One word: Suxxor.
Well, not really. It’s okay I guess. When I first heard they were making a Fantastic Four movie, my first reaction was, “Uh… that can’t be good.”
The plot is barely servicable… the thing that really made me think “suxxor” was how Victor von Doom’s role was handled. I mean, in the comics, Doom was a monarch, ruler of Latveria. He wasn’t a madman bent on revenge. He was a madman bent on world domination!
In the comics, Dr. Doom is like a machiavellian villain, craving for power, but never exposing himself directly to harm. He’d always get his minions to do dirty work for him, and just when the Fantastic Four thought they had him — damn, it was a Doombot all along! Curse you, Doom, you got away again! In the movie, Dr. Doom is like, “Holy crap, I’m bankrupt and Richards stole my girlfriend! I’ll use these newly-acquired non-canon cosmic powers to kick his ass! And maybe get into a punching contest with the Thing, or see if I survive a supernova.”
Another thing, the FF hardly do anything “heroic” here. The only time they really do a public service (the scene at the bridge) would have been avoided if the Thing wasn’t who he was. Yet, despite this, the people of New York (hm… was it New York? Well, the Baxter Building was there, so… ) easily accept them as heroes. This is ridiculous. Movie Spiderman did a whole lot of good deeds, but he received also a whole lot of crap before people started to realize he was a hero. And he’s just wearing a mask. What makes people think the people would so easily accept someone like the Thing?
The Thing is of course, the most tragic member of the FF, and a good part of the movie focuses on the problems caused by his transformation and his desire to find a cure. To compensate, he gets all the funny scenes, such as they are. There’s one that reminds me an old Simpsons joke: “Your fingers are too fat for this phone… "
The best thing about this movie? The Fantastic Four are represented quite accurately.
(Edit 11-Jul-2005: Actually, the best parts were those involving the Thing and the Torch. Reed was pretty much what I expected, but Sue’s character was quite weak, and at some points Jessica Alba seemed uncomfortable with it. It can’t be helped though, as before Franklin was born, Sue Storm-Richards had the weakest character development in the comics, and her lacking role in the movie simply reflects that.)
The worst thing about this movie? Doctor Doom and the people of New York are not.
The best line in the movie?
“It’s clobbering time.”
See Also