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dax2956
Reviews
The Shadow (1994)
An absolute gem of a film.
As a longtime fan of the fiction and culture of the 1930s, I'll admit, I was skeptical when I first heard about this film. I thought it would be a mediocre film with over-the-top acting and a crappy soundtrack. I have seldom been happier to be proved wrong in my initial assessment of a film!
Seriously, this film is a hell of a lot of fun. The acting is superb on all counts, with a young Alec Baldwin easily stealing the show as both Lamont Cranston and The Shadow from amazing actors like Sir Ian McKellan and Tim Curry. Not only that, but if you listen to the original radio dramas of The Shadow on YouTube or iTunes, you start to understand exactly how well the film makers adhered to the source material. Apart from a small handful of changes, the characters are virtually untouched, and this is what lends the film it's feeling of authenticity, while still remaining fantastical in nature.The special effects are subtle, but very effective in their use of turning The Shadow invisible by clouding people's minds. The soundtrack is as near flawless for a film from the mid-nineties as I have ever seen, and both the set designers and the department in charge of props and vehicles certainly deserve a mention for their outstanding jobs in bringing a truly believable version of the Radio Pulp world of The Shadow to the big screen.
For me, though, it is not the individual components of the film that make it so good; rather, it is the combination of the acting, the soundtrack, the set design and the special effects, that, coupled with a compelling storyline and characters that still stand the tests of time after nearly 100 years of being in the public's eye, makes a fun, thrilling film that is a classic piece of superhero cinema.