In the interest of full disclosure, I will state what most of you already know: I wrote the novelization of “Fantastic Four.” So obviously it’s to my benefit for the film to do well. Anyone who feels that linkage to the film colors my opinion can disregard it as he or she sees fit.
Now–
Just came back from the FF screening in the city. I heard a number of adults crabbing about how terrible it was, and I was left wondering whether they saw the same film I did. I then asked every kid I could find who was in attendance what they thought of it, and kids of (literally) all ages loved it. Girls liked Sue Storm, boys grooved on the Thing and, particularly, the Human Torch. No one loved Reed. But, hey, what else is new?
Whatever you’re expecting in terms of the more mature angle that comic book films have taken, be it “Batman Begins,” “Sin City,” or even the sophistication of X2…to enjoy “Fantastic Four,” you simply have to set the wayback machine in your mind back to when comic books (and movies thereof) were mostly cornball fun. Think “Superman” but without the camp. Some mild spoilers follow:
It’s a well-made film with some wince-worthy dialogue that you then realize could have (and possibly did) come straight out of Silver Age FF, and a lot of sequences that just nail the entire squabbling-yet-loving family nature of the FF. The film is at its best when it keeps it small. The character interactions, the throwaway casual uses of their powers. Johnny’s tormenting of Ben, including a hilarious practical joke while the Thing is sleeping. And you sit there and say, “That’s the FF.”
When it goes big, there are stumbles. The main problem centers on Doctor Doom. My concern was not that they changed Victor Von Doom from a Latverian monarch to a corporate douche bag. My concern is that Von Doom blames Reed Richards for the accident that essentially ruined Von Doom’s life. In the comic book, this blame is misplaced. In the film, it’s not. That Von Doom goes bonkers as a result doesn’t change the fact that Reed really IS responsible. I’ll grant you, that’s consistent with the comic in that Ben blames Reed for rushing them into space without the proper shielding in place. But the thrust of the comic isn’t Ben trying to kill Reed as a consequence. In this case, the FF isn’t battling a supervillain so much as they are doing damage control, cleaning up after the mess the themselves made (or at least that Reed made).
But there’s more than enough in the film to make it worthwhile nevertheless. The Thing should defnitely be seen on a big screen, because all the cries of “Foam rubber” were misplaced. Between the acting, the sound effects, and a few CGI boosts, you’ll believe a man can be made out of rock. And the must-see of the film remains the Human Torch. Basically he’s an exuberant jáçkášš, but hey, again, that’s Johnny. That he’s not callow doesn’t bother me. After all, he grew up and married a Skrull in the comics, so why not just start with him as the older model? Instead of being a teen and thus expected to be a jerk, he’s a guy who refuses to grow up. Johnny Storm with the ultimate in Peter Pan syndrome considering he really DOES learn to fly.
Several key scenes were in the script but not in the film, which would have topped two hours had they been there. These include an entire sequence with Ben attending a soiree at Alicia’s art gallery, and Johnny running afoul of a football star and his date at a singles bar. I’ll be interested to see if they show up back in the eventual DVD release, as they were excellent scenes (although admittedly they didn’t advance the plot much.)
Bottom line, go in expecting a hip, up-to-date rethinking and redefining of the FF, and you’re largely going to be disappointed. Expect a reasonably faithful (Von Doom issues aside) translation of the style, spirit and stories of the Silver Age of comics, and you’ll have a great time.
PAD
• 
PAD,
I’m glad to hear you say that taking a 6 year old is okay as my 8 year old daughter is taking me to the movie on Sunday as a Father’s Day gift. My 12 year old daughter took me to Batman Begins as a Father’s Day gift. Kids are great!!
Dennis
Okay, so I was worried. I tried to tell myself to not let the reviews effect me. Go in with an open mind. But I was worried. Though they’ve just been average and not awful, I was ready for my favorite heroes to fall on their faces.
I went with my 10 year old nephew and 9 year old neice to a 1:30 matinee that was PACKED. I hope that bodes well.
From the first we get to see Reed and Ben interact… it’s really amazing. I loved the tension between Sue and Reed and Victor. Then the Johnny/Ben stuff was just perfect. I loved Johnny’s cockiness. Ben’s gruffness. His protectiveness of Reed. Reed’s cluelessness. Sue’s strength.
