Its Fantastic (The FF4 Movie Thread)

[SurfD]

Just got out of a late night screening of FF4 and thought I would share my opinions:

Impressed me a lot more then I expected.  My two biggest fears (that Doom's origin would get totally screwed to hell and that the Thing would suck) were mostly for naught.  Yes, they tweaked Doom's origin a bit (if i recall, his armor was mystic in origin) but still kept the character pretty much entirely intact.  And the Thing was really well done.

All in all, the characters, dynamics of the FF4 "Family", and paceing / plot were very well put together.

I think I would have to rank it just a little bit under X-Men in terms of being a good Comic Book to Movie adaption.

[Ironwood]

Yeah, yeah, that's great - But the real question :  Did Jessica get them out at all ?

[schild]

Yeah, yeah, that's great - But the real question :  Did Jessica get them out at all ?

I do believe the movie is rated PG. More than that though, Fantastic Four has never been interesting enough to give Jessica a reason to get them out. No boobles in a superhero movie about uninteresting superheroes.

[stray]

uninteresting superheroes

I may still go see it, if I find myself with nothing better to do. You're right about that though. Even the Sub-Mariner is cooler than the Fantastic 4. Maybe even Aqua Man.

The only thing redeemable about them is that their story is slightly tied in with the Surfer's.

[Ironwood]

Hmmm.  I'm reading the Ultimate FF at the moment (since I'm liking a lot of what the Ultimate arcs are doing) and I'm enjoying it a fair bit.

I think the most interesting thing about the FF is the team dynamic and how it works - or so it's always seemed to me.  I'm quite looking forward to seeing the flick and am glad to hear that it's not terrible.

(Oh, and Jessica will help.)

[SurfD]

You will be pleased to know that she almost gets them out.  And that her F4 "costume" has a very nice neckline which doesent hurt either.
Classic scene of "we need to get past these police to find out whats going on at this disaster scene, and we just discovered you can turn invizible!" So turn invizible and sneak by them.......doh, forgot that your street civies dont work with the inviz powers, so get nekkid! (then she loses controll for a sec while in her bra/undies and has an "oops" moment with dozens of gawking onlookers   )

[Ironwood]

God Bless Hollywood.

This may remove the bad taste of WotW from my mouth.

[angry.bob]

I find if amusing that she wouldn't "get them out" for Sin City, but she wore a see-through shirt to the MTV movie awards of all things. I have many pictures of high quality Alba nipples. Maybe I'll put them up somehwere...

[Ironwood]

That was going to be part of my point, but really, it's not a winning argument to say 'we've already seen your goods, let's have some more please.'  Or, at least, it never works when I try it after being caught in the women's shower room.

You probably don't have to put those pictures up for our sake.  They're easy to find on the web.  And on my hard drives at home, at work and on the laptop.

er....

[HaemishM]

Actually, there have been some moments where Sue Storm would have ample reason to "get them out" in the FF continuity. At least once, she was either possessed or went kind of schizo and started wearing this really revealing, bikini-with-cape-and-high-collar type of gear, with spikes all over it to show she was TURNING EVAL! It was in John Byrne's run, and he liked him some busty women falling out of high collar stuff.

Of course, it was a minor blip on the whole continuity, so not worth putting in a movie just to see some Albas.

[schild]

Albas are the only reason to see a fantastic four movie. Let's see.

1. A Guy who can set himself on Fire
2. Orange Rock Guy
3. A Guy Who can stretch but isn't in porn, exclusively.
4. A saucy mynx who's ability is to turn......invisible.

Yup, just another superhero group born out of Stan Lee's too much free time club.

[Fargull]

FF gave us two great moments in Marvel history.  The Silver Surfer and Galactus, both of which far exceed the canadian with the claws.

Damn if they can bring the Surfer to the big screen, I will be all over that movie.  Besides, I really enjoy the FF, so I hope the movie works for me as well as it worked for SufD.

[schild]

I never liked Wolverine much, but Silver Surfer and Galactus was a great moment in comic history. Unfortunately, the rest of FF has been a waste of ink, paper, and time.

[Ookii]

Yeah, yeah, that's great - But the real question :  Did Jessica get them out at all ?

