What makes it different from others?

From my favorite movies..

Best movie ever!

A Disappointing Continuation

Honestly, this movie (or 2 episode television series, if that makes sense) is a drastic new take on the 1996 movie.It trades nearly all of the mythos and magical intrigue from the first movie for science and political intrigue, but it actually accomplishes the transition fairly well.The story follows Chris, a 24 year old student at Columbia's law school, who has a thing for parkour. After his friend gets injured in a parkour accident, he meets an EMT named Renny, and they seem to hit it off. Naturally, his parents are immediately murdered by a pair of twin assassins. He is whisked off to an island and told that he is actually Kit Walker, the Phantom.Overall, the protagonists are enjoyable, and definitely more lifelike than in the original films. Chris and Renny, along with her father, the assassins, and many of the characters on the island, were deep and interesting, yet each managed to provide the movie with a comic element. In fact, Jordy is one of the best "comic-relief friend" characters that I've seen in a long time.However, this is where my review turns a little more negative. The antagonists throughout the movie were a constant source of disappointment. While the two assassins were in general very good, it was clear from the beginning that Abel was going to be an antagonist. Furthermore, while I enjoyed that the Singh Brotherhood was changed from a group of pirates to a technology corporation, the Brotherhood was fairly uninteresting, and Raatib Singh had some of the most cliché and terrible lines in all of film.Overall, this was a fresh, new adaptation of a fairly decent nineties movie, and if you can stand fairly bland antagonists, I would recommend it.

In New York, the twenty-four year-old Chris Moore (Ryan Carnes) is on the last semester in the Columbia Law School and is a practitioner of Parkour. When his friend has an accident practicing the sport with him, the paramedic Renny Davidson (Cameron Goodman) helps them and Chris and Renny immediately fall in love with each other. However Chris is arrested by the police but Renny's father, Detective Sgt. Sean Davidson (Ron Lea), releases him. When Chris arrives home, his parents make him promise that he will study a lot to not fail in the upcoming exams.A couple of days later, Chris dates Renny and while he is returning home alone, he is abducted by a group in a van. Soon the leader of the group, Abel Vandermaark (Jean Marchand), explains to him that he is a foster son and his real name is Kit Walker. He is the twentieth-second generation of The Phantom, the ghost who walks, and they belong to his organization Bpaa Thap that helps The Phantom to fight the crime along the centuries. Chris does not believe on his words but when he returns home, he finds his beloved parents murdered and the two criminals waiting for him. Chris flees and one killer dies in an accident. He calls Vandermaark and they travel with Guran (Sandrine Holt) to Bangalla, where he is trained to be The Phantom. Meanwhile the evil Singh Brotherhood led by the cruel Raatib Singh (Cas Anvar) is plotting a scheme using the technology developed by Dr. Bella Lithia (Isabella Rossellini) to kill the charismatic leader Jalil Ben-David (Jason Caselli) and begin a worldwide war."The Phantom" is an adaptation of my favorite childhood hero, The Phantom, in the Twentieth-First Century. I saw this movie yesterday on DVD in an edited version of 150 minutes running time and despite of the flaws, I liked the story and found it very entertaining. The Phantom follows the family tradition, and the uniform has been used since 1536. Therefore, there is no reasonable explanation for the twentieth-second The Phantom to wear different clothing. The uniform could have been improved, but is colors and shape should have been kept the same.Abel Vandermaark is a contradictory character and the conclusion of the story is not good. Nevertheless my wife and I have enjoyed a lot this free-adaptation of this forgotten hero. My vote is eight.Title (Brazil): "O 22o Herdeiro" ("The 22nd Heir")

I am an original Phantom reader and saw the movie back on 1996 with Billy Zane which was more truthful to the character than this adaptation. They try to modernize the character to a point that is almost unrecognizable. The origin has gaps in it that it doesn't explain. The acting is non-existent and a lot was changed from the original version. But what can you expect from a movie made for the SciFy channel and made by Canadians? Nothing personal against Canada but trying to do their own version of an American icon when they don't know much about the character this is what happens. It is like a Chinese movie studio trying to do a version of Superman without devoting time to really know the character. Of course they going to add their own interpretation and the result will be something different to what we are used to see.

The most reoccurring complaint I see in the prior reviews of this Phantom TV movie is "He's nothing like the old phantom". I am inclined to retort: "So what?" Times change. Crime and injustice evolve, so does the technology that can be used by evildoers. It's only normal in terms of escalation that the Phantom evolves as well. In the old times, the spandex outfit was the Phantom's choice because it would confuse the enemy as well as conceal his real appearance, only nowadays Walker has to take armor piercing rounds and automatic weapons as a potential annoyance too. So yes, he'll wear something different. Same goes with that visor. It has to be both concealing and useful. What is true for technology and attire is also true in terms of psychology. This Phantom reflects his own time. Tradition is not totally forgotten, the whole ritual experience on the lair island is there to remind of all that makes the Phantom who he is. The horse? The dog? You wouldn't bring these to a modern fight, unless you want them minced. Bottom line: Suck it up buddies, the Phantom we grew with did the same thing we all do. He aged, he died, he got replaced. What is immortal is the concept of the Phantom and in order to survive, all things have to adapt. Including the Ghost Who Walks.