hmflashgordon

(2013-05-01 11:45:25)

Excellent entertaining movie!

Love this movie. I watch movies to be entertained & am thrilled withthis one. I can watch it over & over again & each time find somethingnew in it. The characters are well played. The sets are spectacular.The photography is outstanding & one has to revel in the variousaspects. There is action, suspense & the costumes are first-rate.Baldwin is great in this movie & is next in line to Hunt the RedOctober for his performance. I don't remember this picture beingadvertised when it was released but find that what critics like & hateis totally opposite to my taste, therefore, I seldom read, listen orbother with what critics have to say. One has to suspend logic & justenjoy all the aspects of the movie from the action to the music!

James Miller

(2013-05-01 00:28:45)

Reflections of memory

The major problem with this excellent movie and others (The Phantom) isthatthese characters have been out of the collective memory for so long. Atleast they didn't screw it up like most DC and Marvel comics by trying toupdate these stories to the times. To a 31 yr old who grew up listeningtoan AM radio for Superman, The Shadow and The Green Hornet, this movie wasavisual feast while keeping true to the original idea of this "DarkHero".

nardpuncher

(2013-04-29 20:19:48)

Lots of fun!

This is one of those movies where I find myself alone. Everybody and theirdog seemed to hate it, but I just loved it. It was a lot like Dick Tracy(the Beatty movie) in that it romanticized the period and was way over thetop. Funny as well.

(2013-04-29 07:04:50)

The Shadow Knows!

The Shadow as a character is something of an obsession of mine. As a pulp-fan, comic book fan and general superhero fan, I really enjoy this film every time I watch it. It tries very hard to mesh the pulp world in with The Shadow radio show. It accomplishes this very well. This is a mostly faithful adaptation of the Shadow mythos.Alec Baldwin shines here as Lamont Cranston/The Shadow and is accompanied by an interesting cast. John Lone is convincing as arch-fiend Shiwan Kahn and Penelope Ann Miller is a perfect Margo Lane, but the rest of the cast falls very short. The production design is what you'd expect from a tent-pole summer blockbuster but it captures the time and place of the 1930's very well. It's a great looking film as pictures in this genre usually are. The screenplay by Spielberg's writer, David Koepp, offers a unique and original origin for the hero which up until this film was released had never been attempted. Although there isn't a lot of story here, this movie carries the underlying theme of redemption and plays on that theme very well. This is the kind of movie that plays better, the more production baggage you bring to it. If you respond at all to film noir, if you like dark streets and beautiful women, the look of this movie will work some kind of magic.The only real pitfall of the film is the occasional one-liner that is very misplaced in a pulpy, dark world where a dark hero such as The Shadow exists.The production also has a great score by Jerry Goldsmith. It is a completely inspired and original take on The Shadow, but offers a hint at the radio show theme of the past. This is a very well made film that like Dick Tracy, The Rocketeer and The Phantom, brings pulp sensibilities to modern audiences. 4 stars!

(2013-04-23 09:28:55)

Pretty Good Movie

Watched it last night with my girlfriend. We both enjoyed it and it held our interest for the duration. I particularly liked the art deco sets, and the 1930's period way of speaking. John Lone plays a great villian. Penelope Ann Miller is stunning as Margo Lane. Alec Baldwin is pretty good as the Shadow and Cranston but I wanted a little more screen time for the Shadow. I still give it 4 stars because it is a faithful representation of the Shadow radio series which I have listened to on occasion. The DTS sound is superb. The DVD does not have anything in the way of extra features so I was let down in this respect. The DVD also should be offered in wide screen format because the movie is actually pretty good. A sequel would have been excellent, since a lot of the framework of the Shadow is set up in this movie. Too bad the studio forgot about this movie. My recommendation is to get this movie and pop a batch of popcorn and enjoy!

(2013-04-23 05:11:04)

Teenville

This review is from: The Shadow (DVD) This strongly resembles the Superman films: it was designed for teenage audiences, with lots of violence and noise, and it is utterly brainless. The most interesting question is: Can Alec Baldwin act? Vacuous and silly, the movie no doubt made a lot of money. And I'm out $6 for believing the reviewers on Amazon.com.

(2013-04-16 04:57:30)

where's the widescreen????

A prayer to the powers that be; PLEASE, get these movies out in letterboxed version. As Linus said in charlie Brown's Christmas (when he was looking at the poor little Christmas tree that Charlie Brown got) "This isn't such a bad little movie". This movie deserves better then this. It's fun, moody and a real homage to the radio drama of the past. The movie gets a 3 and a half. The studio gets a one.

(2013-04-15 13:31:48)

Fun superhero film, good period peice

The Shadow is one of the oldest superheroes, predating even Batman. This film wisely keeps to his roots. Set in New York in the 1930s Alec Baldwin's Shadow fights a crazed descendant of Ghengis Khan. The sets and costumes are first rate, the performances are campy but fun.It's a good light superhero film with thrills and laughs. It makes you wish for more.

