Das Phantom

The Phantom (starring Ryan Carnes in the title role) tells the story of a superhero who serves as the defender of justice for all.

The mini-series, which also serves as a pilot for a potential television series, has enough action and romance to make you forget its length. The adaptation of the Phantom gives us a superhero with a clear-cut and unbendable knowledge of right and wrong that has been mostly lacking in the modern superhero movie era.

Those already familiar with the comics will find enough of the comics' elements in the mini-series to satisfy the spirit, if not the absolute letter. However, purists of the comics and those unwilling to suspend some disbelief will find extreme difficulty in enjoying a mini-series that brings the franchise into the 21st Century.

If there are any defects to this show, it is at times when the mini-series works too hard at looking like a pilot, having many scenes throughout to serve as the background for future plots and character development. Especially the final scene (Which I won't give away) that could have served well as the cold opening for the first episode of the first season.

This series is well worth watching. Here's to hoping SyFy can make a cut in the Roger Corman Knockoffs Deptartment to give The Phantom chance it deserves. After all, no one refuses the Phantom.

I am an original Phantom reader and saw the movie back on 1996 with Billy Zane which was more truthful to the character than this adaptation. They try to modernize the character to a point that is almost unrecognizable. The origin has gaps in it that it doesn't explain. The acting is non-existent and a lot was changed from the original version. But what can you expect from a movie made for the SciFy channel and made by Canadians? Nothing personal against Canada but trying to do their own version of an American icon when they don't know much about the character this is what happens. It is like a Chinese movie studio trying to do a version of Superman without devoting time to really know the character. Of course they going to add their own interpretation and the result will be something different to what we are used to see.

I never knew the old Phantom before, so I watched this with an open mind, I usually know nothing of the movies I'm about to watch not even genre. I kinda guessed that this was a comic-book adaptation and i was right.

Okay, so this is a B-flick. the characters are neither very deep nor engaging, the actresses are, while nice, not really very stunning. Everything breathes second rate.

But what is really disturbing is this trend that remakes of old 70s themed movies, comic books, TV shows turn out to be slightly racist, in it's casting and in the story lines.

The evil villain here is Singh. Singh is probably the most common of names in India, like Smith or Lopez or Popov. And in the cast, to replace Guran, an African with an Asian woman??? I like pretty girls as much as anyone, but this is part of a worrying trend that started with Battle Star Galactica, when they replaced colonel Thigh with a white guy.

I guess we have to be thankful that B.A. Barracus isn't some Bubba from Alabama in the new A-Team movie.

The Melancholic Alcoholic.

The Phantom was one of my favorite comics when I was a kid, so my excitement was understandable when I sat down to watch this movie. Alas, the excitement waned almost immediately. This was not a movie worthy of the comic strip, it hardly had anything to do with it whatsoever. It was overly 'modernized', apparently in order to adapt it to the 21st century... Why on earth would you want to do that? It looks more like a music video than an action flick.

Another major problem is the casting of the main character; Ryan Carnes would be much more believable impersonating a teenage MTV pop star than he is starring as the Phantom. And then there is the costume... Suffice it to say that it looks totally ridiculous, and it has nothing to do with the Phantom. The set decoration is rather tacky (I believe due to budgetary restrictions), the cinematography and sound are average, so there is really nothing that really stands out in this movie. Large TV productions have accustomed us to much better products in recent years. It's a pity really, the idea to film the Phantom was a good one, but it should have been done in a different way, a completely different way.

In New York, the twenty-four year-old Chris Moore (Ryan Carnes) is on the last semester in the Columbia Law School and is a practitioner of Parkour. When his friend has an accident practicing the sport with him, the paramedic Renny Davidson (Cameron Goodman) helps them and Chris and Renny immediately fall in love with each other. However Chris is arrested by the police but Renny's father, Detective Sgt. Sean Davidson (Ron Lea), releases him. When Chris arrives home, his parents make him promise that he will study a lot to not fail in the upcoming exams.

A couple of days later, Chris dates Renny and while he is returning home alone, he is abducted by a group in a van. Soon the leader of the group, Abel Vandermaark (Jean Marchand), explains to him that he is a foster son and his real name is Kit Walker. He is the twentieth-second generation of The Phantom, the ghost who walks, and they belong to his organization Bpaa Thap that helps The Phantom to fight the crime along the centuries. Chris does not believe on his words but when he returns home, he finds his beloved parents murdered and the two criminals waiting for him. Chris flees and one killer dies in an accident. He calls Vandermaark and they travel with Guran (Sandrine Holt) to Bangalla, where he is trained to be The Phantom. Meanwhile the evil Singh Brotherhood led by the cruel Raatib Singh (Cas Anvar) is plotting a scheme using the technology developed by Dr. Bella Lithia (Isabella Rossellini) to kill the charismatic leader Jalil Ben-David (Jason Caselli) and begin a worldwide war.

"The Phantom" is an adaptation of my favorite childhood hero, The Phantom, in the Twentieth-First Century. I saw this movie yesterday on DVD in an edited version of 150 minutes running time and despite of the flaws, I liked the story and found it very entertaining.

The Phantom follows the family tradition, and the uniform has been used since 1536. Therefore, there is no reasonable explanation for the twentieth-second The Phantom to wear different clothing. The uniform could have been improved, but is colors and shape should have been kept the same.

Abel Vandermaark is a contradictory character and the conclusion of the story is not good. Nevertheless my wife and I have enjoyed a lot this free-adaptation of this forgotten hero. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "O 22o Herdeiro" ("The 22nd Heir")