It’s all there. The plot – well, there’s not much. This is true. Heroes get powers. Fight bad guys. That’s really enough. There was a good amount of humor, which the crowd reacted great too. There was some great action. The special effects were excellent overall, though there is some semi-obvious green-screen in a few places, but its very few and far between.
I’m so excited for a sequel!!! Hopefully the FF will get more time and more money to polish off the few production problems and by 2008 we’ll get a truly awesome FF movie.
But this was a beautiful start. And how exciting is it to see people KNOW the names of my favorite characters? How exciting to see their faces everywhere. How cool to see people leaving the theater laughing and cheering and saying how cool it was.
If you think about it they didn’t have to change the origin that much… or doom’s motivations…
They could have easily had Reed and Doom involved (seperately of course) with the Space Transport Contest that NASA put on… you know building craft like “Spaceship One” and the like… Gives Room for both Ben to be the Pilot, Reed to be there and since the goal is to bring civilians up as well a spot for both Sue and Johnny… Johnny cold even be a pilot too… Doom could have his own rocket… and Reed could reveiw Doom’s specs and in typical Reed fashion point out a flaw in Doom’s designs which Vic would of course laugh off… and ect… Rocket explodes or crashes leaving Doom scarred… blaming Richards… meanwhile the future FF rocket into space with Reed’s rocket they succeed but the sheilding fails against the cosmic raystorm and they crash back to earth having gained powers…
I know I know… I shouldn’t be back seat riding or anything… but whats a fanboy to do… I liked the movie but there was such an obvious modern day correlation… instead of the weak “hollywood-DNA-mystic-science” they gave us…
Sorry for the double post….
but to clarify… I did enjoy the movie… and I should learn to proof my posts better…
riding should be writing…
“I agree about the “action” figures…boy, do they blow. That’s usually not a good sign.” you know…I disagree with your statment about the action figures. I bought the 26 inch tall “Thing” and its friggin awsome! I put it on my landing and now everytime someone runs up the stairs they come around the corner at my new plastic “Thing” midget. Some of the toys are cool!
“So, who’ll the villain be in the sequel? I could see the Mole Man and his armies, or Diablo. Galactus would be a bit much at this point, and the Reed-Sue wedding makes the Namor love triangle a bit moot (unless he interferes with the wedding plans).”
You just know its going to be like X2…more Doom and another classic villan , which should all lead up to a killer part 3, hopefully with Galactus cause thats gotta be the BIGGEST adventure ever.
I haven’t seen it yet, but I’m looking forward to it. As I’ve said before to people online, I don’t care how good it is. What I care about is that there’s one action movie out this summer that isn’t dark and serious. Look at what there’s been so far. Revenge of the Sith: Dark. Batman Begins: Dark (if it weren’t, the fans would go on a destructive spree). War of the Worlds: looks dark. Right now, I’m just in the mood for a popcorn movie that’s entertaining and doesn’t take itself too seriously.
And honestly . . . I don’t care enough about Dr. Doom to be pìššëd øff at what they changed. I know, it’s comic book blasphemy, but I really don’t care for Doom all that much. He’s got too much hype for me to care about him, I think. In fact, I find him really kind of annoying in the comics. That’s me, though.
Saw the film last night. Enjoyed it but did feel what I always felt when I read the comics. They should just become the Terrific Three and dump Reed. What a wuss.
Thing was great, really the only 3-dimensional character in the movie. I liked the interplay between he and Johnny, only I missed the way Johnny would apologize in the comics. This kid, an astronaut dropout at 19 or however old he is, never apologizes for anything. Guess he graduated from John Wayne High.
I don’t think I will go back for a second look but will buy the DVD. I hope they do a sequel. I’d like to see more character development for the others in the group. Ol’ Clobbering Time was just about perfect as far as I am concerned. On a par with Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine portrayal.
In fact, I yelled out loud when he finally said “it’s clobbering time.” My 23-year-old nephew poked me!
Going to see it this afternoon. I was depressed by posts on the ff comicboards that revealed that some of my favorite scenes from PAD’s novelization were left on the cutting room floor (Alicia’s gallery show..gone? What are they thinking?!?) but I guess 2 hours plus is a bit of a run time.