(2013-04-14 11:48:17)

Great movie

This is one of the best super-hero movies ever made. Balwin is great as The Shadow. This movie has a little of everything: Action, adventure and even a little bit romance!

(2013-04-13 22:49:41)

The British DVD IS widescreen!

...er...yeah. British DVD. Widescreen. Don't think it's been pointed out here. But, yeah, maybe only The Shadow knows. Well, AND the whole of the UK. HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! Etc.

(2013-04-11 14:54:52)

the better movie I´ve ever seen

This caracter of the shadow is great, alec blawdin is the perfect actor in this case.I´ve really enjoyed it and I think this is one of the best movies I´ve ever seen.

clay-8

(2013-04-11 01:28:18)

***1/2 out of ****.

I found myself surprisingly fascinated by "The Shadow". It has a greatdarknoir look that used to bore me but created a great atmosphere with thismaterial. I also liked the performances, mainly from John Lone who playsthevillain. He's a very worthy villain. As for the special-effects; they'renotso bad.The story is pretty clever in itself. David Koepp does it again. "TheShadow" is a very good film. Filmmaking at its best.

aaron esmonde

(2013-04-05 14:07:30)

Surprisingly shady Shadow

After 7 years away  Lamont Cranston/The Shadow returns to New York Cityand battles against his nemesis, Shiwan Khan, who plans to detonate anatomic bomb.Sharing many similarities with its comic book successor Batman, DC'sThe Shadow fairs better if viewed as a prototype/draft version of BruceWayne and Gotham City.  Its a visually atmospheric film with qualitymakeup, sets and FX. The 'knife' effect holds up particularly well.Director Russell Mulcahy's hyper-real stylised 1930s gives the film aninteresting feel with the sets and locations lavishly created. The dialogue and action is at times campy yet in contrast dark andviolent in places. Despite The Shadows' distracting theatricallaugh Alec Baldwin handles the mostly bland script and action setupswell, shining wherever he can making the most of the witty quips. Ian McKellen and Tim Curry are both sorely underused and the supportingcast are a mix of familiar film and TV faces including Peter Boyle.It's not an awful film there's plenty to enjoy but it feels like anexpensive, elaborate feature length screen test. The Shadow has all theingredients but it's measured wrong and slightly over cooked with anunderdeveloped mix of tones. Overall it's comic book anti-hero, redemption fun that's sadlyforgettable.

(2013-04-05 00:07:29)

Why no WideScreen???

I have seen the movie several times on the big cable providers (ie. HBO, Showtime, etc). I just can't believe that there is a movie company out there that still refuses to sell all of their movies in widescreen!! Particularly when using the DVD media! I refuse to buy any movie filmed in greater than 4x3 (ie. widescreen) on DVD or VHS until it is available in widescreen! I really liked this movie, otherwise. Alec Baldwin was subdued enough to keep my interest. And the plot, while farfetched by today's standards, fits right in with the style of the original radio drama. I give it two stars only because of the standard format.

HawkHerald

(2013-03-24 15:19:57)

The Shadow knows

This didn't start out like the typical superhero film. Insread doingsomething heroic, this film introduces the protagonist Lamont Cranstonordering the death of a rival. Cranston has been living in Tinet sincethe end of WWI and become a ruthless opium dealer and warlord calledYin-Ko (literally Dark Eagle in Mandarin Chinese.) He's abducted byservants of the Tulku. The Tulku, a holy man, sees the good in Cranstonlurking beneath his evil persona, and tells Cranston he will be trainedto use his darker nature to "cloud men's minds." Cranston isn'tinterested in redemption and even asks "Am I in hell" but is given nochoice in the matter.Lamont Cranston gains psychic powers of hypnosis, invisibility,telepathy, and telekinesis as a result of his training. He returns toNew York City where he becomes a fearsome vigilante called The Shadowwhile appearing to be a millionaire playboy. As The Shadow Lamontbattles Shiwan Khan, an evil former student of the Tulku whooverpowered and killed the holy man, and his plans for destroying NewYork while romancing Margo Lane, the daughter of a War Departmentscientist abducted by Khan. Margo Lane is a New York socialite whosefather Reinhardt Lane was working on a device that could allow Khan tocomplete his plan. Margo also shows latent psychic ability in hertelepathic connection to Lamont.This was a fun superhero film and Alec Baldwin does a very good job ofportraying the Golden Age crime fighter on screen. The Shadow issomewhat similar to Batman in using his dark image to intimidatecriminals but The Shadow's mission seems to be more about redemptionrather than revenge. The Shadow unlike Batman doesn't hesitate to uselethal force to dispatch more dangerous criminals and isn't above usingthe lives of the people he saves by recruiting them to his own personalintelligence network. The special effects, set design, costumes all look wonderful andthere's an excellent original score to go along. There's a style herethat while not an authentic to recreate the look of the 1930's payshomage to it. Some of the supporting acting is a little underwhelmingand for some reason the beard worn by John Lone looks like it cameunglued but despite this The Shadow is a very good superhero movie thatdeserves a watch.

