Talk about "Fantastic Four" here:
Review by: Breanne Derby
Plot Summary
A group of five people who apparently knew one another in high-school (it's never really fully explained) re-unite to go on a mission to outer space in order to inspect a cloud that is being blown towards earth. This cloud is thought to be very similar to one that apparently came in contact with the earth when the dinosaurs became extinct, and it is assumed to contain clues about human DNA. Unfortunately, the cloud arrives earlier than expected, and the people are not safely behind shields. This cloud causes the DNA of those exposed to it to alter in a number of different ways, morphing them into the Fantastic Four, a team of superheroes compiled of Reed Richards/Mr. Fantastic (Ioan Gruffudd), Sue Storm/The Invisible Girl (Jessica Alba), Johnny Storm/The Human Torch (Chris Evans), and Ben Grimm/The Thing (Michael Chiklis). Unfortunately, Victor Von Doom (Julian McMahon), whose company spearheaded the space mission, was also exposed to the cloud, and he is seeking revenge on the Fantastic Four.
Review
My first complaint about this film is the complete negligence of the writers to tell us anything about how the main characters knew one another before the space mission pops up. There was definitely a history between all of the characters, as can be seen in their attitudes towards one another, but the past isn't delved into at all even though the film is vastly about the relationships between the characters.
This film is as much about the struggling relationships between the characters as the fact that they're superheroes. Being endowed with special powers is just a minor obstacle which adds to their emotional distress.
The special effects in this film were okay, I guess. They were nicely done and as-believable-as-super-powers-can-be for the Invisible Girl and the Human Torch, but when Mr. Fantastic stretched his arms and his legs, it was very obviously computer animated, it didn't even look remotely real anymore. There were also scenes (I think it was when he was a stunt-double) when The Thing looked just like a regular guy, and when it first happened I did a double-take because I hadn't expected him to suddenly change back.
I was also sort-of disappointed by the acting in this film. There were some scenes that were really horrendously bad. It sounded like the actors were reading off of a cue card. It may have been the fact that some of the things the people said were just very unnatural (e.g. "It's clobberin' time") for people to say, so they sounded forced and bizarre when the actors said them.
If this film grosses well (or maybe even if it doesn't considering how
Hollywood's is) expect to see a sequel in a couple years. The end was left wide open so that if need be a sequel could be easily thrown together, and I expect one will be. Spiderman had a sequel, though it was a considerably better movie, actually, I hear there's going to be a Spiderman 3, maybe there'll be a whole series of Fantastic Fours too. That's just what we need, more sequels.
Conclusion
It seems as though more and more films in the theatre are re-makes of old things, or another addition to an old series. Showing right now at my local cinema is Fantastic Four, War of the Worlds, Bewitched, Herbie: Fully Loaded, Batman Begins, and Star Wars: Episode III. Six out of the ten movies showing are sequels or re-makes. Tomorrow Charlie and the Chocolate Factory will be showing. It's as though Hollywood's run out of unique ideas so they have to go back to the 50's, 60's, and 70's and make movies out of everything from then. Sooner or later movies of the past are going to run out and we're going to find ourselves watching a re-make of a film that just came out on DVD. It's sad really. But all re-make complaints aside, Fantastic Four was okay. It was just another comic-book movie though. There was really nothing special about it. Personally I preferred Spiderman to Fantastic Four, so I guess I'll give it two-and-a-half stars. If I had the option I'd give it two and three-quarter stars, but dividing stars into quarters seems a bit extensive, so it's going to stay at two-and-a-half.
