Comic Book Movies 101: The Phantom

• 11th Feb 2011

So The Rocketeer took place in the 1938, The Shadow in the 20’s and now the phantom in 1939. And this was pretty much the bulk effort of mid budget comic book movies back in the early to mid 90’s. These are all also films that did not perform as well as they had hoped. The Rocketeer made some money – but did not make enough to warrant the 2 sequels they were hoping to do. The Shadow was a mixed affair of up than downs. The Phantom though seems to fail on almost every level. Billy Zane can be extremely likeable – but his smooth charm is covered in the costume he wears making him look more like a purple felt covered pantomime wrestler.

It is obviously a period set film – even this is squandered thanks largely to the director of Free Willy’s lack of vision. Simon Wincer has more clunkers on his resume than Paul W S Anderson; and yet like that director he has been given more than enough chances at a prospective film to get it right. But in retrospect you look back at these films and wonder (Quigley Down Under, Harley Davidson & The Marlboro Man, Crocodile Dundee in Los Angeles?).

But the material should have been an easy Comic Book character to make work, and yet the script was lazy with an over-convoluted plot with perhaps too many sub-bad guys in play. But just look at that cast. Despite Zane dialling in the Zzzzs along with Kirsty Swanson (an actress who has had more than enough chances to get it right!), we have Catherine Zeta-Jones, Treat Williams and the always marvellous character actors James Remar and Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa. Not one person is capable of saving the film as they are either being wasted (Tagawa), unmemorable (Zeta-Jones) or just unremarkable (Williams). But the biggest gut punch is that the guy who came second in the race to win the role of our hero was Bruce Campbell (Interestingly actually related to Bill Campbell of the Rocketeer fame!). Now with that actor in place with his trademark humour this film could have swelled high. But this is what happens when the execs decide to go for looks instead.

So if you want to see how to do Indiana Jones type of adventure with a fun spirit then go see The Rocketeer or even The Mummy. This film is the flagship of how not to do that. It lacks pace, has very two dimensional scenes that you have figured out long before they finish and the film has you regretting watching it long before it ends as you just know it is going to be a long haul to get there.

But there is not even any decent action. And you can see their desperation to make this an adventure in the Spielberg vein. Hell, there are even army trucks and collapsing rope bridges and none of them work very well. The chemistry is also pretty much non-existent between any of the players. It is therefore unknown if the Phantom is capable of being a strong onscreen hero. It will take another stab at the material for us to have any idea if it will work or not. A reboot is certain to be better than this film, but it does not mean that it will work to a significant entertainment level. Right now it seems there is no room in the world for this ghost. As it stands The Phantom is high on the list of one of the worst comic book movies ever made. There are a precious few that are just awful beyond belief (looking at you Barb Wire) and The Phantom is one of them.

Steven Hurst