{"id":6721,"date":"2014-01-29T16:00:54","date_gmt":"2014-01-30T00:00:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/?p=6721"},"modified":"2021-12-30T17:42:29","modified_gmt":"2021-12-31T01:42:29","slug":"review-shadow-bd","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/2014\/01\/review-shadow-bd\/","title":{"rendered":"The Shadow: Collector’s Edition Blu-ray Review"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"The Shadow<\/i><\/b> had plenty of potential but thanks to budgetary constraints and a screenplay that probably could\u2019ve used a polish, that\u2019s all this film is left with. But now 20 years later, it receives new life on Blu-ray to the point hopefully it finds a new audience and Hollywood takes another stab considering the advancement in visual effects with value to the dollar.<\/p>\n

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\nTHE SHADOW (1994)<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

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Genre(s): <\/b>Fantasy, Adventure, Suspense\/Thriller, Crime
\nShout Factory | PG13 \u2013 108 min. \u2013 $29.93 | February 25, 2014<\/p>\n

MOVIE INFO:
\n<\/span>Directed by: <\/b>Russell Mulcahy
\nWriter(s): <\/b>Walter B. Gibson (character); David Koepp (screenplay)
\nCast: <\/b>Alec Baldwin, John Lone, Penelope Ann Miller, Peter Boyle, Ian McKellen<\/p>\n

Theatrical Release Date: <\/b>July 1, 1994<\/p>\n

DISC INFO:
\n<\/span>Features: <\/b>Interviews, Still Gallery, Theatrical Trailer
\nNumber of Discs: <\/b>1<\/p>\n

Audio: <\/b>English (DTS-HD MA 5.1)
\nVideo: <\/b>1080p\/Widescreen 1.78
\nSubtitles: <\/b>English SDH
\nDisc Size: <\/b>35.3 GB
\nCodec: <\/b>MPEG-4 AVC
\nRegion(s): <\/b>A<\/p>\n

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\n\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

THE MOVIE<\/strong> \u2013 3.0\/5<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\u201cWho knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men?\u201d<\/p>\n

The 1990s was certainly an interesting era for studio-financed films, especially fantasy and\/or comic book oriented. In 1992 you had the dark and disturbing Batman Returns<\/i> which made coin but turned off families and Batman Forever<\/i> three years later (1995) was more family-friendly but led into the god-awful Batman & Robin<\/i>. Beyond that, it also was a time of transition from traditional filmmaking and using practical techniques to the new world of CGI pioneered, in part, by Steven Spielberg\u2019s Jurassic Park<\/i> in 1993. Of course, this new world came at a hefty cost which, over the years and for better or worse, has considerably cheapened.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

In 1994 Universal released a $25 milllion budgeted adaptation of the classic 1930s radio program, The Shadow<\/i><\/b> featuring a fine casting crop including Alec Baldwin during his heyday of theatrical films and the lovely Penelope Ann Miller; and some decent talent behind the camera from director Russell Mulcahy (Highlander I & II<\/i>), Screenwriter David Koepp (Spider-Man<\/i>, Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit<\/i>) and cinematographer Stephen H. Burum (Carlito\u2019s Way<\/i>, The Untouchables<\/i>).<\/p>\n

However, the sum of these parts does not make for a good movie. Sure, there are moments I liked and some of the character choices were unique such as making our hero a complete evil villain at the beginning, but the film itself does tend to lag despite gorgeous production design and a running time that was relatively short. Also, and this is no doubt attributed to budget issues, but the finale felt like a big letdown not to mention the effects, even for the time, looked hokey. Underneath it all, there probably was a good movie with The Shadow<\/i><\/b> and the ideas were interesting to the point I liked the character enough that hopefully somebody, with talent, gives the character another shot.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

For their parts, Alec Baldwin embodies the main character quite well and Penelope Ann Miller, even with the all-too-convenient telepathic ability, shares some solid chemistry with one another. No, neither one of them is that memorable but they fill out the necessary roles well enough.<\/p>\n

