The Phantom: On-This-Day Thursday
Written by Andreas Babiolakis
Every Thursday, an older film released on this opening weekend years ago will be reviewed. They can be classics, or simply popular films that happened to be released to the world on the same date.
For June 7th, we are going to have a look at The Phantom.
Marked as one of the films that nearly killed the superhero film genre, The Phantom is a misfire for sure. I can recall even knowing something just felt off about this film at the age of seven. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but I could also barely express myself at that age. Decades later, I can clearly identify how I feel about it. It is as void of life as it is campy (which feels almost like an achievement in and of itself). How can an outfit as vibrant and awkward looking as Kit Walker’s not cause any form of interest (or at least annoyance) in the film? It still felt so bland and without a pulse, despite how theatrical it is. It’s frankly astonishing how The Phantom can be both ends of the bad spectrum.
As an adult with a deeper knowledge of the entertainment of yesteryear, at least I can see the slight positives in Simon Wincer’s highly puzzling picture. Clearly, The Phantom is a product of a more fun, childlike side of pulp works, and the purple outfit is reflective of that (as well as, well, the extremely goofy nature of some sequences). Do I like this side of the film? No, but I can appreciate what it is trying to do, and I don’t feel like it’s quite as painful as Batman and Robin’s pandering to kids (you can tell the latter film was made to sell toys more than anything). At least The Phantom is trying to preserve that kind of story and vibe of the adventure, mystery works that once defined generations. However, Indiana Jones this film is not. I know both works are quite different in what they hope to achieve, but you can tell that one picture was able to capture the astonishment kids have watching these kinds of epic journeys whilst looking ahead to what film can be; the other film is The Phantom.
The Phantom somehow tries too hard and also feels incredibly boring.
The confused tone of the film would already be enough to squander what could have been a fairly interesting search for three powerful skulls with hidden capabilities. It’s the additional poor effects and executions that really seal the deal. You can get away with schlocky effects in a self aware film, and The Phantom does feel at least partially in on its own humiliation. However, there is still too much bad going on for the film to feel even remotely decent. The story feels like a drag because of the uneven tone of the picture. The action already felt off upon release; it only feels torturous now. The intended fun can’t outmatch the serious parts that feel ironically glorious. At the same time, the film never takes itself too seriously, and it would be even worse if it did. If The Phantom is as confused as a superhero film of the ‘90s could be, trapped as a half-baked homage and an unsuccessful attempt at pushing the genre towards the end of the millennium. At the same time, not many films feel like this one, and I’d be damned to compare it with the much-worse Steel (also blamed for the near-death of superhero films). At least The Phantom is justifiable to some degree. That doesn’t mean it’s good (it’s far from it), but it also isn’t the complete disaster it often gets tagged as.
Andreas Babiolakis has a Masters degree in Film and Photography Preservation and Collections Management from Ryerson University, as well as a Bachelors degree in Cinema Studies from York University. His favourite times of year are the Criterion Collection flash sales and the annual Toronto International Film Festival.