(2013-03-24 10:58:08)

Good movie hampered by limited DVD conversion

I really liked the movie, even when it got too thin in the script department. The production was slick and maintained my interest during the whole movie. It is relatively short, and would be good at a party. Just don't expect the script quality of a Tim Burton's Batman movie.The downside is that the DVD conversion was not that good. For example, I noticed that the French version had better visual quality than the English version, like during the intro, when the title "The Shadow" appears. I think this DVD is a direct-from-VHS copy. Not the best of all methods!The features are quite limited. It is not even widescreen. No extra footage...Frankly, you are better of buying the VHS version of this movie.

(2013-03-19 09:51:46)

A Real Stinkeroo

This movie was recommended to me as being mindless but fun. In fact it's all but unwatchably bad. Horrible. Awful, awful, awful script; wooden, terrible, acting. But since it takes place in the 1930s there are lots of nice cars though. I've seen worse movies than this one, but no worse movie has ever been this bad, it's clear that they had a lot of money to spend, but they put it into the sets, not the plot. Just, wow, I mean, I really wanted to like it too, since I like the magazine stories but... Yuuuucccchhhh. A major disappointment.

Mickey M

(2013-03-19 04:39:31)

The Shadow knows ... this is a pretty good movie

"Lamont Cranston" (Alec Baldwin) was a murderous opium dealer who was brought to a Tibetan mystic who knew his true identity. He was taught for seven years how to "cloud the minds of men" to where they only see his ("Cranston") shadow. After his training, he goes to 1930's New York City, where he assumes the role of a playboy by day, and the vigilante known simply as "The Shadow" by night who uses a network of what he calls "agents" to keep him informed on "what evil lurks in the hearts of men." One of those in his network is a cab driver (Peter Boyal), who drives "The Shadow" around the city."The Shadow" has been fighting the local gangsters -- until now. "Shiwan Khan" (John Lone), the last descendant of Ghengis Khan, who was also received the same training by the mystic. "Khan" plans to take over the city by using an atomic weapon big enough to destroy "The Big Apple". He then plans to take over the world.As "Khan" is in the begining stages of his plans, "Cranston" meets local socialite "Margo Lane" (Penelope Ann Miller). He is instantly attracted to her, but discovers her psychic abilities, which she is unaware of, are strong enough to uncover his secret identity. Her father has created a device that would help in "Khan's" plans.Now, "The Shadow" has to save "Lane's" father, the city and defeat "Khan" once and for all.This movie is not at all as bad as the audiences in 1994 thought. The performances of almost the entire cast is strong, it has an authentic 1930's feel, good action scenes and good special effects. It also has a pretty high body count, with a minimal amount of blood.Baldwin, Miller and Lone have the strongest performances and the most character development. The supporting cast is also good, but many of them are not developed quite as well as the main cast.The look of the movie is nice. The clothing, cars and other props look pretty authentic to make it feel as if you are looking at something from the 1930's. The lighting uses lots of shadow to give the movie some sense of mystery.The special effects are quite unique in this movie. Mostly, the special effects appear as fog when "The Shadow" is on screen or when something is appearing to those coming out of a hypnotic phase.The only problem I could see in the film is that many of the characters were poorly developed. Another thing that was poorly developed was the blooming romance between "Lane" and "Cranston" was barely touched upon.This one might be worth renting for a Friday night.

(2013-03-15 06:43:19)

The Shadow

This review is from: The Shadow (DVD) Purchased as a gift and the recipient stated that it is a good movie. I like the price too. Thanks

clh-1

(2013-03-14 20:31:16)

Fun and Entertaining

The mid-1990's were an awkward time for Superhero/comic book movies,outside of the Batman franchise, costumed crime fighters were nothaving much success on the big screen. Although several valiant effortswere made. The Shadow is arguably the best of them.With a story in 1930's New York, the visuals are breathtaking, the cityof the time is magnificently recreated ala Dick Tracy but with a largerpalate of colors. While convincingly portraying the feel of the 1930's,it manages to gloss over or omit the actual depression going on at thetime without feeling cheesy or revisionist in nature. The filmsuccessfully captures the feel of old-time Hollywood, by portraying thecharacters as if they were played by actors of the time the film isset. Alec Baldwin brings a combination of Clark Gable and HumphreyBogart to the role, and Penelope Ann Miller is as glamorous as a youngKatherine Hepburn. The script itself is for the most part pretty good. It mixes drama,action, and comedy in good proportions. Each character is developedenough for as long as they are in the film, and that's all that'sreally necessary. For the title character, the movie combines differentelements. Historically there are two main versions of the Shadow, theversion of the pulps/comics who wore the trench coat and hat and justblended into the Shadows ala Batman while fighting crime, and theShadow of the radio show who could actually hypnotize people renderinghimself "invisible". Each group has its devoted followers, and the filmfor the most part effectively combines the two. The music is good andfits the events on screen perfectly. The only downsides are a few jokes don't really fly, and somecharacters aren't really necessary. But these are easily overlooked. All in all, it's a film that one can't get into and enjoy.