Remember The Phantom?

     A few weeks ago, I was reading an article about forgotten superhero movies, among them was 1996's The Phantom, and I was reminded of a rare gem. It's not one of those spectacular films, and when we consider the high bar that has been set in place for superhero movies, it might not clear it. But there is something about The Phantom that truly makes it worth watching. When I first saw it, I was nine, and I have to admit I was a little disappointed, as I was expecting the future Phantom like I had always seen in the animated series. But a couple of years later, I watched it again, and it has plenty of redeeming attributes. For starters, it is a movie about magic and super powers, but it never suspends realism to the point that you think it's something grandiose like The Avengers. It gives us spectacular for the time period it is set in, but runs more like Indiana Jones, than Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, and in that, gave us more than a superhero movie, but an action adventure that can be enjoyed regardless of whether or not you like cartoons turned into movies. It never feels like an animated feature, yet it never takes itself too seriously. It's a fun film to watch, and while the graphics might be dated even for 1996, it doesn't make the film any less enjoyable. I think that the only complaint one can have about the film was its low budget. I feel that if they had spent just a tad more on the writing, that it might have endured throughout the years. We must remember that this was a time ripe with cheesy action films and it would not be for another four years that we would see a solid script in a superhero movie in the form of X-Men.

     The casting was not particularly bad either. This movie introduced the world to Catherine Zeta-Jones, and therefore, deserves more attention if for no other reason than the gift of having her in Hollywood, even if it was just a supporting role. Billy Zane does a more than decent job as Kit Walker/The Phantom, and Treat Williams provides the perfect blend of intellect and ambitious psychotic to the character of Xander Drax. Given the material they were given to work with, I believe everyone in the movie did a good job in terms of acting. While it is cheesier than you would like it to be, it's an entertaining kind of cheesy, and you're willing to overlook it, especially since it has a rather creative and engaging story.

     In the hands of a director with a larger budget and more ambition, The Phantom would have had the potential to be a game-changer in 1996. The following year would bring us the infamous Batman and Robin (that's another post in and of itself), and that film practically put superhero films to sleep until Bryan Singer's fantastic X-men adaptation nearly four years later. The Phantom is some people's guilty pleasure of a film, and as far as guilty pleasures go, it's not that bad. Sure, had they made it a grand film it would have been awesome, but alas, I think the studios lacked faith in the picture, so we are stuck with a movie that is a product of the nineties, and that's not necessarily a bad thing. The Phantom may be Billy Zane's only leading role of worth, but it was very worthy, and I wouldn't mind seeing a sequel set in a more modern world with Zane taking on the role of a now deceased Phantom counseling a younger one, as he was counseled by his own father, played by Patrick McGoohan, just after playing king Edward I in Braveheart. With the right director and budget, I think it's a recipe for success. Given the amount of sequels and reboots out there, this isn't that far-fetched, so I can hope, right? It would hardly be the worst idea for a sequel/reboot and since Hollywood is in the habit of scraping the bottom of the barrel these days anyway, what's the worst that could happen?