{"id":3863,"date":"2024-09-06T13:40:23","date_gmt":"2024-09-06T13:40:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/?p=3863"},"modified":"2024-10-14T00:27:10","modified_gmt":"2024-10-14T04:27:10","slug":"the-shadow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/2024\/09\/06\/the-shadow\/","title":{"rendered":"The Shadow"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"The Shadow<\/strong> (1994)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Universal\/Action-Adventure\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 108 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated PG-13 (fantasy action violence)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Russell Mulcahy\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: David Koepp\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Jerry Goldsmith\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Stephen H. Burum\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: July 1, 1994 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 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 \u201cSonny\u201d Trinidad, Joseph Maher, John Kapelos, Max Wright, Aaron Lustig, Ethan Phillips.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Box Office: $32M (US)\/$48M (World)<\/p>\n

Rating<\/strong>: **<\/p>\n

\u00a0The Shadow, star of pulp novels and a popular radio show, was a great character. Who didn\u2019t get chills when they heard the famous intro \u201cWho knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? The Shadow knows!\u201d? Obviously, I\u2019m not old enough to have listened to the program when it aired in the 30s, but I have heard recordings of it. It\u2019s pretty good. I wish I could say the same of the movie version of The Shadow<\/strong>, but I can\u2019t. Despite its awesome production design, it\u2019s rendered a gorgeous failure by its weak plot, slow pacing and poor acting.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Since a lot of you have no idea who The Shadow is, here\u2019s a brief synopsis. He was an avenger-type hero with the power to \u201ccloud men\u2019s minds\u201d. 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 \u201cwealthy young man about town\u201d not too unlike Bruce Wayne.<\/p>\n

\u00a0In the movie, The Shadow<\/strong> 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\u2019s 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 \u201cthat most wretched lair of villainy we know as….New York City\u201d 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\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Then 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 \u201cbronzium\u201d and a kidnapped scientist (McKellen, LOTR). What might work in a pulp comic book fails on the big screen. It\u2019s too skimpy a storyline to support an iconic character. But what visuals! WOW!<\/p>\n

\u00a0Russell Mulcahy has a real flair for visuals as seen in his previous films Razorback, Highlander and Ricochet. Unfortunately, he\u2019s typically weak in the storytelling department. This is especially evident in The Shadow<\/strong>, 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\u2019s 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\u2019s a shame it lacks substance to properly back up style. The already thin plot is stretched almost to the breaking point.<\/p>\n

\u00a0I don\u2019t know who should have been cast as the title character in The Shadow<\/strong>, but it shouldn\u2019t have been Alec Baldwin. He\u2019s the wrong choice. His performance is too low-key and lacks charisma. In other words, he\u2019s 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\u2019s overacting as the villain alleviates the boredom somewhat. Penelope Ann Miller (Kindergarten Cop), playing Cranston\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The screenplay by David Koepp (Jurassic Park) is filled with holes and gaps in logic. The biggest plot hole has to be Cranston\u2019s transformation from evildoer to hero. We don\u2019t 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\u2019t have a better understanding of \u201cclouding minds\u201d. It\u2019d be nice to know how this works. Then there\u2019s 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 \u201copen to door\u201d through a window. Why not tell her this psychically as well? Wouldn\u2019t that be more efficient? It makes no sense.<\/p>\n

\u00a0I know The Shadow<\/strong> has its fans and I\u2019d like to be one of them, but I can\u2019t 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.\"\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Shadow (1994)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Universal\/Action-Adventure\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 108 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated PG-13 (fantasy action violence)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Russell Mulcahy\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: David Koepp\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Jerry Goldsmith\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Stephen H. Burum\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: July 1, 1994 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Alec Baldwin, John Lone, Penelope Ann Miller, Peter Boyle, Ian McKellen, Jonathan Winters, Tim Curry, Sab Shimono, Andre Gregory, Brady Tsurutani, James Hong, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5550,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3863","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-action-adventure"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/The-Shadow-PIC.jpg?fit=620%2C348&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3863","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3863"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3863\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5552,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3863\/revisions\/5552"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5550"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3863"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3863"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3863"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}