Le fantôme du Bengale

It has good acting and a good character. If your a fan of the comic you won't be disappointed. My only complaint, and it is a big one, is the supernatural aspect to the story line which usually was not featured in the old comic strip. I like the Phantom character, so this was fun. 3 stars out of 4.

The comic book heroes of the 30s were direct, earnest, and simple. They can't compete with today's video game characters, which is why most younger viewers won't be impressed with simple story and will miss all the million-dollar special effects they've come to expect. However, if you like a simple, direct mystery/adventure/romance just like the comic books of Phantom's era, you'll probably enjoy this movie.

I've thought The Phantom was one cool comic strip hero since I was a kid. I never felt like I really got enough of the character, and I was delighted when a feature film was made. I wasn't disappointed.

The story is exciting, and acting performances are rich. Treat Williams drops charisma and evil. An early look at Catherine Zeta Jones is eye catching, and she gives a solid performance as the leader of an all woman mercenary team.

Billy Zane hits a home run as the Phantom. First, he looks good in the suit. That's always a must for a costumed hero film. Second, he gives a confident performance of a heroic character, and delivers his clever "humor" lines with just the right amount of wry charm. Zane (and/or stunt men) give the character a sense of strength and grace that are demanded to make the Phantom work on screen.

The cinematography is beautiful to behold, especially jungle and water scenes. They draw you right into the screen. As a cap off, I also enjoyed the score, and the main theme is catchy, which I also like to have in a comic hero movie. (That was one area where I thought the X-Men movies failed. Nothing memorable at all in the score ... they should have used the theme from the cartoon show. LOL) The movie is a feast for the senses, and for fans of the Comic strip. My only regret was that it did not do well enough at the box office to spawn a string of sequels.

We also enjoyed the Phantom serial from the OLD movie days. Of course its campy but its fun and a lot of hours of entertainment for the price:

Though taken, almost literally, from the comic strip, this wonderful film comes across more as a pulp magazine adventure, a delightful period piece with a noble hero, spunky heroine, great primary and secondary villains, and some breathtaking stunts and location shots. Treat Williams makes a marvelous villain, and James Remar, an underrated actor, plays his henchman, an Indiana Jones gone wrong. Catherine Zeta-Jones is the villainess, and Billy Zane seems to have been born to play The Phantom. Nice cameos by Patrick McGoohan and a New York cabbie. I said it once, but it's worth repeating: fabulous stunts. Well directed, well paced, a triumph of adventure film-making.

There's always a danger in bringing comic book heroes to the screen in that most are pretty bad. Some are satisfying, e.g., the Batman and Superman films come to mind. But, the Phantom was essentially a strip comic by Lee Falk that I used to read as a kid and which had been around long before me (I'll be 65 this year). I remember seeing the serial at the Saturday morning matinees and loved the comic strip. Time passes and the Phantom faded and then, in 1993, I went to Somalia as a consultant during the UNITAF occupation and was billeted with the Aussies. To my amazement, I discovered the Phantom was not only alive and well Down Under, but there were active comic books cults, conventions and the like there as well. So, no wonder the film enjoyed a revival of a defunct strip but, alas, there is much to be desired in the effort and the final product is almost a parody of the original. My wife and I saw it for a bargain matinee and I enjoyed it. However, I suffer few illusions that it could not have been done better. It was a romp and maybe, as one reviewer noted, Catherine Zeta-Jones was worth the price of admission. Well, for my part, I liked young Billy Zane's Phantom with the sheepish grin, Treat Williams's sardonic evil smile and Christy Swanson's Diana, a pleasant departure from her Vampire staking role as Buffy. It was also good to see Patrick McGoohan, former Secret Agent Man as the Phantom's predecessor. I think this film is worth the price of a rental for a rainy afternoon.