I agree that Dr Doom wasn't evil enough in this film, and that Julian McMahon's performance was too nice. Did Doom really deserve to get (spoiler) at the end? Was it really necessary? I mean, sure he killed some people, but what they did to him in the final fight scene was over-punishment, in my opinion.
Anyway, I'm glad that Doom's not returning for the sequel. They've already done the character, it's time to move on.
As for the Fantastic Four themselves, I'm looking forward to seeing more character development between the group in the sequel. All 4 actors will be reprising their roles, and they all played their parts nicely in the first film, so the sequel should be good.
I just wonder who will be the villain/s? They have a wide selection to choose from, such as The Puppet Master, The Mole Man, Annihilus, The Frightful Four, or my tip The Skrulls inclusive of Lyja the Laser Fist and lead by The Super Skrull!
Drawn Out Dad.
Independent, one-shot comic books from the outskirts of Melbourne, Australia.
twitter.com/DrawnOutDad
There is indeed much they can do. However, I do believe a trip to the Negative Zone is in order. I would like to see a bit more Reed Richards in action this time.
I watched the movie last night and I thought it stunk. The action scenes were quite boring, many of the scenes felt totally contrived, the cast has no chemistry with each other and the storyline is not at all compelling. One of the worst movies of 2005.
I didnt like it too much. Just too comic book, nothing stood out. But I love the line between Johnny and Maria Memuons ("boy your hot":"why thankyou, so are you."
Late to the discussion again. Well, some six months after the movie's release in the theaters and about two months after it came out on DVD, I finally saw Fantastic Four. My response: barely raised a pulse.
The movie had a nice sense of humor, and I thought Michael Chiklis was excellent as The Thing--in fact, I think I would have preferred a Thing movie starring MC--and his scenes with Torch were fun. Alas, those were the best parts of the film. I thought that the script was a 105-minute prologue to another film--we got the origins, but no real story. No great plot to foil; no looming global catastrophe; only two--TWO!--big action set pieces; and a lot of scenes of the FF sitting around the lab trying to figure out what's wrong with themselves. What little story we got defies explanation: OK, Reed builds a machine that looks like the teleporter from The Fly; but does it turn him into a lump of goo or make him more powerful? How does the same machine turn Thing back into Ben and then back, again, into The Thing?
As for the direction--pedestrian and unimaginative. Not one scene of Ben transforming into The Thing. Clumsy editing that creates the suggestion that Ben must have walked from Vancouver (I guess) to New York, apparently overnight. It's impossible to follow the action on the Brooklyn Bridge, and some things flat out don't make sense. For instance, Johnny and Sue can't get into Doom's headquarters. Johnny turns into the Torch and outruns a missile, and somehow or other Sue turns up in Doom's lair. Huh?
And you'd think they would have at least turned up the amplification of Julian McMahon's voice to make him SOUND sinister. . .
In an era when we're getting great superhero movies like the Spider-Man and X-men flicks, as well as Batman Begins, this trifle just doesn't cut it.
Although I would have prefered a Dr.Doom considerably closer to the original version(i.e." And now the earth will shudder in fear!At last the world will know my vengeance!So says...Dr.Doom!!!"),I also know why that didn't happen.Two words:Darth Vader.Lucas got there first and swiped all the really cool stuff for his own character.Aside from that,I thought McMahon was pretty good overall--I could certainly see why he might've been considered to play 007,especially with his hairpiece in place.His was a more relaxed and detached Dr.Doom--less quasi Shakespearan than Stan Lee's creation.
I thought Stan Lee was great as Willy Lumpkin, the Baxter Building's mailman.Give that man an Oscar.
The Four were all good.Ioan Gruffudd make a convincing Reed,Chris Evans(with black hair!)was excellent as Johnny Storm, and Jessica Alba was much better than I expected as Sue.Then there's Michael Chiklis--a terrific Ben Grimm.Not much story for the cast,however.
This was an exposition movie and that's unfortunate.Maybe if it had started with the Four already assembled and then flashed back to their origin, it'd have moved faster and maintained a greater level of excitement and urgency.Regardless,it's a good movie and I enjoyed it.Not a classic motion picture but not without some entertainment value.
