The Phantom [Blu-ray]

Loved it.

When I first saw the teasers for Syfy's Phantom miniseries, I was dead set against it. I saw just another unrecognizable revamp of a beloved character with vast history. Trading in the purple tights for a suit that looked more like a sans-mask Guyver? Where was Devil? Where was Hero? Multinational corporate suits for the Singh? But I decided to go ahead and give it a try as a diehard fan of Phantom in print and film. What could I lose but 4 hrs of my life in exchange for a chance to mock another bad revamp of a comic superhero. After watching it, though, I couldn't really mock it. I found I loved the new Phantom as much as the old one.Considering this isn't our familiar 21st Phantom, but his son, Kit Walker #22, I understood there would be changes, but was still a bit resistant to losing the impression of immortality, the consistent look that makes The Ghost Who Walks that is entirely tied into the classic suit. But realistically, the myth of immortality isn't vital to this Kit. There was a twenty year gap without a Phantom at all after his father died, the Singh were well aware of the truth about the bloodline seeing as they tried to kill little Kit to end it, and in a new, more sophisticated era, the concept of him being immortal just wouldn't be as threatening as it might to villains of a more imaginative time. In the vacuum of an active Phantom, his allies had turned to high tech paramilitary development, so by the time his son was found, they could make a straight switch to a completely new Phantom without worrying that they would destroy a legend most had forgotten about anyhow. This Kit was free to take the best of his ancestors and add his own personal twist, to create a modern hero ready to deal with modern threats.What really sold me on the 22nd Phantom, though, was Ryan Carnes. I loved Billy Zane's portrayal that hailed back to the classic serials and gave a real sense of the immense history of the character, but Carnes took it a different direction in keeping with a 21st century Kit. He played a completely relatable, totally genuine character, and seeing him bring the Phantom to life is by itself worth the watch. Yes, it takes a long time to get to the Phantom, but you can't help but love seeing how he develops from reckless and self-absorbed Chris Moore into heroic and valiant Kit Walker. If they'd rushed it, we wouldn't really know Kit #22 or why he's not the Phantom we've come to expect. Carnes's Kit struggles with figuring out how to handle an organization his father never had to, with infighting and treachery in his own ranks, how to lead rather than just be the guy in the suit, how to maintain his own identity while honoring the legacy of ancestors he never knew, and how to handle the loss of the only life he understood growing up in his adopted family. Through three hours of film he finally manages to find a balance, to reinvent the Phantom in a believable and relevant way.If you go in expecting this to look anything like 21st Phantom, you'd probably be better off sticking with Billy Zane, who played the classic Phantom perfectly. If you go in expecting it to be a trashing of an established icon like a lot of current TV and film superhero portrayals, you might be more than pleasantly surprised. The revamp is well-thought out and explained, respects the classic 21st, and yet gives us a modern and relevant hero who is just as strong. And Ryan Carnes makes it work, making a hero that's more relatable than you expect from the genre.

Would have given a five if it had a digit code as back up. Just in case something happens to the player can still wauit

This is a great 2nd tier production. It has very strong and compelling elements. The phantom is now an orphan? New suit and mask? It makes sense to have body armor if you're going shooting at people who shoot back, but the element of danger is reduced. Not suspenseful at all if your man in the ring has invincibility trousers. Also, to justify a phantom we need an international terrorist mafia, but we still can't explain why there is only one phantom and why it still has to be son of the original and why not leave it to the FBI & Interpol? And we still have caves and magic, but also personal aircraft, scientists, science labs, and computers.The production is very good. The logic is all over the place. The love story is difficult to swallow. The bad guys are normal incompetent corporate types goofing around - adults. The protagonist is an immature kid. It feels like peter pan. It shows the whole origin story stuff, but is not convincing. The kid has no motivation for being the phantom as far as I could tell, although we get an unconvincing excuse for a motive. In that regard, I place it in the 2nd rank of movies. Generally 2nd tier films have better logic and weak special effects and cheap props. In this case, I felt the reverse was true. It was like a great movie but they lost the script and had a bunch of memories of the script that they cobbled together and once they had the action sequence, they went forward, all the way to completion. It feels like spiderman.

