Who Knows What Movie Love Lurks in the Hearts of Men?
I really hope Hollywood doesn’t screw up the “reboot” of The Shadow. Sam Raimi is involved and he’s one of the few people I’d actually trust with the job. I can’t think of anything he’s done that has been bad, besides Spiderman 3, which, I understand, fell pray to pinheaded studio decisions. More importantly, Raimi treats the source material for his movies with a good measure of respect, which is important. He directed Darkman, back in the day, so he already has one foot firmly planted in the pulp genre (and you could say that he knows how to do adventure movies as well as any director working today). If he dials back the intentional camp and plays The Shadow himself just to the gritty side of Frank Miller’s Shadow knockoff, he might have a heck of a movie to make.
Thankfully, Russell Mulcahy gave Raimi a pretty good look at how to do a solid Shadow movie back in 1994. Yeah, I know the critics hated it. I know that Mulcahy went far afield from the real book and radio show origins of The Shadow. Neither one matter. The movie was a cracking good action movie with some truly cool (and very understated) special effects. I even liked Alec Baldwin at his scenery-chewing best in the title role and the absolutely scrumptious Penelope Ann Miller as Margo Lane.
If Raimi can find the right star for the role, and keep the movie from being too drearily dark (we don’t need another Sin City, really), then he ought to do at least as well as Mulcahy. I’ll have to keep my eyes open for better info as some actual shooting and such starts to happen.
Other Posts of Interest:
- I’m Waiving My “Don’t Watch Remakes” Policy in this Case
- A Little Musical Toy Interlude, Plus Movie Trivia!
- Well Played, Mr. Eastwood. You May Get My Ten Bucks Yet!
Category: Screen, Big and Little
