The Shadow (1994) Universal/Action-Adventure RT: 108 minutes Rated PG-13 (fantasy action violence) Director: Russell Mulcahy Screenplay: David Koepp Music: Jerry Goldsmith Cinematography: Stephen H. Burum Release date: July 1, 1994 (US) Cast: Alec Baldwin, John Lone, Penelope Ann Miller, Peter Boyle, Ian McKellen, Jonathan Winters, Tim Curry, Sab Shimono, Andre Gregory, Brady Tsurutani, James Hong, Arsenio “Sonny” Trinidad, Joseph Maher, John Kapelos, Max Wright, Aaron Lustig, Ethan Phillips. Box Office: $32M (US)/$48M (World)
Rating: **
The Shadow, star of pulp novels and a popular radio show, was a great character. Who didn’t get chills when they heard the famous intro “Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? The Shadow knows!”? Obviously, I’m not old enough to have listened to the program when it aired in the 30s, but I have heard recordings of it. It’s pretty good. I wish I could say the same of the movie version of The Shadow, but I can’t. Despite its awesome production design, it’s rendered a gorgeous failure by its weak plot, slow pacing and poor acting.
Since a lot of you have no idea who The Shadow is, here’s a brief synopsis. He was an avenger-type hero with the power to “cloud men’s minds”. It basically means he can make himself appear invisible to his foes through some sort of mind manipulation. He was trained to do this in the Orient after WWI for the purposes of fighting crime. He assumed several identities, the most well-known being Lamont Cranston, a “wealthy young man about town” not too unlike Bruce Wayne.
In the movie, The Shadow is played by Alec Baldwin (The Hunt for Red October) who we first meet in Tibet as a disreputable warlord/opium kingpin named Ying Ko. He’s abducted and brought before an ancient holy man with supernatural powers who offers the criminal a chance at redemption by becoming a force for good. Seven years later, he returns to “that most wretched lair of villainy we know as….New York City” in the guise of Lamont Cranston. By night (mostly), he dons a flowing black cape, wide fedora and crimson scarf to mete out justice to members of NYC’s criminal underworld and other evildoers. Naturally, the police see him as a vigilante and want to stop him. That is, until Lamont plays a Jedi…. I mean, Shadow mind trick on his uncle, the police commissioner (Winters, Mork & Mindy). He recruits the people he saves into his secret network of agents who provide help as needed. People like cab driver Moe (Boyle, Young Frankenstein) who acts as his personal chauffeur. Each agent is given a glowing red ring and a secret password used to identify other Shadow agents. Okay, so far, so good.
Then we get to the main plot which pits The Shadow against Shiwan Khan (Lone, Year of the Dragon), the last living descendant of Genghis Khan. He also trained under the same holy man as Cranston. He arrives in the Big Apple in a sarcophagus delivered to a museum. He escapes and sets out to form his own army. His goal is world domination. His plan to attain it involves an atomic device, a rare metal called “bronzium” and a kidnapped scientist (McKellen, LOTR). What might work in a pulp comic book fails on the big screen. It’s too skimpy a storyline to support an iconic character. But what visuals! WOW!
Russell Mulcahy has a real flair for visuals as seen in his previous films Razorback, Highlander and Ricochet. Unfortunately, he’s typically weak in the storytelling department. This is especially evident in The Shadow, a movie rich in gorgeous period detail. It has a noirish look to it with the dark streets, neon-lit alleys in Chinatown, tall looming buildings and big cars with running boards. The costumes play a big part in the movie’s look with the fedoras, natty suits and beautiful gowns. The special effects, which include an invisible building materializing before the eyes of shocked New Yorkers, are outstanding. Mulcahy incorporates dizzying camera angles in sequences like the one depicting secret messages reaching the Shadow via a series of chutes all over the city. This movie is a feast for the eyes. It’s a shame it lacks substance to properly back up style. The already thin plot is stretched almost to the breaking point.
I don’t know who should have been cast as the title character in The Shadow, but it shouldn’t have been Alec Baldwin. He’s the wrong choice. His performance is too low-key and lacks charisma. In other words, he’s a bore. Also, he looks positively ridiculous in the Ying Ko wig. He looks like an aging rock star on the verge of being forgotten. Lone’s overacting as the villain alleviates the boredom somewhat. Penelope Ann Miller (Kindergarten Cop), playing Cranston’s ESP-endowed romantic interest Margo Lane, is simply eye candy. She looks glamorous in those wonderful period gowns, but acts with a noticeable lack of conviction. Tim Curry (The Rocky Horror Picture Show) is absolutely wasted as one of the bad guys in league with Khan. Boyle and Winters go way underused in their roles.
The screenplay by David Koepp (Jurassic Park) is filled with holes and gaps in logic. The biggest plot hole has to be Cranston’s transformation from evildoer to hero. We don’t get to see it or any of his training for that matter. After his initial meeting with the holy man during which he does battle with a magic dagger with a fanged face on its handle, titles appear explaining what he learned during his seven years of training before the scene shifts to 20s-era NYC. Because of this, we don’t have a better understanding of “clouding minds”. It’d be nice to know how this works. Then there’s the scene where The Shadow in nearly drowned in a big water tank. He physically calls out to Margo for help and when she gets there, he mouths the words “open to door” through a window. Why not tell her this psychically as well? Wouldn’t that be more efficient? It makes no sense.
I know The Shadow has its fans and I’d like to be one of them, but I can’t get past the absence of an interesting plot, decent pacing or a well-written screenplay not to mention the miscasting of Baldwin in the lead role. I think a reboot is in order. Like I said, The Shadow is a great character. He deserves a better movie.
