Fantastic Four

PhilNYC · « **on:** 11 Jul 2005, 01:00 pm »

Saw this last night. As a big fan of the original comic book, I found it entertaining but ultimately disappointing. Asides from some of the obvious holes in the story, the biggest problem I had with the movie was that it didn't take itself seriously enough. I'm not advocating taking itself too seriously...but in order for any real tension to be sustained, the core of the story needs to be more serious, and here it fell short. Much of the success of the Spider-Man movies was the beliveability of Peter Parker's angst...the FF never pulls that off with the central stories between Reed Richards and Ben Grimm or Sue Storm (or Dr. Doom, for that matter).

The best parts of the movie definitely came at the moments that tried to capture some of the spirit of the comic books. The first time the Human Torch yells "Flame On!" was awesome, as was the Thing's "It's Clobberin' Time!".

Casting-wise, the main issue I had was with Reed Richards. Perhaps it was the obvious hair-dye job, but he just seemed wrong for the part, unconvincing as a brilliant scientist. On the plus side, the Human Torch was absolutely perfect, as was The Thing. And surprisingly, Jessica Alba was IMHO not bad as Sue Storm (I was skeptical going in).

Anyways, I'd put this one somewhere between Daredevil (really bad) and The X-Men (pretty good).

Levi · « **Reply #1 on:** 11 Jul 2005, 02:10 pm »

Thanks Phil. I have not watched the movie yet but managed to get a copy of the Fantastic Four DVD this weekend.

ScottMayo · « **Reply #2 on:** 11 Jul 2005, 03:52 pm »

I wasn't excited by this film. It was ok. Alba was cute. Most of the characters seemed pretty cardboard, even by the undemanding standards of comic book stories. I had the impression they wrote for 9-12 year olds.

Should have seen Batman or Madagascar instead...

Levi · « **Reply #3 on:** 11 Jul 2005, 04:26 pm »

Batman is pretty good.
Wars of the World has awesome effects but lacks content unlike Indepedence Day.
Madagascar - is ok. Wait for it in the DVD

John Ashman · « **Reply #4 on:** 11 Jul 2005, 05:24 pm »

When I envision TF4, I picture Reed as being *at least* 40, Sue Storm being late 30s and Johhny Storm being late 20s, even early 30s and Victor as at least 40s, if not 50s, even 60s. Of course, if they want to do additional movies, which they do, they can get more mileage out of younger actors. For instance, the guy that played "The Professor" on Gilligan's Island would have been better in his younger days. Maybe not him, but someone similar. I only think of him because I've been watching Twilight Zone reruns saved from the 4th of July weekend.

Of course, I am willing to bet that Galactus will be in a second movie, unless they're saving him for a 3rd "keep it alive" movie. Seeing Galactus in a movie, well done, would be AWESOME. And pretty eerie, actually. Not as funny as Omnipotus in The Tick, anyway

I think TF4II will make for another movie in which the sequel is better than the original.

I wonder why they didn't open the movie on July 4th? It seems like the obvious thing to have done.

I for one, wasn't horrified by Daredevil, though I might have been had I paid money to see it. It was mildly entertaining on my brother's HT system. Just put your brain in neutral, something I plan on doing for TF4.

Batman Begins is now the standard, however, with Spiderman nipping at its heels. It will be hard for a comic book movie to match the balance of those movies.

PhilNYC · « **Reply #5 on:** 11 Jul 2005, 06:47 pm »

Scott..."cardboard" is exactly the right word for these characters. There was certainly a lot of room for far more depth, athough I do see how tough that would be to try to develop for 5 main characters.

John...remember that Reed and Von Doom were college roommates, so they would have to be the same age (or at least close). In the original comic, Doom was an egomaniac that refused Reed's review of some calculations that ultimately would have saved him from a horrible disfiguring from an experiment gone wrong. But I do agree that I had always envisioned Reed and Sue to be older than they were portrayed in this film...always saw Sue cast with Helen Hunt, and perhaps Tom Jane (who I thought was totally mis-cast in The Punisher) as Reed.

I also agree that Batman Begins does set the new standard; however, it did have the benefit of not having to portray a costumed villian, which makes it easier to make more realistic...

BillyM · « **Reply #6 on:** 11 Jul 2005, 08:11 pm »

Went to see it last night with a friend who LOVED the Fan4 comics as a child. We went to the brand-new Super-18 theater that just opened. Previews start, and its immediately apparent that the front speakers are bottoming out on explosion effects. They have the HUGE effect subs built into the under-stage, WHY ARENT THEY LETTING THEM DO THEIR JOB?

...this was only the first of a long line of audio and content related left-eye-twitches to be endured throughout the movie. All the previous comments of "paper-thin character development" and "lack of serious recreation of the original comic" stand true. I figured they would gear this movie to an age-range who would have enjoyed the Fan4 as kids, not to current children who will have no background with the comic. ...that's what I get for figuring...

Save your $8, catch it at the dollar-flick if you dont want to miss Alba's clevage.

