MOVIE - The Fantastic Four
~ reviewed by Red Dog
I was finally able to see it yesterday afternoon,
Having read more FF comics than Batman comics I feel I am on quite solid ground to talk about the movie and weigh its pros and cons. We saw it yesterday afternoon, and in the end I did like the movie, but I had issues with some things - but not the things you might expect.
I am okay with the story and most of the changes they made for the sake of the moviegoing audience. On the other hand, condensing a lot of story into one film means cutting out a lot of characterisation, resulting in the audience not caring about the characters unless (like me) they already DO. Johnny and Ben were well-characterised, though, and Reed really IS that cold and socially inept, at least until he becomes a family man. :)
The Thing's rocky hide looks much better on screen than in previews, and I agree that CGI would not have had the same effect. You can still see the man behind the rocks when you look into Chiklis' eyes. With the exception of Mr. Fantastic all of the effects are solid, but I'd say 1/2 of the stretching was smooth and the other half looked off. Hell, in the bridge scene they hardly SHOWED him stretching at all, as if they deliberately avoided it, and that's slopppy film-making.
Then, we have Dr. Doom. Julian McMahon as Victor von Doom was convincing even without an accent (although he does, at least, come from Latveria). McMahon as Dr. Doom... not so much. With the mask on, he just isn't sinister in any way. As for his 'powers' I'll not bitch about that right now...
All in all I did like it and I appreciate the family feel. The critics aren't processing the fact that the original comics were written for kids and they really ARE goofy and badly-written, whatever FF fans will say. They're still great comics. :D It's simply hard to distill 20-30 issues of character growth into a short movie. Here's hoping for FF 2 and FF 3, with Reed and Sue's wedding (and Franklin's birth?), and Galactus!
If I gave stars, it would have 3.5; if I gave a letter grade, I'd say a solid B. Viewers should have the right expectations in mind when they watch it. Also, there were no pirates in the film, but we did see a trailer for 'Pride and Prejudice' before 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory' so I did have residual Keira Knightley pirate-related residue goodness in my head.
I was finally able to see it yesterday afternoon,
Having read more FF comics than Batman comics I feel I am on quite solid ground to talk about the movie and weigh its pros and cons. We saw it yesterday afternoon, and in the end I did like the movie, but I had issues with some things - but not the things you might expect.
I am okay with the story and most of the changes they made for the sake of the moviegoing audience. On the other hand, condensing a lot of story into one film means cutting out a lot of characterisation, resulting in the audience not caring about the characters unless (like me) they already DO. Johnny and Ben were well-characterised, though, and Reed really IS that cold and socially inept, at least until he becomes a family man. :)
The Thing's rocky hide looks much better on screen than in previews, and I agree that CGI would not have had the same effect. You can still see the man behind the rocks when you look into Chiklis' eyes. With the exception of Mr. Fantastic all of the effects are solid, but I'd say 1/2 of the stretching was smooth and the other half looked off. Hell, in the bridge scene they hardly SHOWED him stretching at all, as if they deliberately avoided it, and that's slopppy film-making.
Then, we have Dr. Doom. Julian McMahon as Victor von Doom was convincing even without an accent (although he does, at least, come from Latveria). McMahon as Dr. Doom... not so much. With the mask on, he just isn't sinister in any way. As for his 'powers' I'll not bitch about that right now...
All in all I did like it and I appreciate the family feel. The critics aren't processing the fact that the original comics were written for kids and they really ARE goofy and badly-written, whatever FF fans will say. They're still great comics. :D It's simply hard to distill 20-30 issues of character growth into a short movie. Here's hoping for FF 2 and FF 3, with Reed and Sue's wedding (and Franklin's birth?), and Galactus!
If I gave stars, it would have 3.5; if I gave a letter grade, I'd say a solid B. Viewers should have the right expectations in mind when they watch it. Also, there were no pirates in the film, but we did see a trailer for 'Pride and Prejudice' before 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory' so I did have residual Keira Knightley pirate-related residue goodness in my head.