The Phantom (1996) – Review

The 1990s saw many a studio scrambling to snatch up comic book properties, hoping to launch a franchise to rival the one Warner Brothers had with their Batman movies, and in 1996 Paramount Pictures would take their shot at the superhero genre with an adaptation of Lee Falk’s comic strip hero The Phantom. Would they be able to “Slam Evil” or would their attempt end up in the “cinema dustbin” with other failed comic book adaptations?

Set in the 1930s, The Phantom follows the adventures of Kit Walker (Billy Zane) the 21st in a line of heroes who have taken on the mantle of The Phantom, also known as “The Ghost Who Walks” due to his perceived immortality, to fight injustice and protect the innocent. The story begins when Kit learns of a nefarious plot by evil businessman Xander Drax (Treat Williams) to obtain three powerful artifacts known as the Skulls of Touganda, which could grant him unimaginable power, but with the help of his loyal wolf, Devil, and the resourceful journalist Diana Palmer (Kristy Swanson) he will embark on a globe-trotting quest to thwart Drax’s plans and save the world from catastrophe. This is not to say he won’t spend some time brooding in the Skull Cave, as any enterprise like this requires a good pre-brooding, but with the right friends at his side good will most likely prevail.

Just remember, there is no smoking in the Skull Cave.

Directed by Simon Wincer, 1996’s The Phantom has your standard MacGuffin plot, with both the heroes and the villains running around trying to acquire a certain object for some reason or another and in the case of this movie the MacGuffin is three skull-like artifacts that will not only provide the user with immense destructive power when combined but can also, individually, point to the location of their missing counterpoints. This predates Apple’s “Find Your Phone” app by several decades. This particular Easter Egg hunt is kicked off when a group of grave robbers tangle with The Phantom while acquiring the first of the Skulls of Touganda. One of the robbers (James Remar) escapes with the Skull but there is more than the lost skull to contend with as The Phantom learns that this particular robber is a member of the Sengh Brotherhood and is also the one who killed his father (Patrick McGoohan), the previous Phantom, and if the Brotherhood gets a hold of all three Skulls the world could fall into darkness.

Lucky for us, neither of these Skulls is crystal.

If there is one slightly disappointing aspect to this rendition of The Phantom it would be that, once again, we have a hero who uses guns but fails to actually shoot anyone with them – often taking the clichéd route of shooting the guns or blades out of his opponents’ hands – and it’s not like I want to see a Punisher level of carnage out of a comic strip hero but if the likes of Indiana Jones doesn’t have a problem shooting Nazis why does The Phantom have an issue killing members of an evil group who are trying to take over the world? Of course, that is a minor quibble in an otherwise incredibly fun film, one that has such a great cast of villains to clash with The Phantom. Aside from Treat Willams wonderfully chewing the scenery, as the power-hungry businessman Xander Drax, we get the Great Kabai Sengh (Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa), head of the Sengh Brotherhood, and a group of sky pirates led by the beautiful and dangerous Sala (Catherine Zeta-Jones), who may end up helping the good guys in the end, because it’s that kind of a movie.

Note: A femme fatale who leads an all-female group of pilots in league with a supervillain does remind one of Pussy Galore from James Bond’s Goldfinger.

Stray Observations:

• This movie is loosely based on Lee Falk’s first stories from The Phantom comic strip, “The Singh Brotherhood” and “The Sky Band.”
• Like Batman, comic strip creator Lee Falk borrowed and drew inspiration from the Zorro stories, with a hero living a dual life, but instead of a Batcave he’s got a Skull Cave.
• Not only does this film have a Pussy Galore knock-off we also get a scene where one of Drax’s criminal associates decides to opt out of this evil scheme and is murdered by Drax while walking out, which is a standard Bond villain cliché 101.
• When two of the skulls are placed together they will give the location of the third. Lucky for the villains, they’re in a room that has a world map on the wall for the skulls to point out the site of the missing skull, but what would they do if a map wasn’t handy?
• In both big chase sequences, through the jungles of Bangalla and the jungles of New York City, we inexplicably see bullets spark off the trunks of trees. Did no one tell the filmmakers that trees aren’t made of metal?
• As was the case with the 1994 adaptation of The Shadow, the hero is given two “longslide” 1911 automatics which didn’t exist until several decades later than the period this movie is set in.

Did both The Shadow and The Phantom have time-travelling gun dealers?

One of the film’s strengths is its dedication to staying true to the original comic strip as the filmmakers gave us the Phantom’s iconic purple costume, his dual pistols and his trusty white horse, Hero, which were faithfully recreated here. But more important is the fact that Billy Zane delivers a charismatic performance as the titular character, capturing the Phantom’s stoic demeanour and sense of duty, while also proving to have a nice dry sense of humour. Great cast aside, it’s the action sequences that are where this movie shines brightest as it combines classic adventure elements, like swashbuckling swordfights, daring escapes and treacherous jungle adventures in the most fun ways imaginable. It’s clear that the filmmakers had a genuine love for the material and this passion is evident in the thrilling set pieces that populate the movie. The lush jungle landscapes provide a visually appealing backdrop for the action and its score by David Newman complements the adventurous tone and adds to the overall nostalgic atmosphere. Overall, this film is a campy action-packed tale that has everything fans of comic book heroics could want and one that would make for a great double bill with Joe Johnston’s The Rocketeer.

Note: This movie was originally going to be the first of a trilogy, however, after it bombed at the box office the two sequels were cancelled.

In conclusion, while The Phantom may not have reached the same level of success as other superhero films would later achieve it remains an entertaining adventure tale that is suited for those who appreciate classic comic book storytelling. It’s a nice throwback to a simpler era of superhero cinema and it serves as a reminder of the enduring appeal of characters from the pages of pulp fiction. If you’re a fan of vintage adventure and are willing to overlook some of its shortcomings, The Phantom is worth watching, if not for the sake of nostalgia alone.