As far as the blood, I’ve a VERY young son who just happened to turn FOUR on opening day. He wants to see it something awful, but I’m afraid of the scene with Doom and the Doctor that he ‘wants a second opinion’ from. Is his demise in the film the same as the book?
Overall I’m very excited to see this movie. I thought the novelization was very good and have high hopes that it’ll be the fun family fare that has made me an FF fan since the mid 70’s
Going to see it this afternoon. I was depressed by posts on the ff comicboards that revealed that some of my favorite scenes from PAD’s novelization were left on the cutting room floor (Alicia’s gallery show..gone? What are they thinking?!?) but I guess 2 hours plus is a bit of a run time.
As far as the blood, I’ve a VERY young son who just happened to turn FOUR on opening day. He wants to see it something awful, but I’m afraid of the scene with Doom and the Doctor that he ‘wants a second opinion’ from. Is his demise in the film the same as the book?
Overall I’m very excited to see this movie. I thought the novelization was very good and have high hopes that it’ll be the fun family fare that has made me an FF fan since the mid 70’s
Going to see it this afternoon. I was depressed by posts on the ff comicboards that revealed that some of my favorite scenes from PAD’s novelization were left on the cutting room floor (Alicia’s gallery show..gone? What are they thinking?!?) but I guess 2 hours plus is a bit of a run time.
As far as the blood, I’ve a VERY young son who just happened to turn FOUR on opening day. He wants to see it something awful, but I’m afraid of the scene with Doom and the Doctor that he ‘wants a second opinion’ from. Is his demise in the film the same as the book?
Overall I’m very excited to see this movie. I thought the novelization was very good and have high hopes that it’ll be the fun family fare that has made me an FF fan since the mid 70’s
Haven’t seen it yet. And, I certainly don’t mind fun in my movies.
But, I’m going into this one with incredibly low expectations. They’ve had me worried ever since announcing the horrible mis-casting of the terribly overrated (in all ways) Jessica Alba, and have added more worries ever since.
Still, I have an overwhelming compulsion to see the bûggër. If nothing else, by going in with low expectations, I can be pleasantly surprised, but not disappointed.
hey there pete, i was reading that you’ve written a few screenplays and/or teleplays, but i can’t find any of your work on IMDb, how come? and what screen stuff have you written?
I watched the movie and it was everything I expected to be. The typical cookie cutter summer movie. I really wanted it to more. Now lets all gear up FF2.3..4 and suck money out the viewers pockets….
You know who they really needed in the movie? The nurse who was in the room in one of Marvel’s Origin Of Dr. Doom stories. The one who drops whatever it is she’s carrying and says something like “That face! How horrible!”
Worst. Nurse. Ever. No wonder the guy is so bitter.
In my opinion, the dialogue in this film, more than any other Marvel-influence film to date, is the closest to capturing the snappy patter and spirit of a 1960s Lee-Kirby comic — and that includes either Spider-Man I or II.
You know, I didn’t realize it till after Spider-Man 2 came out, but the one thing missing from the two Spidey movies is the insults.
How many great one-liners does Spidey throw out between the two movies? One? Maybe two?
It’s part of his characterization in the comics, and the one part that was pretty much totally lacking in the movies.
Yeah, Craig, I noticed that too. I think part of the problem is that the villains in both movies don’t lend themselves well to it–Goblin is a murderer and Doc Ock is kind of tragic.
Now if I were in charge of the next Spidey movie (in other words, if the folks at Sony lost their collective minds) I’d open with a battle between Spidey and some third of forth tier villain–the Vulture (Partrick Stewart), or Stegron the Dinosaur Man, or the Hypno Hustler, or (Please God, oh pleasepleaseplease) Stilt-Man, and Spidey could be thorwing all kinds of funny lines. Just to show we remember.
But the main fights with the main villain will probably invlove death and doom and other weighty stuff, no fun at all.
Well, it was nice to see the Thing and the Human Torch in a movie. I’m not sure who those extra-dimensional impostors claiming to be Reed, Sue and Dr. Doom were though.
(If they are going to steal another movie badguy’s origin for Doom, why not use Magneto’s? After all, the more layered Magneto story owes something to Doom.)