The opinions of the critics mean nothing to me.I also liked Daredevil,Elektra and The Phantom as well as Batman Begins,the Spider-Man movies,most of The Shadow, and the first two Chris Reeve Superman films.Heck,I can find good things to say about Beatty's Dick Tracy movie,too.
I still can't get over the Thing's appearance, but other then that slight hang up, and the fact that Alba is too darned young to pay Sue, this looks pretty good. Rental time here it comes..
Lee's always interesting and colorful and a joy to listen to. And he probably got more screen time then Forry Ackerman's many cameos. (maybe if uncle Forry had more speaking parts that dreadful Vampi film would've been elevated.
I still can't get over the Thing's appearance, but other then that slight hang up, and the fact that Alba is too darned young to pay Sue, this looks pretty good.
At first, I too thought Alba was too young for the part. But later I recanted on the premise the Sue Storm was initially the "Invisible Girl" and only later was promoted to the Invisible Woman. I think that implies that she was fairly young at the time they went into space. However she doesn't look older than Johnny and that's a problem.
Yeah, the film skews to 'poor' but if they're making a sequel, there's no reason that it can't be better. The cast is good...beef up the story and direction this time.
That reminds me. . .the Sue/Johnny relationship was another thing that sent my thumb downward. That Johnny is a egotistic show-off and Sue is pretty conservative and doesn't approve of his activities is fine; but going by the way they act you'd think Sue is 13 and Johnny is 10! There were times when I expected Sue to say, "If you don't quit it, I'm telling Mom!" These characters are supposed to be adults, and adult siblings quarrel quite differently--they're much more cutting, much quicker to focus on personal failures and past wrongdoings.
And another thing, and this may be more a problem with the source material than with the film itself: why is Sue invisible? OK, Reed is an overachiever and so he becomes a stretchable man; Johnny is mercurial, and so he bursts into flame; Ben is tough and hard-headed and so he becomes a rock; but Sue. . .? In the "making-of" feature, Jessica Alba says that Sue is invisible because she's "a woman in a man's world." Right. She's intelligent--a renowned SCIENTIST, fer Pete's sake, beautiful, and at the center of the action. . .how much more VISIBLE can she be?
By the bye, WG, I'm no comic book-movie-adaptation snob. I liked The Phantom myself, and I've defended Hulk against people who hate it. I have a notorious soft spot for superhero movies, and I'm champing at the bit for the next installment of the X-men and Spidey, and Ghost Rider looks soooo kewl!! I just feel that this take on the FF is underwhelming and perfunctory--I'll take a chance on the sequel, but it had better deliver!
I just watched this movie over the weekend and I must say it was just okay. There was nothing about it that blew me away or was memorable. The acting was so so the characters were so so the story was so so. There wasn't quite as much action and it wasn't that great. I'm glad I didn't go to the theatre to watch this though. If they do make a sequel, hopefully it will be better than the original.
There's a teaser trailer of the Fantastic Four sequel over at Quicktime.com. Rather than start a new thread, I thought I'd bump this one. The Silver Surfer features prominently in the teaser and looks pretty good; although I'm not sure about the Terminator 2 vibe to his powers (you'll know what I mean when you see it).
the fellow who played The Thing was a fan of the comic and it showed
his character was the most important one to get right, The Thing should be embittered and selfpitying, resent Reed for his situation and should spend half the story getting in altercations with the Human Torch
his lack of a brow was, as I understand, because they were following the character design from the very first issue
it took a couple of years for Kirby to start drawing The Thing the way we all think he looks
I havent seen any images from the sequel yet, but Im hoping his orangeskin will evolve as it did in the comics
as for the action scenes to Baxter Building ratio, they got it right
thats exactly the way the comics go, often for issues at a time
anybody can save the world, but the interplay of the four personalities as they sit round waiting for Reed to build his contraptions is what makes them unique
leaving out the baxter building content would be like leaving Aunt May and JJJ out of SpiderMan
Dr Doom stank, and was the weak point of the film
as another poster stated, this was the unfortunate cost of releasing the film the same summer as the Origin of Darth Vader
Kirby himself has said he felt Darth Vader was a Dr Doom ripoff, so the timing of the two films was especially cruel
the fact that The Incredibles came out a few months earlier and was so damned good also undermined the FF (yall catch that final scene in The Incredibles ended with a tribute to the cover of FF#1?)