Essentially, this is not for huge die-hard fans of the original Lee Falk Phantom, who like their Ghost Who Walks to be more like the comic strip. While I actually really like the film with Billy Zane (more for its sense of humor than anything else, but does have some really interesting action set pieces), I LOVED this update. The director Paolo Barzman really takes a page from the book of Christopher Nolan in giving a purposeful update to a character that hasn't had the best treatment before by, in essence, rebooting the character of Kit Walker aka The Phantom by giving him a reason to become an avenger of evil, rather than just allowing it to be his destiny rather than his choice. And by giving the miniseries a slow burn, allowing us to understand the beginnings of this incarnation of The Phantom rather than just diving right in and showing us, "Okay, there's this guy who's The Phantom and he fights piracy and evil wherever he finds it."I really liked Ryan Carnes also as Chris/Kit. I liked the fact that he already has some training in parkour, but also seems to have certain inherent abilities that are perhaps tied to his specific lineage.The film overall has some nice surprises, and feels, in many ways very much like Nolan's BATMAN BEGINS. And that is not a bad thing. I feel that it's a little whiny to say that "Oh, well, we actually have to wait until halfway through before we get to see The Phantom!". That's akin to being disappointed by waiting about 50 minutes into a feature film before we see Bruce Wayne in the Batman outfit or about 40-odd minutes before Clark Kent first saves Lois Lane.The bottom line is this: This was an excellent update and will hopefully become a series, and once that happens, I'm sure that will be pretty excellent too.

Great movie

Eine sehr gute Verfilmung dieser Geschichte.

Love it. Glad somebody told me about it. Wish they would have made more.

OK. I'm biased. It's the Phantom. It's not the one I know and love, but it's the latest incarnation. If you don't know there is a patrilineal thing going on. The son of of the son of the son of.... always takes the mantle of The Phantom, so he appears to be immortal. The ghost who walks... talks, shoots, punches... As with a lot of 'pilots' it failed to get a series. This is a shame as it could have been as successful as 'Arrow' became. Hope the character lives on. His graphic novels are selling, so maybe one day someone will make another attempt at it.

スーパーマンやバットマンなど世界的なコミック・ヒーローに比べてみても、なんら遜色は無いあの伝説のヒーローが新感覚で蘇った！ただ、スパイダーマンのピーター・パーカーを思い起こされるスケボー好きなシティー・ボーイが主人公で、ちょっと重みに欠けるきらいも無くは無い・・・。やはりファントムはジャングルの王者、大自然の島で鍛えられたタフな肉体と文明社会でも通用する稀に見る知性の持ち主でなくてはならないが、本作はどこか物足りなくミス・マッチ。しかしアメコミ映画の潮流としてはそれなりのストーリー性も兼ね備えており、気軽に見るのには楽しい一作だろう！

... avec les aventures de ce jeune super héros. Les adaptations des célèbres comics (daredevill, batman, superman et j'en passe) n'ont jamais été faciles à réaliser pour le cinéma car souvent les lecteurs s'attendent à une fidèle adaptation et parfois la déception est là lorsque le réalisateur a pris trop de liberté avec le scénario ou dans l'étude des personnages. Pour ma part dans "The Phantom" on entre vite dans le vif du sujet et dans la vie de ce jeune garçon (Chris Monroe/Kit Walker) qui est étudiant en droit et fan de parcours urbains. On adore tous les super héros qui se battent contre des méchants ou des organisations criminelles. Ici on ne déroge pas à la règle et Kit Walker nous emmène dans une histoire où une organisation appelée les Singh se sert des travaux d'une scientifique qui est un "as" dans la suggestion et la manipulation mentale pour accroître son pouvoir. Les acteurs Ryan Carnes (Kit) et Cameron Goodman sont bons et j'ai adoré retrouver Isabella Rosselini (trop rare à mon goût au cinéma !!!) dans le rôle de la scientifique. Les 170 minutes que durent le film passent vraiment très vite (il est en 2 parties sur le DVD !!!). Je ne me suis pas ennuyée une seconde car on se laisse emporter par le scénario et à la fin on se dit qu'il devrait y avoir forcément un 2e opus au Phantom et à sa marque à la tête de mort alors... à quand la suite !!!