I came in thinking it was would be totally crap, and so I found myself pleasantly surprised by some the Johnny and Ben stuff. If I had gone in expected a good movie, I’d have been very disappointed.
It wasn’t Catwoman bad. But it still felt very paint-by-numbers.
Allen
Well, it was nice to see the Thing and the Human Torch in a movie. I’m not sure who those extra-dimensional impostors claiming to be Reed, Sue and Dr. Doom were though.
(If they are going to steal another movie badguy’s origin for Doom, why not use Magneto’s? After all, the more layered Magneto story owes something to Doom.)
I came in thinking it was would be totally crap, and so I found myself pleasantly surprised by some the Johnny and Ben stuff. If I had gone in expecting a good movie, I’d have been very disappointed.
It wasn’t Catwoman bad. But it still felt very paint-by-numbers.
Allen
On reflection, comparing FF to “The Incredibles” does an enormous disservice. Mr. Incredible, Elastigirl, Frozone, even Violet and Dash, all start off knowing what their powers are, and used to a world in which there are superhumans.
The FF may or may not exist in the same movie NY that’s home to Spider-Man and/or the X-Men, but even if they are, it’s still not the sort of costume-bustling busyness that Metroville was in “The Incredibles”. Reed, Sue, Johnny, and Ben all have to get used to the idea that 1) superhuman powers exist, and 2) they’ve got ’em. I think an inter media res opening, such as that used in “The Incredibles”, would have given the FF short shrift. The next movie can open that way, though – maybe opening with Our Heroes defending their home against an attack by the Silver Surfer, thus starting the setup for Galacticus’ appearance in the third film… 🙂
“The critics were so harsh! I don’t get it. I suspect that part of the problem lies with the nature of the Fantastic Four itself. In order to make this film more “grown up” they would have had to distance themselves from the comic more than they did. These critics wouldn’t have liked the FF comic either is my guess.”
Yeah, you gotta take the critics with a grain of salt. One critic complained that Victor von Doom was a silly name, for instance. That is like when Mark Waid talked about the basic suspension of disbelief you gotta have to start to enjoy the superhero genre.
Still didn’t saw the movie, though.
I just got back from seeing FF.
I really enjoyed it. My wife said it was “ok”, but she was smiling and laughing along with everybody else.
Overall, I like the approach they took to the film. I felt they did well enough to really show each character and such.
As for Doom. Well, he never impressed me in the comics, and I think this movie actually does a good service for him – it actually shows the man behind the mask, something I’ve never personally seen in the comics. Sure, it may not be the same man as in the comics, but it’s something.
Tying the two together in a single origin works well as well to keep the story going.
As for SS and Galactus in the next film, I suppose that would depend on who has the rights. I thought I read that somebody did pick them up, and I’m not sure it’s Fox.
Just found an article via a yahoo search saying Chris Columbus (who was executive producer on FF) is attached to direct a Sub-Mariner film. But it’s for Universal, not Fox.
So, while Sub-Mariner is a logical choice as a hero/villain in an FF sequels, you’d have to see a pretty unique agreement when the rights to the characters are owned by two different companies.
It’s why Ulrich (sp) in the Daredevil movie doesn’t work for the Daily Bugle.
It sucks, and I’d love to see some stuff mentioned between movies, but these studios aren’t about to do that unfortunately.
Nice site, no forum though. You might want to visit this site: http://www.adelaidecomicsandbooks.com and have a read of the blog – it’s a discussion about PAD’s latest Hulk comic…not nice.
[quote]As for SS and Galactus in the next film, I suppose that would depend on who has the rights. I thought I read that somebody did pick them up, and I’m not sure it’s Fox.[/quote]
Yup, Fox has both of those characters. I’ve read several interviews where Tom Rothman (Fox Filmed Entertainment Chairman) has said that Silver Surfer will be the next big Fox/Marvel project after [i]X3[/i] and that Galactus will be a part of that story.
As to FF, I haven’t seen it yet…I’ve been busy trying persuade my non-fan wife that we should go!
avi arad says they are thinking about puppet master right now for the sequel
Puppet Master? Eh.
I say go big–if you can’t do the Surfer and Big G, go for the Inhumans, or the Kree/Skrull war. Or Him. Maybe Her. Oh heck, make it Them.
