Fantastic! Watched the DVD last night, and had a lot of fun. Not a perfect film, and definitely very different from the comic book, but well worth a viewing for the fun of it.

The comic, as I recall, was always dead serious (I haven't read it since John Byrne's run at it). Well, thankfully, the film has a great sense of humor.

Jessica Alba was all right as Sue Storm. It's still a bit odd seeing this Latina beauty all blonde and blue, and she's much younger than I'd always imagined Sue - and way, WAY hotter! - but she's okay.

I'm a bit disturbed by the total rewriting of Dr. Doom. He was never super-powered in the comics. Just a mad Latverian monarch with a scarred face and technological weapons. In the film he's with the FF in space when they get their powers, and he turns (gradually) into a metal-skinned villian with electric bolt-throwing powers. That's really the only aspect of the film I didn't care for.

But, the hell with that, 'cause the film was enough fun to let you ignore any little problems.

"Fantastic Four" is the "Showgirls" of Superhero Movies.:tongue:

"Fantastic Four" is the "Showgirls" of Superhero Movies.:tongue:

Jessica Alba is pretty but I think they shoulda cast some other chick instead to play Sue.

"Fantastic Four" is the "Showgirls" of Superhero Movies.:tongue:

Except for the lack of nekkid boobies.

José

oh man! dont get me started on how much that movie sucked!!!!!!!

it was terrible!

Jack Kirby hates that film...........and he's dead!!!!!!!!!!!!

:rolleyes:


I'm with you, JohnP. I enjoyed it.

However, I'm guessin' that you weren't a regular reader of the FF comics, as there were always all kinds of little funnies in there, usually dealing with Johnny and Ben. While I don't think we'll see it, I'm hoping that any sequel will also show us Ben's Aunt Petunia! Anybody who's read the comic and finally got to see Aunt Petunia knows why. :D

I'm also with you on the re-write of Dr. Doom. However, he had a mix of both technology and magic that he used - his mother was trapped in Hades/Limbo/Somesuchplace and several Marvel Comics had Doom trying to get her away from Mephisto or one of those bad Demon-like bad guys. There was also an IronMan annual that had Doom and ShellHead sort of team up after a battle in Doom's castle that sent them both back to Arthurian times. Doom eventually sided with Morgana LeFey and IronMan sided with King Arthur. Doom was learning some more about magic from LeFey and then both he and the Crimson & Gold Avenger traveled back to modern times - I think at the workings of Doom.

Anyhow, that's where I sort of thought they might be going w/the powers that Doom suddenly developed. There really wasn't any reason for him to develop superpowers as well, considering his genius w/technology alone. Was a bit of a disappointment there.

I enjoyed it also. Except for a couple things(and they were big things) I felt that they nailed it. Chiklis(sp?) as the human Grimm sucked but was great as theThing. His delivery of the lines and facial reactions were dead on. When the pigeon craps on him it was just like being hit by something thrown by a Yancy Streeter. And the look on his face when he sees the guy going to commit suicide was priceless. He was the thing. When Ben sacrificed being normal in order to save his friends was good but lacked the emotional impact of a real "Ben Grimm sacrifice". They failed to express just how great a sacrifice he was making and that now he is truly stuck as the Thing forever. The change back to human was too easy and instead of everybody being all happy about beating Doom, they should have stopped for a somber second when the impact of what Ben gave up in order for victory sank in. More of a downbeat scene rather than celebration("I'll never give up to find a way to change you back"). The pranks Johnny was pulling on him(shaving cream) was FF through and through. Johnny being into the extreme sports seemed off but in the comics Johnny was always into cars and racing. I can accept the update. When the camera angle was just right Alba looked exactly like Sue Storm. The early issues had lots of situations with Sue having to get undressed to go invisible in puiblic. Reed seemed kind of wimpy and insecure in his leadership, but the stretch effects were great. They should have given Reed his 5 o'clock shadow he always gets when he's busy working on a problem. Baxter building was great. There were several little nice touches throughout the movie. One I particularly remember is the trough cut through the pavement when Ben gets clobbered and slides along the pavement to come to rest against a pile off pavement.
The movie seemed kinda short and rushed but the major flaw was Doom. Just didn't work for me. He showed none of the arrogance and sense of superiority of the real Doom. Not once did he call somebody a "Dolt".http://www.hobbytalk.com/bbs1/images/icons/icon12.gif His true unadulterated hatred of Reed seemed watered down. The very fact that Reed exists sticks in his craw. The one thing Doom wants more than to rule the world is to prove his superiority to Reed. To Doom, victory is empty if it does not include the humilation of Reed Richards. As for Doom's extra powers in the movie I was reminded of when he stole the Silver Surfer's power back in FF #55, 57-60. One nice touch was the red puffiness around Doom's eyes behind the mask. That red/pink discoloration around his eyes is the only glimpse readers have been given of his disfigurement, leaving our imaginations to create the rest.
As for future sequels they better increase the effects budgets if they plan on going into the territory that really makes The Fantastic Four fantastic. The hidden city of The Inhumans better look as cool as Corsecant in Eps. I-III. I expect Star Wars quality of anything involving Skrulls/Galactus/Watcher etc. or it just won't work for me.

