Fantastic Four Movie Blurb by Shale August 7, 2015 In anticipation of this reboot of the franchise I watched the previous two Fantastic 4 movies from 2005 & 2007. I hate to say this because those were movies based on comic book characters but as an adult I found the characters in both gratingly juvenile. The Chris Evans' Human Torch grandstanding playboy was so clichéd it was embarrassingly annoying and the Reed Richards/Sue Storm relationship was so immature and shallow that if there were a third sequel it would have involved their divorce. So, I went into this movie knowing it could not be worse and was pleasantly sure enuf it was much better. Even tho they are playing young adult nerds just out of high school, the characters' interrelations are more real and mature than any shown in the original movies. It starts with Reed Richards (Owen Judge) as a child getting chastised by his science teacher because he is working on a teleportation machine, which everyone knows is science fiction. He becomes friends with Ben Grimm (Evan Hannemann) who has access to some scrap from his family junkyard. The two boys have some success on a small scale and continue working together as friends thru high school. At a school Science Fair, Reed (Miles Teller) and Ben (Jamie Bell) demonstrate the teleporter but are not believed by the same science teacher. However, they are approached by Professor Franklin Storm (Reg E. Cathey) and his daughter Sue Storm (Kate Mara) who admire that Reed and Ben had made advances on a project they had been working on at the Baxter Foundation. (BTW, I felt good about my colorblind moment, when it took me several scenes to realize that Franklin Storm is black and his daughter is white). Reed and Ben are now enrolled at Baxter with other young prodigy scientists, building a teleportation device that actually has tapped into a planet in another dimension. Also on the team is a young dissident scientist who formerly worked with Prof. Storm but had major attitude problems, Victor von Doom (Toby Kebbell) as well as the professors son, Johnny Storm (Michael B. Jordan). So, there is the setup and the characters that those of you who are into this franchise know. Of course the three guys take an unauthorized trip into the other dimension and encounter a strange energy that does the changes in them and Sue Storm when she tries to get them back. In the Other Dimension Thus begins the story of Mr. Fantastic, Invisible Woman, Human Torch and Thing. Reed Richards, Sue Storm & Thing It does not start out smoothly as it did in the earlier films as the government is involved and trying to study the new powers and use them as weapons. Johnny Storm who had no direction with his life before does like the attention and importance of being the Human Torch. Human Torch with Assistants And you know they will have to deal with Doctor Doom who had so much anger he could never have been part of the Fantastic Five. Doctor Doom Now, you know that I personally like this movie much better than the original two, but it has been panned by the real critics. The aggregate reviews on Rotten Tomatoes give it only a 9% Fresh and only 30% of audiences liked it. Their Consensus: Dull and downbeat, this Fantastic Four proves a woefully misguided attempt to translate a classic comic series without the humor, joy, or colorful thrills that made it great. Well, that is true - this one was more serious than the slapstick shenanigans that went on in the original. It was set up for a sequel, we'll just have to see what the box office numbers say. One more warning - don't sit thru 10 minutes of boring end credits because even tho this is a Marvel movie, there is no post-credit scene.
I really could not believe that as of today only 8% of the aggregate critics on Rotten Tomatoes and 21% of audiences liked this movie - which I did like. So I scrolled thru page after page of the bad reviews to find a few of the good one. It appears that even tho we are in the minority, those of us who liked this reboot movie appreciate the fact that it is about a bunch of serious kid scientists instead of a bunch of juvenile relationships and bickering among adults like the original two. Here are some excerpts: Fantastic Four review: superheroes' origin story outshines the last reboot Craig Mathieson - The Age 3.5 out of 4 August 9, 2015 Rather than a pure tale of comic-book action heroes, viewers see a drama with lessons about life. First things first: this capable reboot of the Fantastic Four thankfully bears little resemblance to the previous attempt to build a film franchise around the exotic quartet of comic-book heroes. Cartoonish, slight and ineffectual, 2005's Fantastic Four and its dire 2007 sequel, Rise of the Silver Surfer – a film where the villain was a destructive cloud – are easily eclipsed by Josh Trank's science-fiction adventure, where the thrill of discovery is always tempered by failure's cost. The building blocks are familiar but the movie is a genuine origin story – it doesn't zip through the beginnings of this unbelievable union in a few broad scenes. There is more of the central characters before they get their superpowers than afterwards, and the story makes as much use of dramatic suspense as digital special effects. .... This is a detailed origin tale, and while it's obviously setting up sequels, it works as a self-contained tale; casual comic-book fans expecting sizeable destruction and sly quips might be somewhat disappointed. The final scenes are rushed, but the film never completely loses that sense of adolescent awe. The characters do become fantastic, but there's still something ordinary – and very recognisable – about them. Fantastic Four review: Miles Teller compelling in freakish origin story The Sydney Morning Herald Jake Wilson August 8, 2015 3 out of 4 By comic-book blockbuster standards the film is unusually straightforward and even low key, which is by no means an insult. We live in an era when superheroes are synonymous with mainstream popular culture, but it's worth remembering this wasn't always the case. For most of their history, superhero comics have been dismissed by outsiders as juvenile, trashy, even grotesque. It might even be that some of the original vitality of the form came from its very lack of respectability – its ability to embarrass the grown-ups. Despite, or because of, its generally earnest tone, the new Fantastic Four film brings some of that back. Though the Four are Marvel creations, the film is not part of the so-called Marvel Cinematic Universe: like the X-Men series, it's a product of the Fox studio, which is legally obliged to make use of the characters every decade or so or give up the rights. The director is the 30-year-old Josh Trank, who had a surprise hit in 2012 with Chronicle, a found-footage fantasy about teenagers who acquire superpowers that get out of hand. News Review Jim Lane Aug 13, 2015 ... Marvel Entertainment takes another stab at screening its first big comic-book success; the last one got off to a bad start in 2005 and flamed out (pun intended) after one sequel. This one starts off better (not hard), with a reasonably intelligent script (by Simon Kinberg, Jeremy Slater and Josh Trank), sprightly direction by Trank, a great comic-book noir look, and pleasant rapport among the stars (especially Teller and Bell). A 2017 sequel is already afoot; after that, we'll see if it catches on. The quartet's nemesis Dr. Doom (Toby Kebbell) is dispatched here, but he'll surely return. J.L.
F4 was one comic I was into when i was a kid This might be an ok movie , but I was disappointed from the first trailer that this again was going to bear little resemblance to the comic As the honest trailer guy has said, someones already made an awesome F4 movie, its called The Incredibles
I usually like Marvel's movies, but this one was a bit boring. I can't even say what was wrong, but I know for sure I won't watch it for a second time...
