Review Detail

An excellent bit of restructuring, showing off the magic of what opening in medias res can do for a film. The Alec Baldwin Shadow was never going to be a masterpiece, but Lapis Molari almost gets it there (the bitey knife out of some low-tier Monty Python routine and Penelope Ann Miller are, sadly, insurmountable problems). The film's desire to showcase Shadow's proto-Batman qualities instead of leaning more heavily into his radio presentation as more of a Thin Man/Sherlock Holmes-style detective with a knack for hypnosis doesn't do the character a lot of favours on the silver screen where the Dark Knight will always cut a more impressive visual, but at least Lamont Cranston makes a valiant go of it, and Lapis' edit centers on the best aspects of the movie, namely the cinematography, the genuinely charismatic and charming villain and Peter Boyle's affable cabbie sidekick.

After watching this edit, I wanted to see a 90's-movie pulp hero universe play out with Warren Beatty's Dick Tracy, Billy Zane's Phantom, The Rocketeer... definitely not a feeling I had on my viewing of the original cut. The fact that I wanted more of this movie is a testament to Lapis' skill at re-shaping a movie into something fresh and enticing.