Saturday, August 8, 2015

Fantastic Four - Strike Three


OR:



I must say, the final paragraph of A.O. Scott's review of "Fantastic Four" in The New York Times will have me avoiding this film like the plague.

" 'Fantastic Four,' despite the dogged efforts of its talented young cast, has nothing. The special effects are at about the level of the early 'Harry Potter' movies--lots of glowing green clouds and ice-blue bolts and force fields. The human drama is meager. Once again, the only real pathos belongs to Mr. Bell’s Ben, who finds himself trapped in a stony new body and weaponized by a ruthless government. Mr. Teller stretches, not as an actor but as a digitally enhanced body. Mr. Jordan burns in the same way, and Ms. Mara disappears. Her character also has the power to make other things vanish. I would say she should have exercised it on this movie, but in a week or two that should take care of itself."
Good lord.

You can see a brief rundown of the film's reviews from a sampling of them here.  Though if you happen to be employed by 20th-Century Fox, be sure you're wearing your flak jacket.


3 comments:

  1. Bah - ignore all these awful movies and stick to REAL Marvel by which I mean the comics of course. I've just downloaded 'Legendary Star-Lord' Vol.2 and Deadpool Vol.8 in which - sob - Deadpool dies (apparently).

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  2. I dunno...do you think it's possible to make a GOOD Fantastic Four Movie?
    I'm not sure their powers can translate to the big screen very well. I mean, we're talking about a stretchy guy here.
    But why they keep screwing up Dr. Doom is beyond me. Maybe they just can't figure a way to fit the whole ruler of Latveria story into one movie. But hey, they've done a good job with Thanos, by just showing him in cameos, without going into his whole history.
    Maybe they should just forget the whole dang thing. I mean, it's PAINFUL to see this debacle replayed over and over.
    A very mournful M.P.

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  3. Well, M.P., I'm very much in the minority whenever I mention that I liked the first FF film. It didn't bat it out of the park, and there were a few things to fine-tune--and I'm with the consensus that they totally misfired on Doom. But I liked the FF characters and how they were handled; their origin story was given an acceptable and believable contemporary update; there were a lot of nice touches throughout; and the casting was excellent. So, yes, I think the tools and the minds are there to get an FF movie right and send audiences home wanting more. Whether or not that's feasible now is anyone's guess, since the damage to the brand as far as motion pictures are concerned may be irreparable. (Though it would certainly be appropriate if #4 turned out to be the hit everyone was waiting for, eh?)

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