*** Official FANTASTIC FOUR Discussion Thread (1 Viewer)

[TheLongshot]

Pretty mediocre movie.

The good:

Ben Grimm: Chiklis really nailed the roll.

Johnny Storm: Chris Evans was pretty good, tho I felt he was laying the attitude a bit thick at times.

The Eh..

Reed Richards: I don't know what it was with Ioan's performance, but it felt a little off. Maybe it was the script that gave him some pretty awful lines to read. He's trying, I give him that much.

The bad:

Susan Storm: I knew Jessica Alba was wrong for the role, and it was pretty much confirmed by the film. Watching this makes me realise that she's the glue that makes the team go. She keeps Reed focused. She counters Johnny's hot-headedness. Basically, she's the "mother" of the group. Alba just doesn't have it. She's just a "hot chick".

Doom: McMahon really plays it with one note, doesn't he? He's bad from the very begining. It would have been nicer if they had gone with Victor having a good friendship with Reed beforehand, it would have had the "betrayal" feeling a lot better, and would have made a nice dynamic between Reed and Victor. Instead, we get generic bad guy who wants to wipe out the competition, and no other real motivation. They even diffuse the Susan-Victor relationship by her saying that there wasn't one. WTF?

The Ugly:

Reed's stretching effects: It never looked right.

The Thing's plot threads: As good as Chiklis was, it wasn't because of the script. So, he has this great relationship with his wife, and she decided to end it immediatly because he looks different? Certainly was convienent that she was on the Brooklyn Bridge to give back the ring. Why also bring in Alicia Masters in suddenly like that? Ok, we have this machine that can change Ben Grimm to normal, but it is also somehow is able to change him back? How?

This kinda sums up some of my big problems with the film. There are a lot of stuff that happens because the script requires it, not because it actually makes sense.

Now, even tho I think this movie is a mess, there is enough of a foundation to do some pretty good sequels, so I don't think all is lost here. Certainly, with Doom now where he belongs, and the basic setup out of the way, you probably could make some pretty good movies now.

Jason

 

[James_Kiang]

I was mildly surprised by the movie. As a long-time comic fan, I knew going in that this should not have the same atmosphere as Batman or X-Men. I think the potential to be considered in the same quality as X2, Spidey 2, and BB exists, but it was not achieved in this movie. Overall, I give it a C+, or 7.5 out of 10.

For many, Jessica Alba/Sue Storm is seen as the weakest acting part/character. I can see it in some ways, and she was clearly the worst of the 4, but she did a fine job I felt. She had the "motherly" role down in relation to Ben and even Johnny.

To me, the worst acting part of the movie goes to Julian McMahon/Dr. Doom. This character - and I don't even have major problems with the change of origin - just did not achieve the potential he had. I think the one thing they got right was the rivalry with Reed, but otherwise he was nowhere near as grand as I would have liked to have seen.

Now, a couple of scenes/plot points I had problems with:

1. The bridge scene - Let's see, get Jessica Alba in her bra and panties because that is the only way to get past the roadblock, then have all 3 of the main characters achieve that goal with little resistance. Not good writing.

2. The re-transformation of the Thing - I knwo Ben is not a stupid man, but he has the smarts to work a machine to this point only Reed and Doom have operated? The quickness of his re-transformation and subsequent timely intervention at Doom's building was also just too convenient.

3. Ben and Alicia, at the end - Ben, only days earlier, has his heart broken by his wife. She isn't even an ex and he's already deeply involved with Alicia? He loved his wife. This struck me as a bit out of character.

I'm glad the FF was not the terrible movie I feared it would be. I can even say right now that I will buy the dvd. What would we like to see in a sequel? The only things they could use related to this movie would be more Doom and the Puppet Master (not an overly strong choice IMO). Bringing in the Skrulls and/or the Super-Skrull may not be the direction they want to go. Galactus and the Silver Surfer would be nice, but I think they were both part of the recent Paramount deal.

 

[Tarkin The Ewok]

I absolutely loved this film. I went into it without knowing anymore than the trailer and posters told me, so I had no preconceived notions. It had a great blend of character moments and action, and it was never boring.