20 million dollar opening on friday. Not too shabby.
I, and about half of Cumberland County, saw the movie this afternoon. PAD, if success for the film benefits you, you should be happy; by the time I got there, the first five or so showtimes had sold out, and since most of the people in the ticket line with me seemed to be families, rather than soldiers, I doubt it’s a Fayetteville-specific phenomenon.
I really enjoyed the movie. FF was never a comic series that I followed closely, so the departures from comic canon didn’t disturb me (and I probably only noticed half of them). The screenplay had the audience cracking up (on purpose, as someone noted above, which puts it ahead of some comic adaptations). I think the writers actually handled Reed’s stretching power pretty well. All of the FF have terrible superhero aliases (“Mr Fantastic?” Please.), but there’s not a lot the screenwriters could do about that except have Johnny make fun of them.
Pursuant to the discussion above regarding the violence in the film, I would note that there is one particularly nasty moment where Doom offs a corporate executive. There’s no blood, and it’s some sort of sci-fi directed energy death, but it is something people MIGHT want to consider before taking their kids. The film is still probably less violent than your average Star Trek DS9 episode, though.
I don’t understand the critics on this one. It doesn’t deserve rave reviews or anything, but it’s a helluva lot better than Daredevil (which got much better reviews). It’s also much better than Punisher, and it looks like FF will finish with the same type of reviews as that movie. Oh well.
The main problem with the movie is the look of it. Direction is pretty bland, effects/production values mediocre. That said, the movie concentrates on character interaction, and I thought they pretty much got the characters right. Evans steals every scene he’s in. Chiklis is good in and out of the costume. Doom is changed, but I thought McMahon did a good job in the movie.
The final fight was pretty anticlimactic, though.
I very strongly doubt they’ll have Galactus as a villain in any live-action FF movie. Apart from the tremendous amount of CGI that the big purple guy would take, he’s literally too powerful a villain for the FF to take. In his first appearance, it took the Silver Surfer (who they’re probably working on a movie for by himself).
My vote would be for a mail villain with an atmy behind him or her — Super Skrull leading the Skrulls, the Mole Man and his army of mutants, Namor and the Atlantean forces… or yes, Doom and the Doombots.
And who else wants to see Jessia Alba dressed up as, and acting as, Malice?
I’d like to see:
The Negative Zone with Blastaar and Annihilus
The Sub-Atomic Universe of the Psycho-Man
The subterranean hordes of the Mole Man
The Skrulls framing the F.F. by committing crimes in their heroic identities
The Kree with Ronan The Accuser and the Sentry Sinister
And who else wants to see Jessia Alba dressed up as, and acting as, Malice?
Wouldn’t this require her to first be able to…y’know…act? 😉
(Sorry…I’m one of those guys who just doesn’t get what the big deal is about her. I find her to be attractive on the scale of, “Hey, man…there’s the hot chick that works in the food court.” as opposed to the “millions of men bow down to her” scale.)
Can I take two 5 year olds to the New FF movie? The only PG 13 movie we went to with them was last years Harry Porrer movie.
Nytwyng wrote, “(Sorry…I’m one of those guys who just doesn’t get what the big deal is about [Jessica Alba]. I find her to be attractive on the scale of, “Hey, man…there’s the hot chick that works in the food court.” as opposed to the “millions of men bow down to her” scale.)
While I’m not a fan of her bellybutton piercing, I think she has a great face and nice body. She’s made herself a permanent comic book fan fave vixen by playing Nancy and Susan Storm. And it’s not her personality that got her on the covers of ROLLING STONE, SHAPE, MARIE CLAIRE, and SEVENTEEN — this month!
Everyone who said it was FUN is absolutely correct. I felt that it slanted way to much on the Fanboy side, but there nothing bad about that for me at all. It was like Daredevil. After seeing it I thought “Well we got our Blade (unexpectedly),we got our X-Men, we Got our Spider-man, I got my Hulk (stupid movie origin aside), okay I can live with the Daredevils. (I couldn’t with the punisher. AFter all the mindless straight to videa and blockbuster action movies they made, that mess THAT up? The PUNISHER? How hard was it. Big guns, lots of death, lots of explotions – what was the problem?). I knew exactly where Catwoman was going when I read the first interviews with Holly Berrie saying she never read the book, was going by the Michele Pfieffer role (which I HATED with a fanboy passion) and that the idea behind the story was that there were MANY Catwomen (SUCKED!). That was just the trailer. The movie left no surprises for me at all.
