Explosive
The Phantom on 4K looks and sounds better than ever and the film is still a lot of fun with a great cast who all seem to be having a great time. Well worth adding to the collection.
Plot: A fantastic Billy Zane (Titanic) stars in this thrill-a-minute actioner based on one of the most successful comic series of all time! The story begins as an expedition lands on the island of Bengalla, seeking the legendary skulls of Touganda. Believed to harness an energy force of incalculable power, the skulls could spell disaster for mankind. And that’s exactly what ruthless tycoon Xander Drax (Treat Williams, Deep Rising) has in mind…unless one man can save it. Now evil has met its match and great movie adventure has a new name—The Phantom! Rousingly directed by Simon Wincer (Lonesome Dove, Quigley Down Under) and also starring Kristy Swanson (Buffy the Vampire Slayer), Catherine Zeta-Jones (The Mask of Zorro), James Remar (48 Hrs.), Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa (Mortal Kombat) and Patrick McGoohan (Escape from Alcatraz).
Review: I’ve heard some mixed reviews for Kino Lorber’s new 4K of The Phantom, so I figured I would check it out for myself. I only ever had the movie on VHS and thought I would hold off until it got a decent release.
First of all, I’ve always had a soft spot for this film; I feel like it captures the spirit of the serials it was based on. Billy Zane is well cast as The Ghost Who Walks AKA The Phantom and the film keeps the tone light and funny. There are plenty of humorous moments and I especially enjoy the late, great Treat Williams as the villain, Xander Drax who I ended up liking just for William’s sheer on screen affability. It’s also nice to see Cary Hiroyuki-Tagawa show up for the finale as he always made for a great villain.
The action is all practical and there are some fantastic stunts with the highlight being The Phantom climbing from a moving plane on to a horse. These days that would easily be done with CG, but there is no substitute for the real thing.
It’s an incredibly well paced hour and 40 minutes and if anything I would have liked it to be longer as I loved these characters; it’s too bad it didn’t blow up at the box office so we never got a sequel.
The score has that old-school swashbuckling feel to it which is perfect for the movie although it does lack a truly memorable theme tune.
Some of the complaints I’ve heard about the 4K is that the colour isn’t as vibrant as the Blu-ray, so I watched both last night and thought it looked faultless. I have a proper 4K setup, so it looked great in either format with the scenes in Thailand looking especially impressive. I also found the audio to be crystal clear where I always heard the dialogue which for someone who is partially deaf is a great achievement. Is it worth getting if you already own the Blu-ray? I would say so as not only does it look and sound great but there are some entertaining special features too.
DISC ONE: UHD
- Commentary by Simon Wincer
DISC TWO: BD
- Commentary by Simon Wincer
- Kismet in the Jungle (HD – 27:07)
- Slam Evil: Scoring The Phantom (HD – 14:49)
- The Phantom Trailer (SD – 1:23)
- Treasure of the Four Crowns Trailer (HD – 2:00)
- Remo Williams Trailer (SD – 2:18)
- Hudson Hawk Trailer (HD – 2:05)
- Mystery Men Trailer (HD – 2:24)
Kismet in the Jungle is a 27-minute-long interview with Billy Zane who talks about his passion for the project and how he was always a huge fan of The Phantom. Slam Evil: Scoring The Phantom is also a great featurette as it features composer David Newman talking about bringing the score to life.
Overall, The Phantom is still a lot of fun with an almost scene stealing turn from the late, great Treat Williams but Billy Zane is also well cast as The Phantom. The action is awesome and the film just has that old fashioned swashbuckling feel we rarely see anymore. This 4K looks and sounds great if you have the right setup and there are enough features to make this worth adding to the collection.