MovieChat Forums > The Phantom (2010) Discussion > Possibly the WORST suit makeover... EVER...

Possibly the WORST suit makeover... EVER!

posted 14 years ago by Rustopher
33 replies | jump to latest

I've been a fan of The Phantom for years and I am pretty liberal with movie folks taking creative liberties with classic heroes costumes, but this get up they threw together for the new Phantom is absolutely atrocious. WTF were they thinking?

Maybe I'm in the minority, but I prefer the original suit any day. They should have stayed with that original design, but with a more modern spin. Maybe made the suit out of leather like the suite used in the Daredevil film. Anything would have been better than what they ended up with.

AS a fan of The Phantom, that armored cop getup was distracting and off putting.

Okay. Done ranting.

[–] mogki 14 years ago

The old suit doesn't work in live action so I was expecting a redesign, but I agree with you that it's one of the worst I've ever seen. They could have at least tried to keep some of the features of the old one.

-Nailed it.-

[–] Carol_in_HR 14 years ago

The new suits was terribad.

[–] chatfan 14 years ago

Does not work in live action? What are you drunk???
Every watched the Olympics, cycling, athletics?? A zillion suits like the one the Phantom had and people actually perform better in "live action" with them.

They just didn't want to spend money on anything so got some secondhand sk8ter outfit from some guy names joe.....

[–] kol-8 14 years ago

He meant in a live action movie.
Its hard not to come out looking like a cartoon with that type of suit on.

GI:JOE Images - http://dailysportspages.com/forums/showthread.php?t=5523

[–] BrainGremlin 13 years ago

*facepalm*

Are athletes supposed to put fear into criminals?

They look silly and anything but menacing. As would The Phantom do, at least according to this guy. (I do agree, though I think Billy Zane looked okay.)

---
Oh, kick-€$@&%!-ass! I got a MasterCard!

[–] tiptonr 12 years ago

I liked the new suit, with one big exception. The lack of a real mask was weird. The new visor-like thing is just stupid. Like that's going to really hide his identity, PLEASE!

They needed to modernize the outfit, and I like the high-tech explanation, and general style. But that visor is just wrong!

[–] mbedner3420 14 years ago

I liked it except for the hood thing...I don't know enough about the phantom to be attached to the previous suit. Otherwise to me, it really wasn't that bad

[–] Eric_Muyser 14 years ago

I thought it was dumb he sat there taking shots, when his lower face is fully exposed (and one bullet actually came 2 inches from possibly killing him).

[–] The-Phantom-2040 14 years ago

When I saw the promotional shots of the suit, I thought it was, well, fantastically stupid-looking. After watching the mini-series twice, I've revised my opinion. The only parts I really still cannot get past are the neck thing (which makes logistical sense, but still looks odd to the point of being absurd) and the shaded visor-thing. Looked like a flimsy piece of plastic like you'd find on a sun visor--which it probably was, knowing the Sci Fi Channel.

[–] kol-8 14 years ago

As he grows in his training and mastery of his weaponry and body... he will want to rely less and less on gadgetry and on his suit.
That allows for a natural evolution of the character into fully becoming the "classic" Phantom.

Expect many visits to the suit while he ponders important decisions, staring into the faceless mask as he realizes what his next move should be.
Then one day part of that realization is to reach out and grab the mask and put it on... then putting on the rest of the suit.
No longer needing the techno suit.

GI:JOE Images - http://dailysportspages.com/forums/showthread.php?t=5523

[–] The-Phantom-2040 14 years ago

Mmmm, that might be interesting, though to be fair a techno-magic suit isn't a terrible idea. When you have weapons, in the real world, that are capable of shredding basic armor and giving a tank a run for its money--well, if I were running around trying to protect people, I'd ponder something a little stronger than spandex.

Something that had a lot of the techno-magic suit's capabilities while looking a bit sleeker might well please more than enough fans.

[–] warrende3000 14 years ago

the suit was the stupidest thing i have ever seen in a comic book movie. The visor looked liked it totally covered his eyes and he could see a thing, and in the movie, he just walks up to someone slowly who is firing a machine gun at him with out ducking!! What, does that flimsy plastic visor protect you? even though the bottom half of your face is uncovered?

another thing, when renny meets the phantom for the fist time, how could she not know it was chris? The bottom half of his face is uncovered, he speaks just like chris, and he has a facial mark on his right cheek, just like chris, you silly girl.

[–] The-Phantom-2040 14 years ago

Regarding protecting the lower half of the face from bullets--that's what the neck-guard is for. That's also why such a thing is on a lot of real-life full body armor.

Regarding Renny--I think she knew it was Chris. The way she acts at the end, completely unsurprised, tells me that. Historically, as this Guran mentioned, the Phantoms have married women who were cunning and intelligent--someone like Renny, who works around law enforcement often (both in her job as a paramedic and being the daughter of an officer, thus subject to surely numerous job-related stories) would know that Chris was trying to keep his identity for a reason. In fact, it was likely she correctly realized that someone making it their job to continuously be a thorn in "evil-doers'" sides would need to always appear to have no relationships (familial, intimate, whatever else).

