Trivia:

The Palmer's butler is named Falkmoore. This name is derived from Lee Falk, The creator of The Phantom, and Ray Moore, The Phantom's first artist.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: During the chase scene between the Phantom (on a horse) and two Police officers on motorcycles, when the bullets fired from the officers' pistols hit the nearby trees, they produce sparks.

Quotes:

The Phantom: [after coming through the laundry shoot, seeing Sala and Diana] What is this, a ship full of women?
Sala: [smiling] All my pilots are women.
The Phantom: Interesting.

Movie Connections:

References You and Me (1938)

A pleasant surprise

This 100-minute nugget of superhero charm was a lot more fun than I had expected. I subscribe to Netflix, the mail-in rental service, so I had forgotten which movie I had coming next. I groaned slightly when I saw The Phantom was it.

I started watching, feeling that I was going to be in for a dud. About a week ago, I rented The Rocketeer---a mildly entertaining movie with some good moments, but didn't really add up to a DVD purchase or repeat viewings. I thought I was in for more of the same, but alas.

The Phantom had all the charm, action and humor missing from Rocketeer.

I particularly enjoyed the two leads. Billy Zane delivered the one-liners with aplomb. He has the swagger, voice, demeanor and charm to carry the role successfully. He transcends a rather mundane superhero outfit. Treat Williams gave an amusing turn as the villainous Xander Drax, ("Starts and ends with X.") Not the typically evil superhero nemesis, he's more of a lighthearted villain in the "Gene Hackman as Lex Luthor" mold, but his line delivery is spot on.

The movie definitely comes alive with the characterizations, a feel of a time and place early in the 20th century, and always on the move, but not too much in a hurry to make you enjoy these characters. I rather liked the idea of a superhero with a pet horse and wolf.

I'm not sure I've seen a recent superhero film that strikes a perfect balance of action, humor, sets and characters. Enough humor to keep me smiling throughout, but mildly serious enough to engage me for the duration.

Definitely worth a look for those who haven't seen it, and a future addition to my DVD collection.