Jessica Alba is pretty but I think they shoulda cast some other chick instead to play Sue. I agree. Instead of playing "Thing's" wife, Lauri Holden should have played SS, rather than going with the chick of the day. Lauri (imho) is better looking and suits the age requirement better.

you guys must be talking about another FF movie because the one i seen had this in it :

Dr. Doom with no royalty about him, just another guy with lots of money who wants to rule the world...BORING!! Dr. Doom would never say " Marco....Polo!"

Sue Storm looked too skinny, did not look or sound like a scientist. Ms. Alba-horribly miscast!

Reed.....did not sound like Reed, looked too young. that whole plot with him and Sue was worse than a "Love Boat" plot. not enough use of his powers!

Ben Grimm..BAD HANDS!! looked like he was kid wearing oversizes gloves. his "pinky" finger was a give-away of a bad costume. no rocky enough. but he was the best character

Johnny...ok, but for a Human Torch he should have been more exciting.

just what was the plot of the movie?? I CANT REMEMBER!!!! thats how memorable it was. it really sucked!!!!!!

Spider-Man worked because it was faithfull to the comic spirit. X-Men worked because it had great characters!

HULK SAY MOVIE AS BAD AS MY MOVIE!! SOME PARTS GOOD BUT HULK SAY MOST PARTS BAD!!!!!!!!

No, we're just not super-anal about movies and can relax our sphincters enough to enjoy them. ;)

Just don't relax that thing too much, m'kay?
http://www.inpayne.com/smilies/turd.gif

Hulk vs. Thing! Their comic battles were epic. As long as they don't remake Alien vs. Predator. Hulk Smash Rock Man!!

Just don't relax that thing too much, m'kay?
http://www.inpayne.com/smilies/turd.gif
Just for you, John. :p

I agree with John and Griff. I saw this back when it was playing in the theatres.

I confess to being a bit nervous that it would be another Catwoman / Daredevil disappointment but I found that I enjoyed the movie. I know some FF purists may take issue with it in terms of some aspects that are not exactly faithful to the comic. But since I'm not one of them, I didn't have to worry about that.

I just sat back and enjoyed the show. And I'm looking forward to the sequel.

Huzz

I was more irritated by the whole thing than disappointed.

Johnny Storm was almost enough to make me eject the DVD before I saw the entire film. What a God-awful representation of the character....of ANY character for that matter.

I agree that Chiklis in human form didn't seem right, but he saved the day as The Thing. He was, without a doubt, the only decent actor in the cast.

Alba, Gruffudd and McMahon should be relegated to made for Sci-Fi Channel movies.

With all my reservations about the way the characters were written and portrayed, I still couldn't say that I hated it as much as everyone has written. I was expecting a total mess and it was okay. Compared to X-Men, Spiderman II and Batman Begins, it's a 6th grade afterschool project.

it was a total mess, one of the worst comic adaptations ever made!

Compared to X-Men, Spiderman II and Batman Begins, it's a 6th grade afterschool project.

Pretty good analogy.

Rented it today with rather low expectations but was rather pleasently suprised. No it wasn't "canon" to the comic book, but it was a pretty decent "popcorn" flick. I believe that it is one that I would watch again if it were on somewhere in my vicinity, might even pick it up when the rental places start blowing it out used.

Sounds like this is one of those "love it or hate it" sit-chee-ayshuns.

I watched it the other day. I hadn't seen it in the theater, so the DVD was my first exposure.

I really didn't have any expectations, good or bad - and, actually, I found myself liking it for the most part. Not up to the caliber of other, more successful superhero movies, but far and above the likes of The Hulk or other such drivel.

Along with the movie DVD, was a second one with a 50-minute documentary on the characters and making of the film which I enjoyed immensely, even more than the film itself.

