The Phantom (1996)

User Rating:

4.8/10   

Director:

Simon Wincer

Writers (WGA):

Lee Falk (characters)
Jeffrey Boam (written by)

Release Date:

7 June 1996 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure

Tagline:

The Ghost Who Walks. The Man Who Cannot Die.

Plot:

The Phantom, descendent of a line of African heroes, travels to New York to thwart a criminal genius.

Plot Keywords:

Superhero | Skull | Phantom | Motorcycle Cop | Locker Room

Awards:

2 wins

Cast

Billy Zane	...	The Phantom / Kit Walker
Kristy Swanson	...	Diana Palmer
Treat Williams	...	Xander Drax
Catherine Zeta-Jones	...	Sala (as Catherine Zeta Jones)
James Remar	...	Quill
Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa	...	The Great Kabai Sengh
Bill Smitrovich	...	Uncle Dave Palmer
Casey Siemaszko	...	Morgan
David Proval	...	Charlie Zephro
Joseph Ragno	...	Ray Zephro
Samantha Eggar	...	Lily Palmer
Jon Tenney	...	Jimmy Wells
Patrick McGoohan	...	Phantom's Dad
Robert Coleby	...	Capt. Philip Horton
Al Ruscio	...	Police Commissioner Farley

MPAA:

Rated PG for action/adventure violence and some mild language.

Runtime:

100 min

Country:

Australia | USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital

Certification:

Canada:G (Quebec) | Canada:PG (Manitoba/Nova Scotia/Ontario) | Iceland:12 | Brazil:Livre | New Zealand:PG | South Korea:15 | Argentina:Atp | Australia:PG | Finland:K-12/9 | France:U | Germany:12 | Portugal:M/12 (video premiere) | Spain:7 | Sweden:11 | UK:12 | USA:PG | Singapore:PG

Filming Locations:

Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

Company:

Boam Productions

Trivia:

One of The Phantom's trademarks in the comic strip, his striped "underpants", was tried on the movie costume, but reportedly looked too silly to use in the final film.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: In the pan shot of the Pan American dockside terminal when Diane Palmer is boarding the Orient Clipper you can clearly see a modern window-style air conditioning unit sticking through the front wall of the terminal building. Such units did not exist in the time period in which this movie was set (late 1930s).

Quotes:

Diana Palmer: [to the Phantom] Before I go... take off your mask? Let me see your face... Kit.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Kid Stays in the Picture (2002)

The best superhero movie made to date.

If you go to a superhero movie and you have problems with guys wearing tight spandex, then you'd better just close your eyes. Superheroes wear tight clothes...get over it. I think one of the best parts of this film is that they make very little reference to it. The Henson Creature Shop did an excellent job re-creating the look of the classic Phantom character while giving it just a bit more style. As for the characters, they were light and enjoyable. They don't need to be "deep" or meaningful..they need to be comic characters and they succeeded admirably. The plot was simple, but engaging and the villains were perfect, no good, evil comic book baddies. This is a great movie to give you the feel for what the real old adventure serials were about.