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.

Perhaps it's because I know nothing of the Phantom, but I enjoyed this quite a lot. I don't usually pay much attention to CGI if the concept and characters are compelling, and I found they were here. I did notice (after reading the reviews here) that the jet was not very realistic, but that took little away from the overall storyline.

I was particularly satisfied with the involved plot line that didn't telegraph the ending. Yes, it was basically good against evil, but the characters were well done, the pace was quick and the leads were charismatic. I'd like to see the romantic angle developed and an heir for the Phantom. I loved the lair and the locations, but the Indians I could've done without.

I look forward to seeing SyFy pick this up.

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")

I didn't know when I rented this DVD that it was an unrated made for cable TV movie. So when I popped the disc into the player and there were previews for SYFY shows, and then I saw "Play part 1" and "Play part 2", I thought, Oh boy this is going to be a wasted 3 hours. I was pleasantly surprised. This TV movie was actually done very well. The acting was good, the effects were good and the story was pretty easy to follow, but also had some nice twists to it that kept it interesting all the way through. I never got into the Phantom comics, so I don't know how true it stayed to the history of them, and so I didn't care about that aspect of it. It was just an enjoyable few hours spent with the family, watching a pretty darn good TV movie. There were a few scenes of graphic violence that would rate this a PG-13, so if you have little ones, it may be too violent for them. I hope it gets turned into a SYFY series. I will watch it if it does.

This is rating the first 61 minutes because that was all my DVR recorded of the 4 hr program. I liked what I watched and I wish to see more in a series. My only complaint is that Syfy does not have it on the schedule to be seen again any time soon. With all the ways to see shows when it is convenient and this is a network that can show the episodes more than once they should give viewers more chances to see their shows. Sorry for the ranting but this has happened numerous times to me from Syfy, I hear about a great show and never get to see it because they do not give multiple chances to view their shows, I am going to use this one as an example. . .I really liked the 61 min I saw of this film but I give Syfy a 1 on satisfaction!!