Let's be realistic.

Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

The acting in this movie is really good.

The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

I'd never seen this movie until a couple of months ago, and I enjoyed it thoroughly. I've since seen it twice more, and still enjoy it! What some reviewers don't seem to grasp is that it is supposed to be fun, not serious. It's not competition for Indiana Jones, it's simply the story of the Phantom. If the over-the-top performance of Treat Williams was not enough to tell viewers that it is just entertainment, the performance of Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa should have let them know that this is not Hamlet. Watch and enjoy.

I know alot of people weren't big fans of this movie, but I think it was really good to me. I thought Billy Zane did an excellent job as Kit Walker/The Phantom and I thought his suit was good for the movie; just like the old stories and comic books of the Phantom. He was the first real comic book hero ever before Superman and even before Batman, too. I think the film did everything right; the hero, the bad guy, saving the world, and getting the girl at the end. I'm a big comic book fan and if you are too; you should watch this one.

Plot; The Phantom, a mantle handed down from father to son, squares off against an egomaniacal villain who is attempting to find three ancient skulls which, once united, will give him incredible power.While Richard Donner's Superman: The Movie was the first big budget modern comic book movie, it didn't exactly ignite the genre on the big screen. That wouldn't happen until a decade later when, at the tail end of the 80s, Tim Burton's Batman became a record breaking success and pop culture phenomenon. The 90s would see studios clamoring to find their own comic book cash cow, but few not named Batman found much success. Among these pretenders was The Phantom, based on the comic strip created by Lee Falk. It had a large budget and a rising young star in Billy Zane as the title character, but it was a massive critical and commercial flop and currently sports a paltry 4.9 rating on IDMb. So why then has it sold so briskly on home video these last twenty or so years? The answer might just be that it's a lot better than its reputation, and a heckuva lot of fun.Set in the 30s and never stopping long enough to catch its breath, it has that same Saturday serial feel as Raiders of the Lost Ark or fellow 90s comic book movie The Rocketeer. With an origin prologue lasting just a tad over a minute, it eschews the sort of lengthy setup that often plagues 21st century comic book movies and gets down to the business of two fisted, swashbuckling adventure. Zane plays Kit Walker/The Phantom with a charming dash just this side of straight with nary a wink. The supporting cast is solid, with Kristy Swanson making for a believable plucky heroine, Treat Williams a dashing villain and a young and flat out stunning Catherine Zeta-Jones making for a deliciously devilish air pirate captain. Toss in a rousing score by David Newman and The Phantom is exactly what it sets out to be; a fun bit of escapist action adventure and a good way to spend a rainy afternoon.

If you cross Indiana Jones with Tarzan and mix in some 'Goonies' type pirate tomfoolery then you pretty much have this fun cheesy boys own adventure. Actually if I think about it some more you could also throw in some camp Batman and Robin from the classic 60's series in certain sequences, it does get a little bit too hammy in places I must say hehe.Like Batman the Phantom has no super powers, he merely relies on his strength, intelligence and the fact people think he's an immortal ghost...oh and he lives in a cave. So basically he is Batman but with less cash to have hi-tech...and minus Robin for a couple of wild animals he trained.Of course it is suppose to be almost a pantomime type flick with lots of silly lines and caddish villains, but it is a touch too childish for me in places, where as other pulp comicbook character adaptations like 'The Shadow' are a bit more serious. The Phantom's world is a pretty looking universe I must say, the jungle lair, 30's New York and the museum set where one of the skulls is kept, are all really well created. They have that lovely thick structured wooden stylish design with that nice dark noirish colour range (much like 'The Shadow').The story of this character is just as cheesy as his attire. A boy (400 years in the past) witnesses the murder of his father by some pirates who attack their ship. The boy is washed ashore and gets looked after by some tribes folk. They give him the Skull Ring for some reason and because of this he decides to dedicate his life to stopping naughty people...by becoming the masked avenger The Phantom. This role is passed down from father to son over generations (along with the Skull Ring) and leads to the rumour that the Phantom is an immortal crime fighter (everyone thinks all these Phantoms over the hundreds of years are the same one person). So its all a bit Batman-ish really (but Batman came first!), the rest of the plot mainly involves the Phantom searching for skulls that have great power of destruction and stopping bad guys from getting their hands on them (in the present day of 1938). Simple clichéd stuff really.Effects are dated now of course and the fights do look rather gentle, hell even back when the film was released it wasn't that great effects and stunts wise. I almost expected Kapow! to flash across the screen when Zane punched one of the cookie cutter henchmen baddies. Its a good fun film which kids will enjoy and is set totally within the classic period of the comicbook action genre, old school superheroes. You just have to look at the main villains name...'Xander Drax', could that be anymore ridiculously over the top? Oh and pools of man eating sharks? is this a Bond movie?In all honesty the Phantom isn't really a great character to put on film as he's a bit too dated and soft looking with his natty purple tights and simple black face mask which only covers his eyes. The fact he has a wolf and horse as his loyal sidekicks is also kinda odd really, odd combination wouldn't you think, plus he does look a bit daft on that horse in his purple catsuit. Didn't really think much of the pirates that make up the bad guys either, especially at the end which really turns into Schumacher-esque type affair. I must say I think Treat Williams was miscast as the main villain, I'm sure they could have found someone more caddish looking. But overall its all taken from the original source material (three stories) so that's good I suppose, its just the original stories and ideas are predictably very out of time now.I love how no one recognises 'Kit Walker' when he dons his Phantom black mask, just like Robin its so stupid that no one see right through it...figuratively speaking. Despite the rather familiar plot involving mystical skulls and ancient tribes ('Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom'?), the film doesn't beat around the bush and gives you exactly what it says on the tin. A very light-hearted period set superhero flick with lots of charm dames cads and a dashing hero in a tight purple catsuit.6/10