Fantastic Four - Ugh

A long chain of great Marvel movies comes to a screeching halt with the release of Fantastic Four. It’s disappointing to a guy like me who has always loved super heroes. On at least four occasions my wife and I looked at each other in utter disbelief that arose from two main sources.

First, the writing was absolutely terrible. Michael France and Mark Frost simply were not able to bring the story to life with any type of quality whatsoever. The dialog was completely cheesy (and noticeably so) and there were several scenes that were utterly an embarrassment to watch. There were also inconsistencies in the storyline that just made the whole movie-going experience unfortunate. For example, the lead good guy (I don’t even remember his character’s name, but he’s the one that could stretch) was completely bankrupt for the first half of the movie and then all of a sudden, half way through, he’s somehow able to build this huge device that’s comprised of technical gadgetry that probably cost more than a studio apartment on Union Square. In addition, the guy that could set his body on fire strolls out of a several-day quarantine after getting his powers directly into a red Porsche with the license plate “TORCH’D”. This actor was actually one of (if not THE) high points of the movie, but it seems that no effort whatsoever was made to do the story justice and make a genuine movie.

The director, Tim Story, left … well … basically, EVERYTHING to be desired. The performances from the cast were completely uninspired (with the possible exception of the one who played the bad guy – Victor? Vincent? – the guy who was metal).

I think the one draw to the film from the cast standpoint was probably Jessica Alba, who I’m sure was placed there to draw in the male 18 to 35 demographic. Of course she’s hot and so fourth, but after this movie it appears that the depth of her talent goes no further than Katie Holmes in Batman Begins.

The bottom line with Fantastic Four is that it simply had the wrong writers, wrong director, and wrong cast. If not for those three simple things I think the movie COULD have been something special. After seeing Spinder-Man 2 and Batman Begins, this movie seems like a spoof on superhero flicks.

13 Comments

  • Well I disagree. It was fun. Dont care whether or not it was all held together believably. It was fun to watch, had funny bits, my kids liked it and I enjoyed it. Thats the way it happens in comic books, you know.... fantasy and all..



    Each to their own though, and I understand some need more truths in their comic book stories than others.

  • You know, I really don't think it has anything to do with any "truths". And obviously this is fantasy, just as Batman was and just as Spider-Man was.



    But perhaps you're right - I very well may have gone in to the movie with certain expectations.

  • Michael Chiklis was good based on the dialog he was given. Believe it or not, this movie made me actually want to watch season 1 of The Shield to see what he is REALLY capable of.

  • I think how you feel about this film depends on how good you are at completely turning your brain off and ignoring the contradictions.



    I actually thought your review was pretty charitable (there were far more than 4 contradictions in that movie).



    oh, and btw, comics are not written that badly. Maybe comics in the 60s, but when I was a kid in the late 80s early 90s that stuff would have never passed muster in a comic book

  • I agree...it was unfortunate...I had high hopes. There were some neat affects, but that's all I can give the movie. It was "neat" and that's all.

  • I don't think one should HAVE to "completely turn off their brain" to enjoy a movie. I mean I get what you're trying to say and all, but I don't really agree that turning off your brain is what you should do.

  • (Minor, spoiler although it's not really an important scene)



    My favorite part was the scene where they were testing the Human Torch to see how hot he could go.



    As they neared 5000 Kelvin, Reed and Sue start screaming for him to stop because he's reaching "supernova". They tell him this is the temperature of the surface of the sun and he's in danger of setting the Earth's atmosphere on fire and killing all life.



    Of course there's that pesky fact that all sorts of things on Earth are hotter than that. Lightning being a good example, yet our atmosphere is just fine.



    My problem is that Reed was supposed to have put this classmates to shame at MIT, at least he shouldn't be that ignorant of science.

  • "A long chain of great Marvel movies comes to a screeching halt"



    I'm sorry, wasn't Hulk, DareDevil, Elektra Marvel movies?



    The streak ended at Spiderman my friend.

  • Ha ha! Yup, you certainly have me there, I can't argue with that.

  • I just came from seeing the movie Fantastic 4 and though I was quite entertained and found a few laugh out loud moments, (especially through the talents of Chris Evans) I was a bit baffled at a few inconsistencies.



    Which prompted me to google Fantastic 4 Inconsistencies and bring me to this review.



    Did this film have a script supervisor? The scene on the bridge had the dilemma as the only one who could get through was The Invisible Girl. They encourage her to get invisible and suddenly all three of them are through and they say "wow, you were able to help us get through." I thought I had blanked out and missed something there....



    ALso, when Victor walks away from the front of Reed's building he has Reed's stretched arm in his hand and suddenly he is in his own place still with the arm in his hand and finding the mask.



    I could go on and on....




  • I'm in complete agreement. The more I think about the movie the more I realize how rediculous it was.



    Too bad that people are allowed to make movies like this.

  • HAHA sucker... you been had like the rest of em. That movie was almost as bad as the last Batman movie with arnold schwarzennegger. FF stunk worse than a dog turd. At least a dog turd will stop stinking after while, but that movie will continue to stink no matter how much time passes.

  • 418881.. Great idea :)

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