The Shadow tells the story about a wealthy man from New York City who, while living in Asia, acquired the hypnotic ability to cloud men's minds so they can't see him. Once back in America, he becomes the mysterious Shadow, a crime fighter who has vowed to root out corruption in New York City. His greatest enemy yet comes in the form of Shiwan Khan, the last descendant of Ghengis Khan, who plans to destroy New York. The Shadow recruits the help of a young woman with a unique ability of her own who's father is the key to executing the plan. The Shadow is a mildly entertaining film, but too many flaws bring its quality down.
The Shadow uses ideas from both the radio show and the comic book to make the movie as interesting as possible, but it doesn't really help. The movie is entertaining whenever the Shadow shows up in costume, pulls his chrome plated .45's and starts blasting people. The costume looks really good on film. The special effects are okay, but they could have been better. I didn't like all the supernatural aspects of the film, such as the knife that controls itself. There were a couple of things that were added that weren't really necessary, such as whenever Lamont Cranston puts the costume on, his face changes just so he can look like the comic book version of the Shadow, and when he takes it off, his face goes back to normal. That was a useless plot point that could have been left out. Making Margot Lane a mind reader was a bad move in my books. She's always been a foil to the Shadow, they should have kept her that way. The dialogue in this movie was pretty bad, and the delivery of these lines was even worse. Most of the time, rather than coming off as heroic or sinister, the characters came off as goofy and annoying. The plot was mediocre at best, and it didn't keep me interested like it should have.
The acting was pretty bad. I usually like Alec Baldwin, but his performance in this movie was pretty dull. His corny dialogue wasn't his fault, but the way he delivered them was. Penelope Ann Miller was a joke in this movie. No wonder she's not a big actress. I never thought Tim Curry was THAT great, but he's certainly better than he was in this film. I was especially disappointed with Ian McKellan. He is usually a fantastic actor, but he really let me down here. You could argue that it's the character he plays, but he could have played it better.
Overall, this movie is mildly entertaining, but it just isn't that good.
5/10
The Shadow uses ideas from both the radio show and the comic book to make the movie as interesting as possible, but it doesn't really help. The movie is entertaining whenever the Shadow shows up in costume, pulls his chrome plated .45's and starts blasting people. The costume looks really good on film. The special effects are okay, but they could have been better. I didn't like all the supernatural aspects of the film, such as the knife that controls itself. There were a couple of things that were added that weren't really necessary, such as whenever Lamont Cranston puts the costume on, his face changes just so he can look like the comic book version of the Shadow, and when he takes it off, his face goes back to normal. That was a useless plot point that could have been left out. Making Margot Lane a mind reader was a bad move in my books. She's always been a foil to the Shadow, they should have kept her that way. The dialogue in this movie was pretty bad, and the delivery of these lines was even worse. Most of the time, rather than coming off as heroic or sinister, the characters came off as goofy and annoying. The plot was mediocre at best, and it didn't keep me interested like it should have.
The acting was pretty bad. I usually like Alec Baldwin, but his performance in this movie was pretty dull. His corny dialogue wasn't his fault, but the way he delivered them was. Penelope Ann Miller was a joke in this movie. No wonder she's not a big actress. I never thought Tim Curry was THAT great, but he's certainly better than he was in this film. I was especially disappointed with Ian McKellan. He is usually a fantastic actor, but he really let me down here. You could argue that it's the character he plays, but he could have played it better.
Overall, this movie is mildly entertaining, but it just isn't that good.
5/10