Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)Kit Walker has come of age but before he can take up the challenge of becoming the 21st Phantom, his adoptive parents have to bite the dust.... The PHANTOM saga continues in this almost 3 hour two-part television mini-series movie with Ryan Carnes playing the legend. Compared to the long history of dozens of Tarzan films, it has always seemed a Hollywood anomly that the Phantom had to date only rated ONE serial, ONE feature film and an animated TV series. Finally we are treated to another visualisation of the GHOST WHO WALKS legend, but a somewhat disappointing one at that. A pity that lessons of the past still seem to not have been learned. Pause for a moment to consider another film legend - The Lone Ranger who has appeared in a couple of serials, a long running TV series and several movie adventures. The original TV episodes with Clayton Moore are fondly remembered and his two cinema adventures remain very popular with fans especially the first Lone Ranger film which was almost non-stop action with our hero besting the bad guys but only after Tonto was almost strung up and the Lone Ranger had recovered from being shot. I mention this because many years later Hollywood tried to revive the legend with an updated Lone Ranger film that was a third of the way through it before our hero appeared in his traditional blue outfit accompanied by the unforgettable strains of the William Tell Overture allowing fans to finally stamp their feet with approval. But at the end of the day, fans berated the producers for a boring film with far too much delay before our hero appeared. Fast forward to the current Phantom adventure. Guess what - our hero does not appear in full uniform and chasing the bad guys until part 2 - YES - THAT'S NOT TILL AN HOUR AND A HALF INTO THIS PRODUCTION !!! (Yawn, yawn, yawn.) The Billy Zane Phantom film was originally panned for its comic strip production values but is now very fondly remembered for being a fun and faithful rendition of the comic strip hero we have come to admire. The new PHANTOM fails to generate any of the excitement captured in that film. The new story is quite boring and when the bad guys open fire, none of them think to take aim at the Phantom's lower face which is the one body part not protected by his new kevlar body suit. Overall, the best that can be said is that it's great to see the Phantom on the screen again but this half hearted resurrection will do nothing to enhance the legend and the expected luke warm response to this product is unlikely to encourage film producers to invest in a more worthy film adaptation. To give this an A rating, the A will have to be defined as AVERAGE. And as for the new uniform, we watch movies to be entertained. I for one, would much rather see an entertaining movie set in the 30's to 50's with the Phantom suited up in the traditional Billy Zane style costume than this new and almost unrecognisable version of a present day hero in a sad and confused drug fuelled modern setting. Yes, the new Phantom goes through all the motions but is he entertaining?
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