Plot
Synopsis: Reed Richards wants
to study a cosmic phenomena so he goes to Doom for cash. This leads the titular (and in the case of
Jessica Alba, tit-u-lar) incredible four, and Doom, for some reason, up in
space where they are bombarded by the rays cosmic. Hijinks, and mutations, follow.
The Good:
-The very opening, a statue of Doom being welded that looks
like his mask.
-“Same old Reed, always stretching.” I love stuff like that.
-“Reed: Worlds dumbest smart guy.” I’m no Fantastic Four expert but I think that
really encapsulates Reed Richards.
-Johnny Storm, seems to be a pretty good interpretation of
The Human Torch. Cocky, thrill seeking,
woman chasing fire jerk.
-Fantastic 3 plus mediocre one. Everyone puts in great performances (Ioan
Gruffudd as Reed Richards, Chris Evans as Johnny Storm, Micheal Chiklis as Ben
Grimm) with their characters and they seem to be having fun. Except Jessica Alba who seems to be
fulfilling a studio obligation and collecting a paycheck.
-Thing dialing the phone.
Hilarious.
-The relationship between Thing and Johnny, contentious but ultimately
caring.
-The special effects hold up remarkably well.
-The final form of Doom looks cool, that’s about his only
positive.
The Bad:
-Doom: victim of cosmic radiation. I can sort of understand why they moved away
from the magic and
science Doom but this just doesn’t seem right. Lightning powers and metal skin are just as
unbelievable as super sciencey armor and mystical powers.
-Doom: baron of business.
Instead of ruler of Latveria we have the American CEO of a major
corporation. It just doesn’t seem right.
-Thing is very short.
I understand they had to work with what they had in actor Micheal
Chiklis but Thing should be tall and hulking, standing above all the other
members. But he does such a good job in
the role that it’s easily forgivable.
The Ugly:
-Jessica Alba’s acting, god bless her, she tries hard. There are moments when it’s good and there
are moments where you think she thinks she’s doing good but overall it’s just
sort of a decent performance surrounded by excellent performances.
-Dooms acting is okay.
He starts out quiet and intimidating but at no point does he get really
bombastic. Also the actor, Julian
McMahon looks like a total douche nozzle.
He has a quiet menace about him and he gets the antagonism down but not
the bombastic, over the top threat that the real Doom is.
Final
Thoughts: This movie was way
more fun than I remembered it being. I
was sort of dreading this one actually.
I remember it being a terrible, humorless, long swamp of a movie. I figured I’d slog my through it and if
nothing else it would provide good hate material. But it’s actually pretty fun in a check your
brain at the door kind of way. It
doesn’t really do anything special, it doesn’t even really do anything well. The fact that I totally forgot all the good
stuff about this movie tells you the kind of impression it left me with. But I’m glad I picked it up again, although I
doubt it will go in my regular rotation.
The cast does a good job. 3 out of the 5 main actors seem to be
enjoying themselves and if they aren’t fans of the comics then they are at
least fans of acting. By that I mean
they would get into their character no matter what the role and bring something
authentic to it. However I can’t same
the same for both Jessica Alba and Julian McMahon. Jessica Alba isn’t so bad that she brings
anything down, she’s ok and it’s compensated for by her co-stars who bring it
up. However both those performances are
why I think if you can’t get a fan of the comic, or a fan of comics in general,
you need to get a fan of acting. They’re
both there because they wanted a paycheck not because they wanted the
role. I wouldn’t believe them if they
were to say otherwise because that would mean the director or producers
prevented them from doing their character while letting the other 3 run with
theirs. I just didn’t see any
passion. Also Julian McMahon plays the
same douchey rich hot guy in every role so it sort of feels like someone
spliced an episode of Nip/Tuck in with the movie. I would love to see Reed and Ben reprise
their roles, get a different Sue and Chris Evans makes a much better Captain
America so you’d have to get another Johnny but really, if you were to reboot
the franchise you got half of a great Fantastic Four.
This movie falls into the same trap
as a lot of Marvel fare. Good but not
excellent, it lacks in story and in certain parts it lacks in acting. There are some really good parts to be mined
from it and the performances of everyone in it.
Except Julian McMahon, that dudes just a douche.
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