The Shadow Movie!

Having finished the 1940 serial (see below), I still felt a hankering for some more action, so I pulled out The Shadow movie from 1994 starring Alec Baldwin. This is a pretty decent actioner with good Shadow gimmicks for the time.

The story is pretty good with Shiwan Khan showing up in a bravura performance by John Lone who chews up the scenery perfectly as the meglomaniacal uber-villain. His plan to hypnotize all of New York City while getting his mitts on a protoype of an "atomic bomb" is perfectly dastardly. His sidekicks, a bunch of dimwitted Mongols are pretty good too.

Alec Baldwin is a bit debonair for the role, but when they hit him with the make-up he looks just like the Steranko covers I loved as a kid. Seeing the Shadow in action is highlight of this movie. He gets to do some dandy shooting, though I will confess he has a propensity for getting shot himself.

I don't know how the origin story fits with the canon (not well I suspect) but giving the Shadow the need to atone for past crimes does give his focus a reason to exist.

The sidekicks are great in this one. Penelope Ann Miller is ravishing as Margo Lane and stands up to Baldwin neatly in her scenes. Moe Shrevnitz is brought to the screen wonderfully by the much missed Peter Boyle, a man who always had a devlish twinkle in his eye despite the role he played.

Tim Curry as Khan's henchman is definitely over the top, but for him it works. His demise is well earned. And Ian McKellan gives a first-rate offering of a daft professor.

There are some plot holes in this one you could drive through for sure, but some of the scenes are magnificent. When the Monolith Hotel is revealed is fantastic and gives a scope to the movie that elevates it for me.

The movie owes a lot to the Batman flicks of the time, but it doesn't overwhelm the movie. I like this one a lot.

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