THE SHADOW (1994)

THE SHADOW (1994). Director: Russell Mulcahy.

A very disappointing adaptation of the famous Shadow pulp character for the big screen is tricked up with special effects and the like but never has the right panache to bring it all to life. Not only is Mulcahy's direction off the mark, but David Koepp's script, although it has good aspects, is sometimes just too campy. (And why is the tragic death of a young sailor who is mind-controlled to jump off the Empire State Building practically treated as if it were comedy?) Why should anybody take the character seriously if the film's creators don't? In this The Shadow is actually Lamont Cranston, who was originally a fiendish, dissolute murderer and criminal before being transformed by an Oriental mentor into an agent of Good, the price for his redemption (of course his evil past makes him a bit of a hypocrite when confronting criminals). 

Alec Baldwin as The Shadow

One thing the picture gets right is the look of The Shadow; when Alec Baldwin [The Departed] puts on the cloak of his alter-ego, FX make his face elongate and change into the well-known hawk-like visage of the pulp hero. Baldwin is not at all bad in the role, but he's much too “contemporary” an actor to get across the proper thirties “feel.” The plot has to do with the emergence of Shiwan Khan (John Lone) the last living descendant of Genghis Khan, who wants Cranston to revert to his evil ways and help him conquer the world. To this end Khan needs a “barillium sphere” to build an atomic bomb. A clever if improbable bit has Khan somehow building a skyscraper which is not visible to anyone in Manhattan. A knife whose hilt comes alive and bites The Shadow, and a doom-trap involving a room full of rushing water, are among the better moments in the movie. A scene with a giant rolling time bomb is like something out of the Batman TV show, however, and there are other stupid moments. Tim Curry and Jonathan Winters (as Cranston's uncle) are excellent performers, but neither of them belong in this movie. Penelope Ann Miller is fine as Margo Lane, but Ian McKellen [X-Men] is wasted as her scientist father. Russell Mulcahy also directed Prayers for Bobby. 

Verdict: The really great Shadow movie has yet to be made, and the serial is lots more fun than this. **1/2. 

THE ARTIST

THE ARTIST (2011). Director/writer: Michel Hazanavicius

"It's an honor to meet you. My father is a big fan."

If ever anyone needed proof that winning Oscars often has more to do with pressure from studios and aggressive campaigning than with pure quality, look no further than the fact that this won the Best Picture Academy Award for 2012. Except for a dream sequence and at the very end, The Artist is a black and white silent movie with titles and music [more about that music in a moment]. There have been quite a few classics from the silent movie period -- King Vidor's The Crowd instantly comes to mind -- but The Artist is not on that level. Instead it's yet another variation on A Star is Born with a Valentino-type actor, George Valentin (Jean Dujardin) -- who resists the idea that talkies are taking over -- giving a break to a young female newcomer, Peppy Miller (Berenice Bejo), only to watch her become a big star while he becomes a forgotten has-been. [It is never explained why Valentin won't be hired for sound movies, as no mention is made of any problem with his voice.] However, Peppy doesn't forget her one-time mentor's kindness and comes to his aid. Penelope Ann Miller is Valentin's unloving wife and John Goodman and Malcolm McDowell are movie biz types. There's a cute little dog who nearly steals the picture, but the lead characters are not that sympathetic, and the film is full of show biz cliches without having anything new to add. Yes, The Artist may be an "homage" to motion pictures, but surely it should be as good as the best of the movies it honors before it wins major awards? [Sometimes the Oscars get it right; The King's Speech was a genuinely great picture and deserved to win Best Picture.] Ludovic Bource's music is very good and does a lot of the work, but talented Bource couldn't have been thrilled with the director's decision to score a climactic sequence with, of all things, Bernard Herrmann's love theme from Hitchcock's classic Vertigo! Not only does this pull you out of one movie into another -- as some critics noted -- but it's unfair to Bource, Herrmann, the movie, and the audience. Herrmann [nor Hitchcock] is not alive to protest, but Kim Novak certainly did -- and should have. It was a very bad decision to use such famous music, especially in a scene where it is completely inappropriate.

Verdict: Handsomely produced and well-acted, but we've seen it all before. And the Vertigo steal is disastrous! **1/2.