Hardyboy asks about The Invisible Girls lame superpower and the source material
remember the comic started in 1961, when women were still supposed to be stuck in the kitchen keeping the house neat and clean
shes a hard character to update, and I have issues about having a sexbomb like Alba portraying her, but to portray her as a selfdoubting June Cleaver type would not have worked either
I never really thought about the superpowers as extensions of their personalities before but your spot on Hardyboy
my hopes for sequels?
well, aside from Galactus and the Silver Surfer (and Doom stealing the Surfers Power Cosmic) Id like to see the Inhumans
at least Medusa and Lockjaw, the others arent so important to me
Lockjaw the spacewarping hippodog is the coolest character design Kirby ever came up with
and Medusa has great cinematic potential: sexy, morally ambiguous, and that hair would make for great CGI
RogueAgentSpeeding in the Tumbler...Posts: 3,676MI6 Agent
Well...I have to say that this teaser looks quite promising. The first thing out of my son's mouth was Terminator 2 Silver Surfer. )
We both met Doug Jones;aka, Abe Sapien earlier this year at a comic con and he seems to fit the part on the surface from speaking to him long enough.
I wasn't even aware that SS had the ability to meld through solids or is this just Hollywood toying with the constants again?
I just hope they don't drop the ball on this; Prince Namor would've made a better story, IMO, for those who remember the story arcs of the 70s...
Mrs. Man Face: "You wouldn't hit a lady? Would you?"
Batman: "The Hammer Of Justice isUNISEX!"
-Batman: The Brave & The Bold -
I wasn't even aware that SS had the ability to meld through solids or is this just Hollywood toying with the constants again?
That's what I'd like to know. I haven't read Marvel in years but I do know that they tinkered with certain elements of the Silver Surfer's history. Didn't his homeworld of Zenn-La turn out to be a figment of his imagination at one point?
Still, the surfing poses look good and the visuals, even though we're still six months from launch, look suitably realistic. I've got my fingers crossed on this one as well.
Prince Namor would've made a better story, IMO, for those who remember the story arcs of the 70s...
What is it with you and these waterlogged heros?
RogueAgentSpeeding in the Tumbler...Posts: 3,676MI6 Agent
Where was Stan Lee during the planning? Didn't he say, Waitaminute. Dr Doom OWNS Darth Vader; he's not a suit and tie guy. A real surprise that he didn't see these flaws, when he's so great in creating some of the most memorable stuff out there.
It's 2 007! yehhhy
______________________
"Surely, you're joking!!?"
"Don't call me Shirley."
RogueAgentSpeeding in the Tumbler...Posts: 3,676MI6 Agent
Where was Stan Lee during the planning? Didn't he say, Waitaminute. Dr Doom OWNS Darth Vader; he's not a suit and tie guy. A real surprise that he didn't see these flaws, when he's so great in creating some of the most memorable stuff out there.
Unfortunately, like many things of this nature, it's out of Mr. Lee's hands and has been for quite some time. Marvel's board runs the show while they cut Lee an annual check in the area of a cool mil annually.
I'm sure that they want to respectfully stay close to some of the material that SL made such a fixture of but that's about it...
Mrs. Man Face: "You wouldn't hit a lady? Would you?"
Batman: "The Hammer Of Justice isUNISEX!"
-Batman: The Brave & The Bold -
Not a big surprise, but here's confirmation that Galactus will be in Fantastic Four #2. His physical appearance remains in question as he is described more as a "force of nature". Personally, I want to see classic Galactus, complete with the antlers.
Not a big surprise, but here's confirmation that Galactus will be in Fantastic Four #2. His physical appearance remains in question as he is described more as a "force of nature". Personally, I want to see classic Galactus, complete with the antlers.
Thanks for the link, Tony but they're certainly being opaque on how Galactus will be presented. Will we at least get an outline or just talking wind? ?:)
Mrs. Man Face: "You wouldn't hit a lady? Would you?"
