Fantastic Four

[filkertom]

Good gravy, the thing was actually watchable.

Let me rephrase that. The Thing, played under a mountain of rubber by Michael Chilkis, was absolutely my Ben Grimm from the comics. And Chris Evans was perfect as Johnny Storm.

Ioan Gruffudd is okay to good as Reed Richards, and Jessica Alba is good to pretty darn good as Sue Storm (although she suffers from Daryl Hannah In Roxanne Disease -- that incredibly young cupcake is the head of a major corporation's Human Genome Research Dept.? Sh-yeah, right). But the Thing and the Torch are spot-on, character-wise. I have some complaints about the rubber rather than brick-like look of the Thing suit... but Chilkis made me forget.

And, frankly, the movie those guys are in is pretty good, too. Compelling stuff about the different ways of dealing with having that kind of thing happen to you. Johnny takes his love of extreme sports up a couple of levels, becoming wildly popular; Reed looks for a cure; Sue tries to rekindle things with Reed; Ben wanders alone, looking for... anything. Lots of good scenes, with just about the right level of superheroics for an origin film, and lots of nice character touches. Kerry Washington is sweet as Alicia Masters (and I love the bartender -- "'Ey! Ben Grimm is the first mook from Brooklyn to go to outer space! Show a little respect"). And there's an adorable cameo by Stan Lee as Willie Lumpkin.

Unfortunately, there's someone else in the movie... or, rather, in a different movie apparently grafted into this one.

Julian McMahon as Victor Von Doom is so dull, so wrong that I wanted every scene with him to end dammit end so we could get back to the more interesting movie. The extensive changes they inflicted upon the monarch of Latveria are pretty much all bad. They threw in a couple of bones about him being from Latveria, but none of them really work. I want to smack the scriptwriters for getting so much right and this one big thing wrong.

So, if you're an FF fan who's been avoiding this, by all means go see it for the FF. (Don't pay full price if you can help it, but you won't be that badly ripped off if you do.) But mark my words, inferiors... the rightful ruler of this undeserving mudball, Doctor Doom, shall have his day.

Comments

[aylinn.livejournal.com]

hey, about alba as sue - I personally LIKED the fact that this Sue HAS BRAINS darnit! she isn't just a helpless fluffy cheerleader from the sides. You can see why she chose Reed & puts up with some of his absentmindedness.

And they showed her "lioness" side VERY well. These guys are her pride and she WILL defend them.

[admnaismith.livejournal.com]

You're the first person I know who's liked it. Maybe I'll give the DVD a chance someday after all...

I only go to about 5 of these a year. I can afford to be picky.

[romlc475.livejournal.com]

Gotta agree with Aylinn there. Alba did a better job that I expected--not the perfect Sue Storm, but ok. I had really high hopes for Julian McMahon's Doom, but the whole Doom transformation process was a bit silly. I personally prefer John Byrne's explanation on why he wears the mask. Seriously showed Doom's weak spot in his vanity.
The sequel was "confirmed" on AICN this past week, so here's to Marvel ironing out the rough spots and making a top-notch FF movie sequel!
Oh, and Stan's scene was a scream! It was even funnier how many Marvel fans in the theatre I was in had to explain Willie Lumpkin to their spouses/significant others either just after that scene or as they were walking out of the credits, and our subsequent reaction to his character being there.

[lapislaz.livejournal.com]

I think you tagged why I felt so oddly about this movie - von Doom was about as exciting as wet toast. I couldn't figure it out before - thanks. Couldn't they have gotten a villian with some style, fercryinoutloud?

I do have one other quibble with the writing - I don't care who you are, NO ONE calls Doctor Doom "Vic". It's just not done.

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

Absolutely -- in the recent "Unthinkable" story arc, they were all on a first-name basis (which only makes sense, given that [a] Reed and Victor were at least comrades once and [b] they've been fighting intensely personal battles for decades), and Doom was always "Victor", just as Sue was always "Susan" and the Torch "Jonathan". (Make what you will of Reed and Ben always being "Richards" and some invective.)

[selenesue.livejournal.com]

I liked it too, and myself an old FF fan. I had to explain Stan as Willie as well. Sister Susie and Brother Johnnie quibbling just made me smile, as an older sister Susan to a brother John as it happens.

OK, McMahon's Doom was a bit weak but at least they didn't start with The Mole Man like the first comic book did.

Excelsior!

[wildcard9.livejournal.com]

Late arrving comment, since I saw the movie late.

I thougth Chiklas as Ben Grimm was spot-on, they could not have asked for better. Considering the original look for The Thing was the lumpy look, which gradually mutated into the smooth brick look, I thought it was appropriate for the first movie.

I thought Johnny looked way too old, isn't he supposed to have just graduated high school and not started college yet during that space mission? He certainly looked a lot older than 18 to me.

Sue was not insecure enough. I don't mind a brainy Invisible Woman, but Sue got her invisibility power due to her feelings of inferiority, that everyone ignored her and she was unable to speak up for herself.
As for Reed, he looked only half as old as he should have been. He should have been in his early 40's, not his mid-20's.

And Doom, what a waste!! Had they said he was the leader of Latveria who was also head of his own technology company, maybe then I could have forgiven the focus on the businessman side instead of the dictator side. Of course, maybe FF2 will open with Doom leading a "freedom" rebellion in Latveria using his new powers and placing himself on its throne. But this Doom did not feel like the villian I expected.

I hope the second movie uses the Skrulls, that will work well on the big screen. And maybe some flash-scenes of other classic villians encounterred to show the impact they are having, but ones not worth doing full-out scenes for.