She should of technically got them out (had them out?) in Sin City, her character in the comic is topless, which makes sense considering that she works at a strip club.

Getting a 21% currently on Rotten Tomatoes:

Reviews counted: 62
Fresh: 13  Rotten: 49

With choice quotes like "Who are these half-wit Hollywood clowns that keep hiring cleavage-candy actresses with no measurable talent to play laughably bespectacled scientists in action movies?" and  "An overinflated B-movie with no grace, no subtext, no wit, and featuring beefcake/cheesecake actors who look like they've been plucked from the soaps.", although SurfD obviously shoots down the "Real fans of the comics will probably be turned off by Fantastic Four's narrative limitations, while outsiders older than 12 are likely to quickly dismiss the Power Rangers-style goofery.".

[WindupAtheist]

Am I the only one who thinks "It's clobberin' time!" is a pretty lame catchphrase?

[WayAbvPar]

Am I the only one who thinks "It's clobberin' time!" is a pretty lame catchphrase?

Sounds like what the critics are saying as they fire up their laptops after seeing F4.

[Shockeye]

I enjoyed Ebert's review of it.

The Fantastic Four are, in short, underwhelming. The edges kind of blur between them and other superhero teams. That's understandable. How many people could pass a test right now on who the X-Men are and what their powers are? Or would want to? I wasn't watching "Fantastic Four" to study it, but to be entertained by it, but how could I be amazed by a movie that makes its own characters so indifferent about themselves?

The Human Torch, to repeat, can burn at supernova temperatures! He can become so hot, indeed, that he could threaten the very existence of the Earth itself! This is absolutely stupendously amazing, wouldn't you agree? If you could burn at supernova temperatures, would you be able to stop talking about it? I know people who won't shut up about winning 50 bucks in the lottery.

In case you don't want to read it all, he gave it one star.

[Arnold]

uninteresting superheroes

Maybe even Aqua Man.

Never read the comics, but have you seen Justice League?  Aquaman is a militant, badass, King of Atlantis with a gigantic hook for a hand.

[WayAbvPar]

Aquaman is a militant, badass, King of Atlantis with a gigantic hook for a hand.

This guy is a superhero?

[Margalis]

FF were cool when they started out. The old issues are hilarious, especially the way the Invisible Girl was written as a moody female - like the time she turned invisible and hid pouting because nobody noticed her new haircut.

And look, we all know women who would do that too if they could.

[jpark]

I never liked Wolverine much...

The jury is out whether your are unique or in need of therapy  :-D

And look, we all know women who would do that too if they could.

Quoted for emphasis 

[SurfD]

Am I the only one who thinks "It's clobberin' time!" is a pretty lame catchphrase?

The way they explain that in the movie is priceless.  "Look what the guys in marketing came up with"

[Trippy]

Never read the comics, but have you seen Justice League?  Aquaman is a militant, badass, King of Atlantis with a gigantic hook for a hand.

Ah yes the "remade" Peter David Aquaman. Peter David was one of my favorite comic book writers back when I was still reading them. I liked his Hulk as well.

[MaceVanHoffen]

I was just "meh" about it.  It wasn't horrible, certainly not as bad as the gestalt at rottentomatoes.com seems to think.  But it just lacked ... something.  For the entire time, I felt like it was a movie that was waiting to be better.

I liked what they did with the storylines.  FF4 is a good example of how to adapt a literary medium (yes, I consider comic books to be literature, deal with it) to the compressed timeframes of a movie.  The essentials of all the characters are there, even if the details are fudged.

Beyond that, though, I just can't see why this movie was made.  It wasn't any better than the comics, and I'm an FF4 fan from way back.  So, sure it wasn't horrible, but Marvel's money might have been better spent doing longer runs of comics like the Ultimate FF4, which has better dialogue and story development.  It's a harmless vestigial organ on an otherwise functional body of work.

[stray]

uninteresting superheroes

Maybe even Aqua Man.

Never read the comics, but have you seen Justice League?  Aquaman is a militant, badass, King of Atlantis with a gigantic hook for a hand.

I've never seen Justice League, but what you describe sounds more like the Sub-Mariner (sans hook). If that's what they've done to Aquaman, then they've ripped off Namor (who isn't all that cool to begin with either).

