Fantastic Four Movies - ***Spoilers Inside***

I may go Monday or Wednesday due to work.

 

I'll preface this by saying that I am not a huge comic book fan, but I do like good comic book movies, like Spider Man 1 and 2, and the X-Men series. But I knew nothing about the SS or really anything beyond seeing F4-1 when it came out.....

Don't waste your money on this one. This one is a rental at best, IMHO. While the casting for the Thing and Johhny Storm is spot on, the chemistry between Jessica Alba and Mr. Fantastic is terrible. Worse than the poor chemistry between Anakin and Padme bad. And when she wore glasses, to try to make her look smarter, she just came across as a little California dumb-blonde pretending to look smart --poorly.

Sadly enough, the best "hotness factor" came not from Alba (except when she was covered in flames --and that's sad), was from the Army Captain, and she was in BDUs the whole time. Honestly, Alba was so covered in fake-bake-orange-tan, that she just looked and acted terrible in this movie. Really dissapointing, because wasn't she supposed to be the eye candy?

Galactus and the SS, plus Doom, really all seemed wasted. While the effects were good (sorta), the story was thin, too short, and lifeless. No real character development at all, except for Johhny Storm and the Thing, who really stole the show, as far as I'm concerned. I think it was too short for what they needed to do, and the directing & acting was bad, prequel bad, IMHO.

I can think of a lot better ways to blow $20, that's for sure.

 

I saw the film just a little while ago and thought it was a major disappointment. A step down from the first film. There was some good stuff in there but there was way to much bad. It seems like all the special effects budget went into making the Silver Surfer and he was fantastic, but everything else seems to suffer. Mr. Fantastic on the dance floor is some of the worst CGI I have ever seen. Just embarrassingly bad. Dr. Doom was underused. The battle between Dr. Doom on the surfboard and the Fantastic 4 in the Fantasticar could have been a brilliant action scene but Tim Story set it at night time so they could try and get by with shoddy CGI. The whole film looked like they were doing it on the cheap. There was no scope or epic feel. I really enjoyed the first film but this was the Blandtastic Bore.

If they make a third film, Tim Story has got to go. The sequel needed to up the ante and he just can't do it.

 

22m opening day. Definitely going to be frontloaded. Mark my words. Luckily like the original, I go for free.

 

Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer was a fun inoffensive popcorn movie with a PG rating. I'd concur the Johnny subplot wasn't developed nearly as much as it could have been. Especially considering it could've been so interesting to see that sort of twist. Johnny being a "freak" or outcast just like Ben was in the first movie. Doug was great as Silver Surfer. Laurence Fishburne did very well with his lines, but it didn't fit the character. Disappointing to see Galactus so minimally used, and the climax was short and relatively uneventful. Still, I enjoyed FF in it's own mildly entertaining way. Better then the first Fantastic Four's CG, and I didn't catch any terrible design/CG problems in terms of meshing, although things were cartoonish at times. Overall, Fantastic Four is meant to be the 'family friendly' super hero offering, and I like that. And Doom's "acquisition" was a fanboy dream come true.

-TJ

 

Why didn't they use Doug Jones' voice. This is the same guy who delivered a great performance as Pan (the Faun) in Pan's Labyrinth.

 

I think part of it was their (needless) concern to have another "celebrity" draw to the film. Laurence Fishburne is apparently more bankable then Doug Jones in their minds. Sad, really. Although they did the same thing in the first hellboy, and gave David Hyde Pierce's voice to Abe Sapien (the fishman).

-TJ

 

Yeah, but David Hyde Pierce made more sense as the voice of Abe Sapien than Doug Jones did. But not once did Morpheus convince me in Silver Surfer. I just always had a different voice in my head... Not deep, but more powerful...

But I liked it... And I'm usually pretty harsh on most comic flicks, but this one was action packed gooey goodness. Nothing to think about, and the comedy actually had me snicker a couple times. Other than paper thin plot and characters, I thought it was fun.

As for Galactus, I did dread to see the cloud monster. But I think when Surfer enters the core, and you see the shape of Galactus' helmet, I didn't feel that they redeemed themselves, but it was enough of a shout out that I was calmed. And besides, in the comics, it's known that everybody sees Galactus differently... we just happened to see him as a storm this time.

 

I'd argue that David Hyde Pierce was merely one way to go. Check out Dougie's voice in Hellboy: Sword of Storms, Blood & Iron... eventually even Hellboy 2. I think his works just fine. Another idea would've been to use Laurence's voice while Norrin was "powered up" and Doug's when the board was taken from him. That way, it would further differentiate the vast power levels involved. Laurence has a much deeper, commanding voice compared to Doug's.

-TJ

 

This is going to fall like crazy. 57 OW. A tad above the original but it wont make the 154 cume.

 

Ratatouille next week
Transformers the week after and HP the week after that. It's gonna drop.

 

i disagree about surfer vs galactus. that is the great thing about heroes and villains. on any given day one will beat the other. comics are not the movies. you have to allow for visual storytelling in the film medium. the power to beat galactus came not from the board but from the surfer's newfound belief in himself. that is what gives us hope and makes us human. at that moment, the surfer became a part of humanity.

 

It's going to Die Hard.

Sorry I couldn't help myself. Seriously FF is going up against two family films the next two weekends, Evan Almighty and Ratatouille. It will take big hits from both films and Transformers will finish it off.

 

Believe it or not, but I liked Fantastic Four. I was better than the first and one of the better superhero movies.

 

I agree, I liked it for what it is. A fun Summer movie

 

I didn't think it'd be as fun of a movie.

 

Didn't like it. The plot wasn't developed at all and the characters weren't very developed or interesting. I felt like I was watching an episode of the Adam West Batman.

 

I still don't like any of the main characters. I didn't in the first movie. But I love Silver Surfer and Fantasticar

 

Watch the EE of the first movie. It totally changes the movie in quite the positive way.

 

What did they add?

 

I saw it today with my nephew and I have to say I enjoyed it, in a live-action cartoon kind of way I feel sorry for big fans of the Fantastic Four because if I was a big fan I'd be mad as hell because compared to the likes of X-Men 2, Spider-Man 2, Batman Begins and Superman Returns, the Fantastic Four movies are really very poor and are nothing more than live action cartoons so I feel for the fans.

 

It's mid-range marvel. The series is acceptable for the subject matter IMO.