THE SHADOW
A film review by Steve Rhodes
Copyright 1995 Steve Rhodes
RATING (0 TO ****): * 1/2
Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? THE SHADOW does.
In this movie adaptation, however, THE SHADOW knows nothing, because the movie, from start to finish, is just an exercise in style. Now don't get me wrong, this is GREAT style. Think of the feel of BATMAN but without quite such depressing sets. Think of BATMAN, but with better special effects. Okay, you have now successfully formed an image of THE SHADOW in your mind.
In the movie, THE SHADOW (Alec Baldwin) is fighting the last living relative of The Great Khan called Shiwan Khan (John Lone) in New York City. THE SHADOW is aided in this by his sidekick (Penelope Ann Miller). All this having been said, none of it matters. The director Russell Mulcahy uses the plot in the movie only to display and enhance the mood and the style of picture.
It is set in the 30s, and high tech back then was a bunch of pneumatic tubes. All over The Big Apple, down buildings and between buildings, THE SHADOW has strung these pneumatic tubes which no one ever seems to notice. His helpers send him messages through them as the tubes all funnel back to his desk. The E-mail of the 30s.
Although the technical ideas above were quite innovative, the script by David Koepp wasn't. He should have worried some about character development and not gotten so carried away with the gadgets.
The lighting, especially the lights and THE SHADOWs (what else), are terrific. The cinematography (Stephen H. Burum) is dark like Batman, but here it is made to be more serious than depressing. Lots of great Art Deco sets (Joseph Nemec III).
THE SHADOW gets a correct PG-13 rating and runs too long at 1:50. Unless you are really into style and art decoration, I can not recommend this show. No one acts in it. The actors and actresses are all props merely to promote the mood. For the style I give it * 1/2.
**** = One of the top few films of this or any year. A must see film. *** = Excellent show. Look for it. ** = Average movie. Kind of enjoyable. * = Poor show. Don't waste your money. 0 = One of the worst films of this or any year. Totally unbearable.
REVIEWED WRITTEN ON: July 4, 1994
Opinions expressed are mine and not meant to reflect my employer's.
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