Batman: "The Hammer Of Justice isUNISEX!"
-Batman: The Brave & The Bold -
Because films are so keen these days on not only using the previous installments to fuel the sequels, but then adding depth not previously seen or heard before about stuff that already happened. (Hence the throwaway explanation of Clair Daines' dad in Terminator 3).
Could it be Galactus or Silver Surfer that were actually responsible for the astro storm that hit the space station in FF1? A random release of the transformative qualities of the power Cosmic? It sounds plausible enough. And since FF is far more fantastical than the more "realistic" X-Men or Spider-Man, it is rather likely that they could go nuts to the floor on this franchise.
Saw a trailer for Fantastic Four at the theater over the weekend. Did nothing for me, of course the original movie did nothing for me either. I actually find a couple of the characters annoying.
There's a little story over at IGN about whether or not Galactus appears in FF#2. According to director Tim Story, the answer is a resounding yes. The question now is what he will look like - while he would not divulge specifics, Story did say that most people would be pleased with the look. Looks like Dr. Doom will also be back and going for a more classic look.
AICN is reporting that Galactus will be a "giant storm cloud" in Fantastic Four #2. It's still rumor at this point and anything from AICN should be taken with great quantities of salt, especially given their obvious agenda against studio head Tom Rothman. I know having a 100 foot tall man with antlers would be challenging to pull off, but a storm cloud? I really hope this isn't true.
I came across a few more photos from FF#2 including one with Victor Von Doom (who looks disappointingly ordinary). It has also been confirmed that Lawrence Fishburne will be doing the voice of the Silver Surfer (not Galactus as previously rumored. Have a look...
Comments
Anyway, I'm glad that Doom's not returning for the sequel. They've already done the character, it's time to move on.
As for the Fantastic Four themselves, I'm looking forward to seeing more character development between the group in the sequel. All 4 actors will be reprising their roles, and they all played their parts nicely in the first film, so the sequel should be good.
I just wonder who will be the villain/s? They have a wide selection to choose from, such as The Puppet Master, The Mole Man, Annihilus, The Frightful Four, or my tip The Skrulls inclusive of Lyja the Laser Fist and lead by The Super Skrull!
Independent, one-shot comic books from the outskirts of Melbourne, Australia.
twitter.com/DrawnOutDad
The movie had a nice sense of humor, and I thought Michael Chiklis was excellent as The Thing--in fact, I think I would have preferred a Thing movie starring MC--and his scenes with Torch were fun. Alas, those were the best parts of the film. I thought that the script was a 105-minute prologue to another film--we got the origins, but no real story. No great plot to foil; no looming global catastrophe; only two--TWO!--big action set pieces; and a lot of scenes of the FF sitting around the lab trying to figure out what's wrong with themselves. What little story we got defies explanation: OK, Reed builds a machine that looks like the teleporter from The Fly; but does it turn him into a lump of goo or make him more powerful? How does the same machine turn Thing back into Ben and then back, again, into The Thing?
As for the direction--pedestrian and unimaginative. Not one scene of Ben transforming into The Thing. Clumsy editing that creates the suggestion that Ben must have walked from Vancouver (I guess) to New York, apparently overnight. It's impossible to follow the action on the Brooklyn Bridge, and some things flat out don't make sense. For instance, Johnny and Sue can't get into Doom's headquarters. Johnny turns into the Torch and outruns a missile, and somehow or other Sue turns up in Doom's lair. Huh?
And you'd think they would have at least turned up the amplification of Julian McMahon's voice to make him SOUND sinister. . .
In an era when we're getting great superhero movies like the Spider-Man and X-men flicks, as well as Batman Begins, this trifle just doesn't cut it.
I thought Stan Lee was great as Willy Lumpkin, the Baxter Building's mailman.Give that man an Oscar.
The Four were all good.Ioan Gruffudd make a convincing Reed,Chris Evans(with black hair!)was excellent as Johnny Storm, and Jessica Alba was much better than I expected as Sue.Then there's Michael Chiklis--a terrific Ben Grimm.Not much story for the cast,however.