--BillyM

jermmd · « **Reply #7 on:** 12 Jul 2005, 12:10 am »

I'm curious what you guys thought of the Hulk. It was a really bad movie but pretty true to the comic book and the hulk was right on IMHO. Many people who didn't really know the comic book remembered the Hulk from the old TV series but the comic book Hulk was much more like the movie. I was a major comic book collector many years ago and I'm still very nostalgic for the old characters. As long as there are decent special effects, The super hero movies would have to be really bad for me not to enjoy them,

Phil, I'm impressed with your Fantastic four knowledge. I was going to post something along the same lines as you in regards to the origin of Dr. Doom but you beat me to it.

mcrespo71 · « **Reply #8 on:** 17 Jul 2005, 04:17 am »

I just saw the Fantastic Four and it was OK. I honestly hope they do another because I think it's one of Marvel's most classic teams and deserves a better film

Michael

PhilNYC · « **Reply #9 on:** 17 Jul 2005, 04:38 am »

Quote from: jermmd

I'm curious what you guys thought of the Hulk. It was a really bad movie but pretty true to the comic book and the hulk was right on IMHO. ...

I was severely disappointed with the Hulk movie, particularly since I'm a huge fan of Ang Lee. I really expected to see a deep exploration of Bruce Banner's psyche, specifically as it related to his subconsciously liking the freedom the Hulk has to rampage. Instead, they left it to one set of lines where Banner basically says "I like it", and that's it. Beyond that, I felt they tried to jam far too much of "Hulk-lore" into the film...between the poodles, Zaxx (and the melding with Ross...or was that supposed to be the Absorbing Man?), et al, towards the end I was entirely expecting to see Doc Samson, the Leader, the Abomination, and even Wolverine make an appearance.

Quote

Phil, I'm impressed with your Fantastic four knowledge.

Thanks! Actually, of all the classic Marvel Comics, FF was probably one of my least favorite (although I was still a fan), because I felt it had the least depth in the characters and their personal conflicts...but it was still one that I really enjoyed...

Ears · « **Reply #10 on:** 19 Jul 2005, 06:06 am »

Quote from: ScottMayo

I wasn't excited by this film. It was ok. Alba was cute. Most of the characters seemed pretty cardboard, even by the undemanding standards of comic book stories. I had the impression they wrote for 9-12 year olds.

Should have seen Batman or Madagascar instead...

Funny you should say this because I brought my 12 year old son, his 12 year old cousin and two of my sons 12 year old freinds as well as my 9 year old neice.....and all gave it a thumbs down...but did say it had great special effects and that they thought part two should better.

My wife and I opted for Wedding Crashers while the kids watched FF.
I figured it would be another so -so comedy...but we were both pleasantly suprised....almost shocked at how good it was

For once....a movie thats much better than the previews make it look.

bubba966 · « **Reply #11 on:** 19 Jul 2005, 06:14 am »

I thought it was fun & enjoyable.

Sure, it had it's problems. And it was a little on the cheesy side. But I expected cheese & problems. I wasn't expecting X-Men/Batman Begins/Spidey level material.

Yeah, the guy they got to play Reed kinda sucked. And Alba wasn't the greatest choice for the role. But they weren't that bad.

I thought the worst thing was the fight w/Doom at the end. That was lame.

Man you guys sure are hard on this film...

PhilNYC · « **Reply #12 on:** 19 Jul 2005, 11:33 am »

Quote from: bubba966

I thought the worst thing was the fight w/Doom at the end. That was lame..

The fight w/Doom was straight out of one of the old comic books (maybe when Jack Kirby was still drawing it?)...the Torch going supernova in a Sue Storm force-field, the Think opening the fire hydrant w/Reed directing the flow of water, etc...almost frame for frame...

suits_me · « **Reply #13 on:** 20 Jul 2005, 05:00 am »

I thought it was mediocre, so it exceeded my expectations by a wide margin.

It made Letterman's web site top ten list of movies you don't want to see, at #6, "Slightly Above Average Four"

http://www.cbs.com/latenight/lateshow/top_ten/contest/

(They give out mousepads to winners. I'm sure everyone here could use another mousepad....)

bubba966 · « **Reply #14 on:** 20 Jul 2005, 10:19 am »

Quote from: PhilNYC

Quote from: bubba966

I thought the worst thing was the fight w/Doom at the end. That was lame..

The fight w/Doom was straight out of one of the old comic books (maybe when Jack Kirby was still drawing it?)...the Torch going supernova in a Sue Storm force-field, the Think opening the fire hydrant w/Reed directing the flow of water, etc...almost frame for frame...

Ok, so they were being nice to the comic fans with that one. But couldn't they have made the beginning part of the fight w/Doom last longer? Maybe more of them going one on one with Doom and getting constantly beat back. Then figure out that they need to work as a team to defeat him & then use the comic book version of the fight?

I'm sure it worked good in the comic some 40 odd years ago. But if that was a direct translation to the screen, it didn't do much for me now.