Although I consider "The Hulk" to be a failure (what would constitute a good Hulk movie exactly?), calling it drivel in relation to "Fantastic Four" seems unfair to me. "The Hulk" tried to tell a good dramatic story and admittedly failed overall. "Fantastic Four" set the bar extremely low and succeeded in jumping it - by about half an inch. Furthermore, The Hulk was one of Stan Lee's most derivative creations - a cross between Frankenstein's monster, The Amazing Colossal Man, and Jekyll & Hyde. There's just not much there to work with to begin with. Granted, FF were a team-up with powers that had been seen before - but the work Lee and Kirby did on that title in the early years is absolutely definitive Silver Age Marvel mythology - the origin story, the FF's home in New York City, the whole Silver Surfer/Watcher/Galactus story arc. The film version is such a pale imitation of it's source material that it's really just sort of an insult. "Fantastic Four" is the absolute definition of the worst kind of cheesy "Hollywood Product" we're getting these days.

the Hulk movie was waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay better than this FF junk!

i'd like to punch the director for botching the job.
and the producers own me my movie and popcorn money back!!

Well My Wife reallllllly likes that Actor Jullian Mcmahon (Doom) on "Nip/Tuck,So I enjoy that show too and I can't help but watching the FF movie and waiting for him to say "Tell Us What You Don't Like About Yourself" lol Meanwhile I really did like the Film and The "Commish" (Chiklis) was Believeable as Ben Grimm. I gotta tell ya' though I have one of those Bootleg Copies of the Roger Corman FF and I think Story Wise they did a better Job. and the Doom in the Unrealesed Version seemed more faithful to the Comic Costume IMHO

John/Lonfan

Whatever happened to the version of FF being made late last century with Alex Hyde-White as Mr Fantastic? There was a write-up in a Cinefantastique but that's all I know about it...

Whatever happened to the version of FF being made late last century with Alex Hyde-White as Mr Fantastic? There was a write-up in a Cinefantastique but that's all I know about it...


That's the "bootleg" Lon's talking about. I've got a copy too. Bargain basement budget, never released for public consumption. A rather "amateurish" production, but a more respectable effort than the '05 version.

That's the "bootleg" Lon's talking about. I've got a copy too. Bargain basement budget, never released for public consumption. A rather "amateurish" production, but a more respectable effort than the '05 version.

Well... "respectable" isn't a word I'd use.
The Thing suit was really good!
Rebacca Staab (?) was utterly gorgeous as Sue.
They got Dr. Doom right.
But...
The Torch's big scene was cell animation and a direct ripoff of a 40s Fleischer Superman cartoon.
Mr. Fantastic only stretched once or twice, as I recall - once to trip someone, and once to wave thru the roof of a limo.
Direction and acting weren't even up to Roger Corman's usual standards.
It pretty much sucked on the whole :).

Well... "respectable" isn't a word I'd use.
The Thing suit was really good!
Rebacca Staab (?) was utterly gorgeous as Sue.
They got Dr. Doom right.
But...
The Torch's big scene was cell animation and a direct ripoff of a 40s Fleischer Superman cartoon.
Mr. Fantastic only stretched once or twice, as I recall - once to trip someone, and once to wave thru the roof of a limo.
Direction and acting weren't even up to Roger Corman's usual standards.
It pretty much sucked on the whole :).

Yes it did. But it was truer in spirit to the source material than the version we are discussing. FF '05 purportedly had a $100 Million Dollar budget. That's just slightly less than the budget for "Batman Begins". Depending on what sources you read, the Corman version was made for anywhere from a couple of million down to as little as $500,000. Considering what they had to work with, I consider Corman's version a more "respectable" effort. To me, "Fantastic Four" is generic, cookie-cutter, utterly forgettable filmaking with decent effects and lots of nice little "product placements". Stylistically and substantially, it could have been about any comic book team-up - "The Avengers", "The Justice League of America", "The Metal Men", take your pick - let's make a superhero movie and "insert team-up here". The comics weren't like that - FF had it all over most of the other team-ups because it originated as a team-up, had a very particular chemistry between the four principals, and as I stated earlier, those early Kirby/Lee efforts especially were epic comic book story-telling. "Fantastic Four" is anything but epic in it's feel and approach. It's like a Sci-Fi Channel Movie-Of-The-Week with about 50 times the budget.

I saw FF at the theaters. The unfortunate thing about FF was that it was released during the same summer as Batman Begins. The other unfortunate thing is , I paid to see it. Superhero "Showgirls", "after school project", indeed!
It was just a trainwreck, with the Torch and Thing being the only characters worth watching. Dr. Doom was about the worst (re) concieved villian to hit the screen in a long time.
I respect your opinions JG and JP, but for me, it was just terrible!