This was an exposition movie and that's unfortunate.Maybe if it had started with the Four already assembled and then flashed back to their origin, it'd have moved faster and maintained a greater level of excitement and urgency.Regardless,it's a good movie and I enjoyed it.Not a classic motion picture but not without some entertainment value.
The opinions of the critics mean nothing to me.I also liked Daredevil,Elektra and The Phantom as well as Batman Begins,the Spider-Man movies,most of The Shadow, and the first two Chris Reeve Superman films.Heck,I can find good things to say about Beatty's Dick Tracy movie,too.
Thumb up from me.:)
I still can't get over the Thing's appearance, but other then that slight hang up, and the fact that Alba is too darned young to pay Sue, this looks pretty good. Rental time here it comes..
Lee's always interesting and colorful and a joy to listen to. And he probably got more screen time then Forry Ackerman's many cameos. (maybe if uncle Forry had more speaking parts that dreadful Vampi film would've been elevated.
Excelsoir!
At first, I too thought Alba was too young for the part. But later I recanted on the premise the Sue Storm was initially the "Invisible Girl" and only later was promoted to the Invisible Woman. I think that implies that she was fairly young at the time they went into space. However she doesn't look older than Johnny and that's a problem.
Yeah, the film skews to 'poor' but if they're making a sequel, there's no reason that it can't be better. The cast is good...beef up the story and direction this time.
And another thing, and this may be more a problem with the source material than with the film itself: why is Sue invisible? OK, Reed is an overachiever and so he becomes a stretchable man; Johnny is mercurial, and so he bursts into flame; Ben is tough and hard-headed and so he becomes a rock; but Sue. . .? In the "making-of" feature, Jessica Alba says that Sue is invisible because she's "a woman in a man's world." Right. She's intelligent--a renowned SCIENTIST, fer Pete's sake, beautiful, and at the center of the action. . .how much more VISIBLE can she be?
By the bye, WG, I'm no comic book-movie-adaptation snob. I liked The Phantom myself, and I've defended Hulk against people who hate it. I have a notorious soft spot for superhero movies, and I'm champing at the bit for the next installment of the X-men and Spidey, and Ghost Rider looks soooo kewl!! I just feel that this take on the FF is underwhelming and perfunctory--I'll take a chance on the sequel, but it had better deliver!
Enjoy:
http://trailers.apple.com/trailers/fox/fantasticfourriseofthesilversurfer/
his character was the most important one to get right, The Thing should be embittered and selfpitying, resent Reed for his situation and should spend half the story getting in altercations with the Human Torch
his lack of a brow was, as I understand, because they were following the character design from the very first issue
it took a couple of years for Kirby to start drawing The Thing the way we all think he looks
I havent seen any images from the sequel yet, but Im hoping his orangeskin will evolve as it did in the comics
as for the action scenes to Baxter Building ratio, they got it right
thats exactly the way the comics go, often for issues at a time
anybody can save the world, but the interplay of the four personalities as they sit round waiting for Reed to build his contraptions is what makes them unique
leaving out the baxter building content would be like leaving Aunt May and JJJ out of SpiderMan
Dr Doom stank, and was the weak point of the film
as another poster stated, this was the unfortunate cost of releasing the film the same summer as the Origin of Darth Vader
Kirby himself has said he felt Darth Vader was a Dr Doom ripoff, so the timing of the two films was especially cruel
the fact that The Incredibles came out a few months earlier and was so damned good also undermined the FF (yall catch that final scene in The Incredibles ended with a tribute to the cover of FF#1?)
Hardyboy asks about The Invisible Girls lame superpower and the source material
remember the comic started in 1961, when women were still supposed to be stuck in the kitchen keeping the house neat and clean
shes a hard character to update, and I have issues about having a sexbomb like Alba portraying her, but to portray her as a selfdoubting June Cleaver type would not have worked either
I never really thought about the superpowers as extensions of their personalities before but your spot on Hardyboy
my hopes for sequels?
well, aside from Galactus and the Silver Surfer (and Doom stealing the Surfers Power Cosmic) Id like to see the Inhumans
at least Medusa and Lockjaw, the others arent so important to me
Lockjaw the spacewarping hippodog is the coolest character design Kirby ever came up with
and Medusa has great cinematic potential: sexy, morally ambiguous, and that hair would make for great CGI
We both met Doug Jones;aka, Abe Sapien earlier this year at a comic con and he seems to fit the part on the surface from speaking to him long enough.