[–] warrende3000 14 years ago

Yeah, but the neck guard just covered his neck, not his lower face, ie from his nose to his chin, that area was still exposed. Also, when he punches the head of the dummy off, his hands are bare, the suit makes you 2x stronger, and makes you hand stronger as well? later in the movie he's wearing gloves, and yet still manages to leave a ring mark on a bad guy? what, was he wearing the ring over the glove? how big is this ring? Maybe if you want to me mysterious and inconspicious you shouldnt leave identifing marks on all your victims, so anyone can trace it all back to you? stupid phantom.
Im not a hater of the phantom, i loved the comic books as a child, read heaps of them, as well as the billy zane movie, i thought it was good, but this film is a letdown of the phantom.

[–] 14 years ago

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[–] The-Phantom-2040 14 years ago

If you re-watch the scene where he faces off with those two mooks inside the apartment (or house; I forget which), you can see that all he would have to do is tilt his face a little bit to have the lower-half protected by the neck-guard.

As for the ring, if you notice, there's a hole in the glove that allows the skull to poke through. Leaving the skull imprint (also called the Bad Mark) on criminals is actually his calling card of sorts. Anyone who sees it would know that, in whatever fashion, this goon is bad enough for the Phantom to smack around and let live as a testament. Somehow, someway, this good pissed the Phantom right off.

[–] creditdauphine 14 years ago

I thought the whole point of being The Phantom in the first place was perpetuating the illusion of "the ghost who walks," an undying protector who the world at large is supposed to think is the same guy because he's always wearing the same frigging costume.

Change the costume this drastically, and you might as well just change his name. But you can't trick someone into watching four hours of shi+ like this by calling it "Kevlar-mesh Guy."

They could have AT LEAST kept the color scheme. I kept being reminded of Daredevil on the old live action Hulk series. Same crappy makeover.

[–] The-Phantom-2040 14 years ago

They did keep the color. The new suit is noticeably purple. And to be fair, throughout the history of the Phantom the looks have changed over the years. The very first one, depending on the comic, had a purple flowy tunic and a black scarf-thing (with eye holes) tied around the upper part of his face.

[–] creditdauphine 14 years ago

The new suit is noticeably purple.

Huh?

Not on my 47" HD TV it wasn't. When the TV announcer said something about a guy in a "purple costume" on top of the ambulance, I was all "WTF?."

The suit looked black as midnight on the version I saw, last week on SYFY HD.

[–] warrende3000 14 years ago

yeah i rewatched this as well, it is black, with hints of grey, but definitely not purple. he wears a large purple beaning earlier on, but his suit is definately black.

[–] Lightsaberboy 14 years ago

i see the purple when they first showed it in the display case, but when he wears it in the dark it was too hard to see the purple on the chest.

Need a dispenser here!

[–] The-Phantom-2040 14 years ago

Get your television fixed. I've watched this on my television and my computer, and on both he's quite noticeably purple. No question about it. I'm not saying he's exactly a bright, neon-lavender or anything, but I could tell it was purple from the first time I saw it.

[–] creditdauphine 14 years ago

Get your eyes fixed. No one's agreeing with you.

The suit is not "noticeably purple."

[–] The-Phantom-2040 14 years ago

And yet, he is. While I'm quite sure neither viewpoint is exactly a minority-held opinion, on both here and the Syfy Phantom boards, hardly anyone says it's not purple. Even the ones who hated the series generally say it is. Besides, I'll trust my eyes that have viewed the mini-series on two different pieces of equipment, thanks. When two different things (that have not been calibrated by me, it should be noted) display something similarly, I'm going to have to believe it is what it is. ;)

[–] paulanno 14 years ago

It's purple.

[–] creditdauphine 14 years ago

It may "be" purple, but it certainly doesn't look purple on SYFY's TV broadcast.

In some of the production stills, some purple is evident. But not in the broadcast. No way.

[–] The-Phantom-2040 14 years ago

I've watched it on television, as I said. It certainly looked purple to me. And apparently I'm very well not alone on the matter.

[–] creditdauphine 14 years ago

And apparently I'm very well not alone on the matter, either.

[–] 14 years ago

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[–] tigergirl177 13 years ago

I'm with ya... on my screen (brand new computer and I have calibrated it), the suit is black, black and grey. The only thing purple is the head "scarf" that he wears when talking to his old friend (the one that broke his ribs at the start).

Don't like the suit. Looks like something out of Star Trek or he's going to do a round of paintball. :D

"Nothing's forgotten. Nothing is ever forgotten"

[–] jacolby65 14 years ago

I guess you didn't notice hum ducking to cover his lower face behind the neck guard when they shot at him, huh? And if girls not noticing guys they know when they are in hero mode bothers you... pal, let me warn you away from this genre, you're going to get that a lot. Save yourself some outrage!

[–] jacolby65 14 years ago

Well, I will admit the suit did not say "Phantom" to me, except for the belt buckle, but it's really hard to criticize when the original suit is not exactly cool-looking either. I agree they might have retained a few more classic elements though.

[–] Mr_McLaurel 12 years ago

I completely agree. There are other examples of movie versions of superheroes going for a more "realistic" costume (the Chris Nolan Batman movies, the Bryan Singer X-Men movies, Daredevil with Ben Affleck), but they all managed to retain the spirit of the character. This didn't even look like a superhero, much less The Phantom.

What's the Spanish for drunken bum?