Where the smaller, more “B” movie get their charm is from just remembering the elements that made us love the stories when we were kids (did any of us actually “grow up?”) That is what the FF was. The actor playing Reed seemed uncomfortable with the role, I didn’t mind Cole and Dr. Doom, but I wish they had went a different direction. Jessica Alba can do no wrong, I am completely waist-down biased when it comes to her so I say what I always say SHE WAS PERFECT.
An Aside: I didn’t mind Jessica as Susan Storm. But a geneticist? Common. I am not saying the the actress might not have the ability, for all I know she could be spending all her money finishing 4th year Microbiology. But let keep the American cheesecake, cheesecake. No offense to Denise Richards, Hollie Barry, Jessican Alba, but you all started off as the cheesecake (yeah, Jess, I fell in love with you in Idle Hands). But you do not make convincing Psychialtrists, Nuclear Physicists or Geneticists. Why didn’t they just make her a business woman who saw the practical sides of Reed’s inventions or the accident that gave the powers or the media attention. I just couldn’t buy her a scientist, God Bless my cheuvinistic soul.
Chiklis, Ben – PERFECT. I didn’t care about the size, the character was NAILED.
Alicia Masters – I enjoyed the movie, so I’ll leave my personal gripes elsewhere. But if they make Puppet Master a Brother Voodoo knock off, I’m on the tower with a high powered waiting for the unlucky director, producer and I’ll even throw in the Key Grip.
I don’t know how well it will do, it was really FANBOY at it core and in and everywhere else. But I know I had a hëll of a time, and I’ll own the special director’s cut DVD with two disk set and special features when it comes out.
Craig J. Ries:
You know, I didn’t realize it till after Spider-Man 2 came out, but the one thing missing from the two Spidey movies is the insults.
That’s the one complaint I had about the Spidey films from the start. Well…that and he still sounds exactly like Peter Parker.
I realize that part of it is that during a real-time fight there’s not as much time to spout wisecracks but it’d be nice if they figured out a way to slip some more in there somewhere.
Chris
(side note: nice that the Typekey thing seems to be working nowadays…but I’m still not getting any sort of Preview to work so I’m hoping this comes out like I wanted.)
Enjoyed the movie, particularly the characterizations–there were several points where I literally had my fist stuffed in my mouth to keep from laughing too loud and disrupting the movie for everyone else. One thing I was particularly impressed with was the exterior shots of the Baxter Building–a wonderful “updating” of Kirby’s depictions of the exterior while still keeping a lot of the recognizable shapes intact.
“And who else wants to see Jessia Alba dressed up as, and acting as, Malice?
Wouldn’t this require her to first be able to…y’know…act? ;-)”
Actually, I thought that Alba nailed Sue Storm’s maternal instincts quite capably. But as is usually the case for actresses who sport stunning and exotic physical features (such as Alba or Angelina Jolie), it’s always going to be their beauty that folks will take more public notice of instead of their acting ability.
KET
Posted by Batman:
hey there pete, i was reading that you’ve written a few screenplays and/or teleplays, but i can’t find any of your work on IMDb, how come? and what screen stuff have you written?
Take a look at:
http://us.imdb.com/name/nm0203035/
I took my 11-year-old daughter to see it today. It wasn’t as bad as the critics made it out to be, that’s for sure.
Well, for my money, all of the main four were right on. Sure, Reed was a geek, but (I guess because I am a geek) I enjoyed watching Reed coming to grips with the fact that there are risks worth taking. The Johnny-Ben interaction was probably the best part of the movie (the crumpled car and the pie had to be my favorites). Sue didn’t really change much in this movie, except that she realizes she has to hit Reed over the head more.
Doom, on the other hand, was bland, IMHO. Corporate bad guy on the verge of losing it all blames the hero. A little more depth to the character would have been nice. Most superhero movies rise or fall because of the bad guy. That’s FF’s main weakness this time out (I’m assuming there will be a sequel).