I wasn't even aware that SS had the ability to meld through solids or is this just Hollywood toying with the constants again?
I just hope they don't drop the ball on this; Prince Namor would've made a better story, IMO, for those who remember the story arcs of the 70s...
Batman: "The Hammer Of Justice is UNISEX!"
-Batman: The Brave & The Bold -
That's what I'd like to know. I haven't read Marvel in years but I do know that they tinkered with certain elements of the Silver Surfer's history. Didn't his homeworld of Zenn-La turn out to be a figment of his imagination at one point?
Still, the surfing poses look good and the visuals, even though we're still six months from launch, look suitably realistic. I've got my fingers crossed on this one as well.
What is it with you and these waterlogged heros?
Well, inconsequentially...I am an Aquarius. Don't take much stock in that sort of thing but it's all I could come up with.
Batman: "The Hammer Of Justice is UNISEX!"
-Batman: The Brave & The Bold -
This is for you Rogue:
http://www.electricferret.com/fights/mariners.htm
Thanks, Tony.
This poster sums it up for me royally
Polar 8 writes:
I voted for Aquaman because he has that sharp javelin thing, and I am not voting for anyone in a speedo.
Batman: "The Hammer Of Justice is UNISEX!"
-Batman: The Brave & The Bold -
It's 2 007! yehhhy
______________________
"Surely, you're joking!!?"
"Don't call me Shirley."
Unfortunately, like many things of this nature, it's out of Mr. Lee's hands and has been for quite some time. Marvel's board runs the show while they cut Lee an annual check in the area of a cool mil annually.
I'm sure that they want to respectfully stay close to some of the material that SL made such a fixture of but that's about it...
Batman: "The Hammer Of Justice is UNISEX!"
-Batman: The Brave & The Bold -
http://movies.ign.com/articles/755/755629p1.html
Thanks for the link, Tony but they're certainly being opaque on how Galactus will be presented. Will we at least get an outline or just talking wind? ?:)
Batman: "The Hammer Of Justice is UNISEX!"
-Batman: The Brave & The Bold -
Could it be Galactus or Silver Surfer that were actually responsible for the astro storm that hit the space station in FF1? A random release of the transformative qualities of the power Cosmic? It sounds plausible enough. And since FF is far more fantastical than the more "realistic" X-Men or Spider-Man, it is rather likely that they could go nuts to the floor on this franchise.
http://movies.ign.com/articles/769/769782p1.html
Mr. Fantastic:
http://img258.imageshack.us/img258/4766/fantasticpos1gc8.jpg
Sue Storm:
http://img362.imageshack.us/img362/5683/invisiblepos1nw4.jpg
Johnny Storm:
http://img360.imageshack.us/img360/9610/torchpos1ir0.jpg
Ben Grimm:
http://img105.imageshack.us/img105/3511/thingpos1it4.jpg
Silver Surfer:
http://img180.imageshack.us/img180/5363/silversurferpos1eh6.jpg
Yes...I'm a wee bit disappointed.
Great looking posters nontheless.
Batman: "The Hammer Of Justice is UNISEX!"
-Batman: The Brave & The Bold -
http://www.aintitcool.com/node/32330
This:
Or this:
Oh my...decisions, decisions... 8-)
If it's true, will the cloud be purple? Does Galactus really look that corny that the studios think viewers would laugh?
Perhaps that character is just too costly to even give an updated look much less the original...but you've got to have the antlers. B-)
Batman: "The Hammer Of Justice is UNISEX!"
-Batman: The Brave & The Bold -
like this
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/38/ULTEXT001_cov.jpg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Galadultimate.png
www.scottacademymartialarts.co.uk
Ben Grimm
Sue Storm
Silver Surfer in flight
The Thing and ... Doctor Doom?