I was a little disappointed to see that people were in such a big hurry to leave when the movie was over. In the short space between the words "The End" and the interruption by Dr. Doom, at least a dozen people were already standing up and declined to sit down to watch the epilogue. This was not a long movie, so I guess people are just conditioned to bolt as soon as they think a movie is over these days. Oh well, at least the audience was polite during the show.

I give Fantastic Four a 9.5/10.

 

[David Tolsky]

Saw it this afternoon despite shitty reviews in the L.A. Times. I didn't think it was that bad but I think the real movie would be in the sequel, if there is one. This movie spends a great deal on the origin story and how the "family" deals with their new found powers. It was good to see the FF deal with DD at the end, that part was fun but then the movie was over! Like I said, if there is a sequel, it will most assuradly be better than the first.

 

[Dustin Elmore]

I'm not one to fault people for liking movies I don't (I can watch Bad Boys II any day of the week), but seriously a 9.5 out of 10!?? So you're saying this movie is only a half a point away from being the greatest film of all time?

 

[Tarkin The Ewok]

My ratings are strictly indicators of how much I enjoyed a film. I don't consider FF to be approaching "best movie of all time" status. However, there was a great deal that I liked about the movie, some things I loved, and just a couple of minor nitpicks that took it down that half a point.

I also base my ratings to some degree on what a film's intentions are. FF is supposed to be lighthearted, escapist fare, and that is exactly what it delivered. As mentioned earlier in this thread, it was a welcome respite from the darkness of the previous summer blockbusters.

 

[JoSAN]

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[JoSAN]

Oh, I forgot to mention - in my review - a couple of other scenes I loved in the movie... The scene where Johnny was in the testing chamber and he kept wanting to get hotter and Reed and Sue were warning him not to. Very funny stuff.

An early scene that typifies the film's clever dialogue is when Doom is **MINOR SPOILER** planning to propose to Sue on the space station and he says something like "...there comes a time in a man's life when he says those four words that will change our lives forever..." and then Reed bursts in and shouts "The storm is coming!" (or something like that). Indeed, those particular four words will change all their lives forever.

Cool movie. Can't wait for the sequels. I hope Tim Story stays on for all of them (I know Avi Arad wants him to). I heard that he really wants to do the Silver Surfer/Galactus story in the third F.F. movie but Avi wants to keep Silver Surfer a separate movie. I agree with this line of thinking as it would be too much to put into an F.F. film and I was never a big Galactus fan anyway. Chris Evans would like to see the Submariner introduced (like in F.F. No. 4) but, again, Marvel has big plans for a separate Submariner feature directed by Chris Columbus (who produced Fantastic Four). The F.F. have other villains they can use in sequels, plus there's the return of Dr. Doom!

 

[Dustin Elmore]

If the scale ends at 10 then it can't get any greater. I know you wern't saying AFI should revise their list or anything, but this movie had plenty of room for improvement. Think about it this way, if Jessica Alba had been naked in the film, that would shoot it up at least a point, right? And you can't have a 10.5 on a 10 point scale.

 

[JoSAN]

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[JoSAN]

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[Pete-D]

Agreed, a Spider-Man cameo would've been great, too bad Marvel didn't sign a deal with a single studio or listed some kind of clause that allowed for that kind of cross promotion.

What I thought was it was average, with a light hearted more 1960s type of comic book feel. It isn't as "uptight" about its universe/characters as the other comic book movies are, but on the other hand, there are times when it feels like this is a 60-minute TV pilot stretched into a 90 minute movie.

Especailly the second act, some funny stuff here and there, but it's basically the team "locked up" inside Reed's apartment instead of fighting crime or something.

The end battle is also not very epic as many have mentioned.

Dr. Doom needed to be a lot more larger than life.

 

[Gruson]

I saw it yesterday and LOVED it!

I don't know why everyone has so many issues with it. It was a fun movie.

IMO, it was much better than Ep3 but Batman Begins is still the best of the summer.

F4 was a lot of fun and the characters had a LOT of chemistry together. The casting was perfect.