As for my daughter, she liked the movie a lot. Her favorite powers (hey that’s what all kids think of, right?) are invisibility and elasticity. See PAD: there’s someone who likes Reed 🙂
It wasn’t as bad as the critics made it out to be, that’s for sure.
Between the box office gross of $56 million and all the positive fan reviews, I’d say the critics missed the point.
Actually, I thought that Alba nailed Sue Storm’s maternal instincts quite capably. But as is usually the case for actresses who sport stunning and exotic physical features (such as Alba or Angelina Jolie), it’s always going to be their beauty that folks will take more public notice of instead of their acting ability.
Considering I don’t see the big deal about her appearance, her acting ability’s on display front and center to me.
I stand firm behind my earlier statement regarding her being miscast as Sue. I don’t feel she looks the part…I don’t think she’s capable of performing the part (and doing it justice).
In all fairness, I really only think one bit of casting was dead-on perfect, and that’s Chiklis. The other four central roles just seem like they’d fit other actors like gloves….
Clooney wanted the part of Reed, and I can see that working.
Elisabeth Rohm of Angel and Law & Order would make for a great Sue alongside Clooney’s Reed.
Seann William Scott would make for a great Johnny.
And, Goran Visnjic from ER would make a great Latverian Doom.
But, hey…difference of opinion’s what makes horse races, right? 🙂
I stand firm behind my earlier statement regarding her being miscast as Sue. I don’t feel she looks the part…I don’t think she’s capable of performing the part (and doing it justice).
Well, Alba did better as Sue Storm than Hallie Barry has done in two movies with Storm.
Clooney wanted the part of Reed, and I can see that working.
I can also see another Batman & Robin…
Seann William Scott would make for a great Johnny.
I can also see another Dude, Where’s My Car?
And, Goran Visnjic from ER would make a great Latverian Doom.
I can also see… umm… ok, I’ll give you this one. He would be good in the role, but I think McMahon did just fine.
Have not seen FF yet but all this talk about sequel villains has me thinkin’: The Impossible Man! For all our superhero films there’s not one Bat-Mite or Mr. Mxyzptlk (that i can think of). Not really a bad guy but can annoy the heck out of heroes…?
I hope that Puppet Master isn’t the villain. I’m sure that Doom will still be in the mix (ala Magneto in the X-men films) and then they’ll have a secondary villain. I think Moleman would be cool (maybe they can get Harry Knowles to play him!!!) mostly because we could have some big Subterranean creatures and some exploration of Subterranea. Big monsters and exploration are FF classics.
Puppet Master could be interesting, if he played a conflicted villain to counter Doom’s villainy.
I saw the movie this afternoon. Good ride.
Applause:
Well thought out effects. I can’t imagine how else it should look when Reed wraps up Ben when Ben’s pìššëd. The Thing’s makeup chould have been a little closer to Chiklis’ size so Chiklis could better rip out my heart strings…
Gripes:
Casting. Right Ben Grimm. Right Johnny Storm. Wrong Reed Richards. Wrong Sue Storm. They just look too young. They played it as best as they could.
Doom. How stupid *IS* this guy? He severly injured a doctor when Doom should have bought him off. Doom fries the head banker, and several other bankers for taking their money and going home. Hey Doom! Ever heard of blackmail? And when Doom tries to kill the Torch? A heat seeking missle. An off the shelf heat seeking missle. This is *Doctor Doom*? Must have gotten his diploma off the internet.
Who’s smarter in the comics, Dr. Doom or Dr. Octopus? Who’s smarter in the movies, Dr. Doom or Dr. Octopus? I expected a *much* smarter Doom. Of course, I was a long time Iron Man fan so I may be used to a better brand of Doom. They should have left Doom for FF2 and went with the Mole Man and his Island…
Stunned:
This movie had *how* many stunt people? I stayed to watch the credits and was shocked at the number of stunt people. I think it was twice as many people as the regular cast list not counting extras.
The Puppet Master? How about Geoffrey Holder from Live and Let Die? You know, Baron Samedi, ah ha Ha HA!
“Considering I don’t see the big deal about her appearance, her acting ability’s on display front and center to me.”