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SPECIAL FEATURES \u2013 2.5\/5<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Well, it might not sound like a lot, but considering Universal\u2019s release failed to bring any features, hard for me to complain too much.<\/p>\n

Looking Back at The Shadow<\/i> (23:44; HD)<\/span><\/b> is a relatively in-depth featurette containing new interviews with many of those involved including director Russell Mulcahy, Actors Alec Baldwin and Penelope Ann Miller, Screenwriter David Koepp, Production Designer Joseph Nemer III and Director of Photographer Stephen H. Burum. It\u2019s finely put together as each recalls their time working on the film and with one another.<\/p>\n

The Theatrical Trailer (1:57; HD)<\/span><\/b> and a Stills Gallery<\/span><\/b> is also included.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\n<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

VIDEO \u2013 3.25\/5<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Ok, save for the features, this is where the rubber meets the road. The first thing I did notice that despite the back cover stating it is the original 1.85 aspect ratio, this new transfer (and it is new) from Shout Factory does open up the matting to 1.78 which isn\u2019t overly surprising and something Warner and Paramount does on a consistent basis (and you\u2019re not missing anything). The second item I noticed was with the title. Where the Universal version had the green tint seen on the cover, this one, which is zoomed in due to presumably the odd AR the title sequence had, is a cool light blue instead. I don\u2019t know if this was how it was originally done (doubtful as I can\u2019t think Universal would bother altering it for their release and, let\u2019s face it, they did little else to help that transfer) or if somebody messed up… or it was done on purpose. Whatever the reason, it was a bit disconcerting to see it done and made me pay even closer attention to the rest of the transfer.<\/p>\n

So, how does this new transfer look? Well, doing a direct comparison with Universal\u2019s disastrous version, it is a bit better. Gone is the splotchy noise and over-sharpening. Colors still aren\u2019t terribly vibrant but it\u2019s still fairly good and Shout\u2019s transfer does seem to be free of any obvious scratch marks.<\/p>\n

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AUDIO \u2013 3.25\/5<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Also different from the Universal version, this is a new 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio mix. Having been able to compare back-to-back, the differences are kind of negligible, but I did notice that this one maybe has a bit more depth in the rear channels especially when it comes to Jerry Goldsmith\u2019s booming score. Outside of that, the bulk of the action takes place through the center channel where, for dialogue, sounds crisp and clear.<\/p>\n

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OVERALL \u2013 3.0\/5<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Overall, The Shadow<\/i><\/b> had plenty of potential but thanks to budgetary constraints and a screenplay that probably could\u2019ve used a polish, that\u2019s all this film is left with. But now 20 years later, it receives new life on Blu-ray to the point hopefully it finds a new audience and Hollywood takes another stab considering the advancement in visual effects with value to the dollar. The \u201cCollector\u2019s Edition\u201d Blu-ray released by Shout Factory at least does finally give us features and the audio and video transfers correct many of the problems that plagued the Universal release.<\/p>\n

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Published: <\/b>01\/29\/2014<\/p>\n

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Check out some more screen caps by going to page 2. Please note, these do contain spoilers<\/strong>.
\nThese are only here to give an idea of the movie\u2019s video quality and may not be truly representative of it.<\/p>\n

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The Shadow had plenty of potential but thanks to budgetary constraints and a screenplay that probably could\u2019ve used a polish, that\u2019s all this film is left with. But now 20 years later, it receives new life on Blu-ray to the point hopefully it finds a new audience and Hollywood takes another stab considering the advancement … Continue reading “The Shadow: Collector’s Edition Blu-ray Review”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,970],"tags":[1826,1940,2650,262,2651,2649],"class_list":["post-6721","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blurayreviews","category-quick-hit-reviews","tag-alec-baldwin","tag-ian-mckellen","tag-john-lone","tag-penelope-ann-miller","tag-peter-boyle","tag-shadow"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6721","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6721"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6721\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27591,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6721\/revisions\/27591"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6721"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6721"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6721"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}