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.

I don't really remember the Phantom comic strips so I'm mainly going on the movie itself and the sloppiness and lack of attention to detail.Starting from the beginning... OK so the 5 year old Kit Walker was in the car with his mother when it plunged into the water, he somehow got out of the sinking car and scrambled onto a tire strapped on the wall so he didn't drown but dodged the assassins from the Singh brotherhood... but how come he isn't wet I mean obviously he didn't fly out of the car into the tire. OK I guess that can be considered a minor mistake...The boy was found near by scavanging the trash, unable to remember anything. Obviously the Bpaa Thap(or whatever the name of the phantom's organization) knew his face, and with all their intel and high tech crap should've known that his mother was killed, and that police records probably showed no body of a kid. They should've been looking for him and anything about a kid about 5 years old, who had a concussion, looked exactly like Kit Walker, found alone in a location not too far from the crash site on the front paper should've caught their eye in the first place. I mean if they were checking every DNA record logged in all intelligence agencies to find a match for Kit Walker 19 years after his disappearance, and the Walker family was so important that they kept the organization running for 19 years prepping for the 22nd Kit Walker, they probably were looking for him a couple months after the accident. How would such a significant boy just slip through? Fine, let's just say they were THAT incompetent. How about when Kit returns home to find his foster parents dead. When he enters the home he keeps calling for his parents and for some reason, the guys who are there specifically to kill him don't hear him. He calls them out pretty loud and there's just a normal door, not some high tech sound proof door between him and the killers but they don't even hear him yelling for his parents. Now we go to the Bpaa Thap headquarters. The first Kit Walker was apparently from Swiss. and in the early 1500s he was on a boat when it was attacked by pirates and landed stranded on an Indonesian island. Well first of all to land up on an Indonesian island he had to be attacked in either the Pacific Ocean or the Indian Ocean. That was before anyone in Europe even really knew about the Pacific. Vasco da Gama was the first to sail around Africa to get to India and that was around 1500. With the technology back then, it was a huge task just to get to India by boat. Even in 1536 there were no stable merchant routes between India and Europe by sea, which means there were no pirates in the Indian Ocean because there'd be nobody to plunder. Another thing, it would take months and probably over a year to sail from Indonesia back to Europe even with the best crew and navigational equipment of that age. The operation would have to consist of dozens of men and a pretty large boat. Of course he would not be able to get that on the island so how the hell did he get back to Swiss and fight crime? FYI, the in original Phantom, the Bangella island is located somewhere in Africa which makes much more sense.Oh another thing, if he was from Swiss he shouldn't use English to write his diaries. Most likely he would've used German, which is confirmed by the way they pronounced Kit Walker when they picked the 22nd up and took him to the car crash site. Again in the original Phantom, Kit Walker is of British descent. Ummmmm and yeah at the last scene. So he's all trained up for months to fight mercenaries and ex-military guys working for a worldwide crime syndicate and the gets tossed around by some tribal men like a toy. Seems like he's not ready lol And he picks up a a red hot metal ring and puts it right on. That thing should melt his fricken flesh...I'm just mentioning the big gaping holes leaving out the more subtle stuff...over all I'm giving it a 2 because of the acting which was decent. The rest was just so bad I couldn't get into the movie. Sure, I'm one who likes mystery thrillers pieced together flawlessly but the thing to note is that even huge blockbuster movies with almost no plot make sure they don't leave any obvious holes. It is always better to have no plot or details to put holes in than make a lousy one with tons of holes.

This is a thoroughly enjoyable show. So often both the television directors and the television critics feel that television must deliver some kind of message or have some type of grand esoteric meaning, but most television programs are simply just for entertainment. Thankfully, this particular program does exactly what it is supposed to do--entertain. Additionally, I really like the characters, Guran (played by Sandrine Holt) and Renny (played by Cameron Goodman), so this show works for me on more than one level. This is only television, it is not theater class at an expensive university. Others seem to have unrealistic expectations of just what television can and does deliver to the masses.

I have to say that this is the best adaptations of the Phantom I have seen to date. Yes, it is made for TV, but don't let that turn you away. SyFy did a great job on this one. The acting was very good throughout. The story was intriguing and the action was fun to watch. If SyFy is thinking of making this into a series, they should absolutely do so. This may be a spoiler to some, but I love the new suit. I'll admit it does take a little bit away from the human aspect of The Phantom, but it still does not make him Superman. They took the classic story and modernized it well. I hope they will show it again soon so I can recommend it to others. If you have a chance, check it out.