PS- I liked the Hulk!

Well, I agree they screwed up Dr Doom big time. But I still had fun.

Well, I agree they screwed up Dr Doom big time. But I still had fun.

I had fun, too. It was actually BETTER than I had anticipated ( so, maybe if your expectations aren't so high & mighty to begin with, you'll actually find something to enjoy about this movie! ).

You want to know what my biggest gripe was? No, it wasn't Special Effects - I was reasonably satisfied in that department. No, it wasn't casting - although I would have cast some of those parts differently myself. No, it wasn't characterization - even though it wasn't completely true to the comics, it was passable enough for me....

My gripe was: Hey! Four Super-powered people against ONE! Some heroes!

- GJS

What was Dr. Doom's goal and motivation in this movie? I've already forgotten.

What was Dr. Doom's goal and motivation in this movie? I've already forgotten.

Um. He wanted Sue?
Um. The radiation activated his "MWAH-ha-haaaa" gene?

Dr. Doom was in this movie?

I think he was mad because he got his pretty face messed up.

Just bought it for my six year-old daughter. I promised her a new DVD tonight as a reward for good behavior. I tried to get her to go for "The Princess Bride" but she insisted on "Fantastic Four" instead. I worry about this kid.

I liked it! Much better than the old cartoon on Saturday mornings!

The movie is on our Morale Drive here at BIAP and I watched it yesterday. I still enjoy it a lot. It's a fun movie about Super Heroes and how they got started and I think they captured how these characters were portrayed in their origin. Kind of hoping to maybe see a sequel, tho ain't holdin' my breath.

I liked it! Much better than the old cartoon on Saturday mornings!


AGREED- Thank God NO HERBIE The Robot! lol

John/Lonfan

Howdy Griff, glad to hear from you! BTW, FF4-2 is confirmed, I would guess it'll be better than this one...Take care Buddy!


The movie is on our Morale Drive here at BIAP and I watched it yesterday. I still enjoy it a lot. It's a fun movie about Super Heroes and how they got started and I think they captured how these characters were portrayed in their origin. Kind of hoping to maybe see a sequel, tho ain't holdin' my breath.

Yes, I would agree that it's better than the cartoon. And it felt like it was aimed at an age group not much older than the original cartoon watchers.

You need to sit down with your daughter and get to the root of this problem Zorro. Why on Earth would she pass up the Princess Bride?

José

You need to sit down with your daughter and get to the root of this problem Zorro. Why on Earth would she pass up the Princess Bride?

José


She's never seen "The Princess Bride" and I did take her to see FF at the theater so I'm guessing she didn't trust her daddy's judgement sight unseen. It's like an arrow through my heart.

It's an arrow through my heart and I don't know her. You should buy it regardless and make her see that her old man is wise after all.

José

Definitely.
That movie is a favorite in this house as well.

Jessica Alba was nominated for a Razzie for Fantastic Four [and Into the Blue].

Jessica Alba was nominated for a Razzie for Fantastic Four [and Into the Blue].

Yeah. She's a babe. Not an actress.

I'd like to blow a razzie on her tummy.













For starters.

Talked my daughter into "The Princess Bride" yesterday. She and her Mom watched it last night while I was out with the guys. Her pronouncement? "It was wonderful and much better-er than "Fantastic Four" " Score one for classic story-telling. The producers of "Fantastic Four" have announced that the sequel will feature The Silver Surfer and Galactus. Considering the "LITE" approach of the first installment and the respective status of those two characters as literal demi-gods, I can only assume that No. 2 is intended as a broad comedy. Perfect opportunity to insert product placements for Rustoleum and Bauer Hockey Blades though.

Oh, c'mon, man! :rolleyes:

The FF comics were best when they had the snappy banter going on, sort of like w/Spider-man. You can expect it to be a bit lighter-hearted than the X-Men as the FF stories were rarely ever dark all the way thru, really. I'm sure that anything w/Galactus and Silver Surfer will be pretty dark.

The Spider-Man movies have managed to strike a nearly perfect balance between humor and drama while showing great fidelity to the early Lee/Ditko/Romita era the comic book. The Silver Surfer/Galactus story-line is from the early Lee/Kirby era of the comics. The first movie showed almost no fidelity (in tone) to that era. Unless the FF script writers completely change their approach (not likely - the first movie sold almost as many tickets as "Batman Begins") - they will take two of the heaviest characters in comic book history and turn them into "jokes".