The only superhero with the cojones to wear a bright purple suit! Now to be fair, the Phantom has a long and venerable history -- Lee Falk's jungle crimefighter was really the first of the modern masked superheroes. Falk may have borrowed from Tarzan here and there but the costumed paladins who followed, chiefly Batman, certainly stole ideas from his "Ghost Who Walks". As scripted by the late Jeffrey Boam (Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade), this modestly budgeted 1996 film does a fine job of upholding the Phantom's traditions, presenting one of the smoothest superhero origin tales among the many such pics made in the last two decades.
We're introduced to the necessary backstory, then the hero himself, with a minimum of fuss that segues effortlessly into the main plot (which could've come straight out of a Doc Savage novel). Unfortunately some of the action set-pieces don't quite deliver -- or are just plain ridiculous, such as one in which the Phantom's horse outruns a low-swooping plane! -- and the special effects, especially the CGI, are a bit dodgy. Keeping things afloat is the cast, fully embracing the cornball spirit of the thing, notably Billy Zane (Titanic) in the title role. (Only Treat Williams, as the villain, occasionally goes overboard into outright hamminess.) Since the Phantom costume has no room for padding a la the modern Batsuit, Zane had to get in tremendous shape to be physically convincing, which he is. He plays the Phantom totally straightfaced, albeit with a wry sense of humor, staying true to the comic strip character in every respect. Some nice period detail and a grand score by composer David Newman also contribute to the positive side of the ledger. In sum, The Phantom is a seriously flawed yet still highly entertaining throwback to the adventure yarns of yore.
If you have a fondness for those old cliffhanger serials and/or pulp heroes of the 1930s you'll be on the right wavelength for this. Makes for a great family-friendly double bill with Disney's The Rocketeer (1991).