I loved the ending and cannot wait for a sequel.

 

[Norm]

I just saw FF & it wasn't great but it was good enough for me to give it a




Back when I read Comics there was a difference between DC & Marvel. DC was always a little more hokey where Marvel always acted like its Heroes were in the real world.

 

[Norm]

I disagree, just imagine what a James Cameron could do with the FF. Oh yea thats right he doesn't do other peoples storys I guess he considers Battle Angel Alita his.

 

[Ken Chan]

They play an important part in the battles and other plot elements. Powers alone don't make a villian interesting, but they are differentiating (usually). They don't have the magnetic guy who survived the Nazis, and another magnetic guy that's a rogue IRS agent, and another magnetic guy who lost weight eating turkey sandwiches every day.

 

[James_Kiang]

It might be too serious an issue, but I would like them to adapt the story from the comics where a young boy sets himself on fire trying to emulate the Human Torch. I can't remember the issue number, but this was a very emotional story and was handled very well. Johnny's inital reaction IIRC was to quit using his powers, and in a movie you could end up having Sue or Ben help him to come to grips with this event.

Involving Sue in another love triangle arc might be too close to the Doom-Sue-Reed story of this first movie. It could be done, but wait on it. I'm trying to think of interesting storylines for Sue and there is the birth of Franklin (please not too soon), her miscarriage (another issue perhaps too serious for this type of movie), and her transformation into Malice (I think that was the character's name).

Since they've pretty well established that Ben is okay with his identity now they don't have that to use for his character. His relationship with Alicia is obvious; would they go so far as to have her end up choosing Johnny?

I got nothing for Reed. He'd be involved in all these other storylines, but I can't think of a great one for him other than for him to continue his scientific endeavors. Since Galactus is unlikely to be a part of this series you can't even have Reed put on galactic trial.

I like the idea of having Galactus in a movie, though the logistics of it may be problematic. It brings in alien races and other planets, which may be more than what audiences are willing to accept. Now, a Negative Zone story with Annihilus...

 

[Andy Sheets]

Reed should be the easiest character to write for because he's an explorer. All you have to do is have him go somewhere and drag everyone else with him. Send the team to the Negative Zone or something.

 

[David Rogers]

Hmmm. I was pleasantly surprised by FF4, which is to say, I expected it to be a serious clunker.

Weak script, even weaker character writing. I keep hearing effects problems kept Reed dialed back, but I think the writers just didn't like his character very much and had already dialed him back before the rumored stretchFX problems limited his exposure. Real shame, I like Ioan Gruffudd quite a bit and very much want more roles for him.

Chiklis had the meatest part with Thing's intense feelings of rejection related to his new form. Evans had the funniest part with Storm's constantly irreverent attitude and never ending wisecracks.

Sadly, Alba's role was written just to have her look sexy. It's not her fault, it's the writers', the director's, and possibly even the audience's for expecting a little eye candy instead of substance. What they gave Alba was ok, and I rather enjoyed the few scenes of her interacting with her brother; didn't like her scenes with Gruffudd except for when he proposed to her, which was cute and sweet.

McMahon was ok, but he was given as one note a role as Alba was; just he was able to keep his shirt on to sing his notes. He did good at being bad; nothing spectacular, nothing poor either though. His role was just very single dimension and undeveloped; his reasons for going actively super-villain weren't even explored ... what was his reason for attacking the FFers again? Why does he need to defeat them?

Several dead spots in the film make it flat for ~3-6min at stretch a few times, then it picks up; more weak writing and ineffective direction. The bridge FX sequence (firetruck, saving the falling people, etc...) was kinda ok but very poorly scripted; I have no idea how the FFers made it through the police line (sure, I know how Sue made it through, but what about the others???); and the end fight was pretty cool, but didn't really feel very epic. Perhaps Doom should have been causing more public trouble prior to the fight.

Fun movie, not terribly good, but not horribly bad either. About 80% of Punisher, a flick I consider small and stable, without major problems. Not nearly as good as X or X2 or either Spiderman.

 

[JoSAN]

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