The “big deal” HAS ALWAYS BEEN her exotic beauty. And if you can’t see that…well, dude, then maybe you need to get some glasses or something. 🙂
“I stand firm behind my earlier statement regarding her being miscast as Sue. I don’t feel she looks the part…I don’t think she’s capable of performing the part (and doing it justice).”
Well, frankly, if you haven’t even seen the movie yet, then you’re simply making a false assessment.
One of my favorite Alba moments in the film is when Sue has to break up a fight between Torch and The Thing in public. Shortly after, she chases after Ben, half-apologizing for her brother: “Johnny didn’t mean it. You know he’s always been a hothead.” And Ben reacts angrily, “It’s not him! It’s them!”, while waving at the crowd surrounding them. Ben goes on to wish that HE could turn invisible, and Sue’s facial reaction reflects total empathy, even though he thinks she wouldn’t even begin to understand his situation.
“But, hey…difference of opinion’s what makes horse races, right? :-)”
What horse race? It’s a movie.
Yet too many folks these days have a bad tendency to prejudge based on what things are NOT instead of what they ARE. That’s why so many movie critics basically SCREWED UP when they reviewed FF this past weekend.
Saw the movie last Saturday with my wife, 4:30 PM, cinema was packed! Wonderful, light-hearted, family-approved film! Well worth the price of admission!
The audience laughed in all the right places. The movie was full of witty one-liners reminiscent for the Lee/Kirby/Byrne issues. Fun-fun-fun for 2 hours, you’ll hardly ever notice that 2 hours have actually gone by!
Top 10 FF movie moments…
1. Cosmic storm: AWESOME effect, and you could really feel for Ben and Co. as the storm was about to hit the space station.
2. Movie Johnny Storm: THAT WAS JOHNNY STORM!
3. Movie Thing: You’ll believe a man could ROCK!
4. Movie Sue: The first time Jessica Alba walks into the room in the FF space suit…HUBBA HUBBA. and she can act!
5. Movie Reed: ‘Boring’ and geeky at the start until he loosens up to Sue’s charms. Not so boring in the end, as the geek ends up with the girl. Revenge of the nerd, indeed!
6. Those staple FF moments from comics: Reed ties up a raging Ben; Johhny’s practical jokes on Ben; FF logo on NY skyline; “It’s Clobberin’ Time!”; and many more!
7. Those small things: Ben can’t ‘dial’ the numbers on the pay phone; Ben can’t pickup small objects with his huge fingers; Johnny burning up his clothes; Reed snoozes, and waks up with his face deformed; Sue nosebleeds under extreme pressure…intense!
8. Ben accepts Doom’s offer to turn him back to human (which he does), and later on gives up his newfound humanity to save his best friend: may seem cliche but still well executed.
9. Unlike the 2 other Marvel films which exploded at the box office (X-Men 1/2 and Spidey 1/2 — which I loved), Fantastic Four never seemed to tkae itself too seriously. It just kept the humor and FAMILY DYNAMICS rolling. It may not be the best superhero movie, but if a perfect superhero movie ever required it to be “fun to watch” nad “all ages (SUPERHEROES ARE FOR KIDS! …and I’m already 31!)”, FF is hard to beat!
10. My wife, and the kids in the movie theater loved it!
Go see it already!
Well, I posted on another board that I utterly hated it. But after reading PAD’s and other comments here, I think what I was reacting to the blandness of Doom (and, really, Chiklis aside, the smarminess of the acting). Also, how they actually stopped Doom made no sense to me, and they didn’t even bother with a “gotcha” moment (or, for that matter, an on-screen Thing transformation). I still dislike it. But less now. So thanx.
James–did you REALLY want to describe Reed as stiff? Seriously?
And for whoever described Iaon Gruffudd as uncomfortable in the role–that’s part of the character, or, as an actor, that’s how I saw it, because in the books Reed’s uncomfortable with himself, and i thought that came off pretty well.
Too many people worry, though, about established stuff and it keeps them from being entertained. The movie is not the book, nor vicey versey. Trust me, I’ve seen enough fanboys and girls out there trashing every Trek episode for not being canon to last a lifetime. Just enjoy the story!
Last thing, I gotta go to work, but Jessica Alba…seriously had my doubts when I first heard about her. Well, not the first time I was wrong.