The Shadow

When I was collecting DVDs I had a good number, and a decent number of those were movies that I actually enjoyed. Further to that, I tried to stay with DVDs that were technically sound, such as: anamorphic video, high bitrates (thanks Superbit), dts sound and so on. There was also a local store called Mudsharks that carried more movies than your regular Wal-Mart or what have you, but the store was basically a drug front (they had movies, music and bongs). All of their movies were available for rent, and purchase. It was a weird system but it was effective in seeing different movies.

One of the movies they always had on the shelf was The Shadow. When I was a kid, I loved this movie - for reasons unknown - and Mudshark's actually carried it. As we always did, I poured over the back cover of the case and analyzed the technical contents within. Something stood out: this film has been modified to fit your screen. That meant full screen. Further analysis confirmed it. This would not stand, and the movie would taunt me as it stood on a thin wooden shelf, unmoving throughout the years. I had memories of the film as a child, and they were good. It's not like I had a widescreen television at the time, so full screen should have sufficed, but I was a film elitist who wanted to see movies the way their director intended (and still do). But one movie here or there - modified - shouldn't be a problem. So why couldn't I rent this classic?

I was terrified of ruining my childhood memories, and it's simple as that. When you're a kid, you see them differently, and over time, your tastes change. Your imagination fills in the blanks and you remember them different - perhaps as some kind of defense mechanism, I'm not sure. But then again, you see some films as a child, like Ghostbusters, and it's still just as awesome as it was back then. So would The Shadow be terrible? Was I fooling myself?

The Shadow is on Netflix, and I faced my fears. I loaded the movie, and much to my delight, it was in widescreen, and high definition (although this type of HD is questionable: more like an upscaled DVD). Regardless of the technical specs - as I tell myself that I've gotten over that - I enjoyed the movie. By all accounts, the movie sucked. The story is so inane that I didn't quite follow it (it didn't help that I was rebuilding my PC in the background at the beginning of the film) and the characters are just wretched. The movie has this weird feel to it, you know, that weird mid-nineties feel. It has that transitionary look to it, where we were moving away from traditional special effects and entering the age of CGI. The miniature work looked fairly cheap, probably because they spent more time with awkward shadow effects and stop motion faces on mystical knives. It's that weird conglomeration that we don't get anymore as everything is CGI.

What I really can't get over is how many stars are in this movie. First, of course is Alec Baldwin as the lead role. Peter Boyle, Tim Curry (!) and Ian McKellen, to name just a few. Perhaps one of the reasons I loved the movie so much as a thirteen year old boy is Penelope Ann Miller. There were also various recognizable characters, such as Patrick Fischler and Ethan Phillips - actors who are just in things, that are always a pleasant suprise when they turn up in your favourite movies. It's like you're happy to see that they've been gainfully employed for so long.

There is a lot of history behind the character The Shadow that I'm completely unaware of, which probably helps in my enjoyment (fanboys I'm sure were able to find lots "wrong" with the interpretation here). It also adds to my enjoyment as I try to piece together some things about him; I love the myth tidbits that are dropped here and there, and can really appreciate that this guy is an older superhero and yes: this movie is a superhero movie without being lumped in with all the recent Marval and DC adaptations. It's my love for the comics that drive me to enjoy this movie, and really makes me sad that we don't get more. I don't remember the final showdown involving the mind so much; it was like watching an early version of The Matrix where The Shadow must free his mind and concentrate on his own reality. If you try too hard, just as Neo casually accepts he is not in a real world, The Shadow must casually accept control of the knife.

Perhaps it sounds crazy but I want more, and if this means I have to buy a few comics books, then so be it. In one of our pilgrimages to Fan Expo I picked up a handful of The Shadow comics, not knowing that this particular series I bought has been derided by fanboys simply because The Shadow uses automatic weapons - a big no no, apparently. All that being said though, and my high regard for the film, doesn't mean you will enjoy it. Nostalgia does have away of clouding a man's mind.