[Velorath]

Beyond that, though, I just can't see why this movie was made.  It wasn't any better than the comics, and I'm an FF4 fan from way back.  So, sure it wasn't horrible, but Marvel's money might have been better spent doing longer runs of comics like the Ultimate FF4, which has better dialogue and story development.  It's a harmless vestigial organ on an otherwise functional body of work.

Well they don't really need to throw any money at Ult. FF to keep it going since it was #15 on the chart for May.  It's not really in danger of being canceled or anything.  It actually ranked a few spots higher than JMS starting his run on the main FF title, which was Marvel's only big event that month.

[SurfD]

They really need to do an Iron Man movie.  That would totally kick ass.

[Velorath]

They really need to do an Iron Man movie.  That would totally kick ass.

According to Avi Arad:

Marvel is "very close" to striking a deal for an Iron Man" movie, and Arad described its development as a “war” with co-producers New Line Cinema. He also promised an announcement in a few weeks announcing Nick Cassavetes as the writer, who he said as unique emotional attachment to Iron Man's alter ego, Tony Stark, due to Cassavetes relationship with his father, a legendary filmmaker in his own right, John Cassavetes.

So apparently it's still in the works but it could take a bit of time.

[Morfiend]

They really need to do an Iron Man movie.  That would totally kick ass.

According to Avi Arad:

Marvel is "very close" to striking a deal for an Iron Man" movie, and Arad described its development as a “war” with co-producers New Line Cinema. He also promised an announcement in a few weeks announcing Nick Cassavetes as the writer, who he said as unique emotional attachment to Iron Man's alter ego, Tony Stark, due to Cassavetes relationship with his father, a legendary filmmaker in his own right, John Cassavetes.

So apparently it's still in the works but it could take a bit of time.

That could be so cool, but could so easilly turn to utter shit. I hope and pray, but expect the worst.

[jpark]

FF - a comic book on screen.  Literally.  Poor dialogue, plot and the plausbility a 7 year old would believe.  I have an imagination - but some effort to make things rational would be appreciated.  I doubt the plot in the film would even be a passable graphic novel.

Iron Man?

Dunno.  I love the comic book, but in translating it to the screen to make it "realistic" you would be using elements already employed by other franchises - e.g. Batman has armor instead of tights to make what he does more plausbile.  I think this diminishes the appeal of Iron Man as this concept has been used.  He likely won't be Red and Yellow - so a dark color for his armor might be likely.  Your choices are "campy" or "Batman's armorsmith".

Good execution can solve almost any short coming.  But the concept behind Iron Man on paper for the mainstream is going to look recycled.  A shit storm commeth.

[WindupAtheist]

You want to know the three best comic book movies of all-time?

1 - Hellboy
2 - Blade
3 - The Crow

Fuck all this Fantastic Iron blah blah blah faggotry.

[Shockeye]

Even though Nicolas Cage is in it, I have high hopes for Ghost Rider since it loosely follows the 70's comic storyline.

[Velorath]

You want to know the three best comic book movies of all-time?

1 - Hellboy
2 - Blade
3 - The Crow

Fuck all this Fantastic Iron blah blah blah faggotry.

The Crow is the only one I'd agree with you on.  I love the Hellboy comics, but the movie was average.  They did a great job with the casting, but they tried to cram bits and pieces from almost every Hellboy mini into the script AND tacked on the relationship thing between Hellboy and Liz.  Blade was good, but not in the top 3.

[Riggswolfe]

FF - a comic book on screen.  Literally.  Poor dialogue, plot and the plausbility a 7 year old would believe.  I have an imagination - but some effort to make things rational would be appreciated.  I doubt the plot in the film would even be a passable graphic novel.

Spoken like someone who hasn't read a comic book ever. They range from shitty to better than almost any other entertainment medium. It all depends on various factors, writers, inkers, if management forces a storyline on the writer, etc.

[Lum]

I find if amusing that she wouldn't "get them out" for Sin City, but she wore a see-through shirt to the MTV movie awards of all things. I have many pictures of high quality Alba nipples. Maybe I'll put them up somehwere...

She didn't wear a see-through shirt to the MTV awards, she made the mistake of wearing a blouse with material that flash photography illuminated a bit more than she liked. Same thing happened to Kerry's daughter at Cannes, if I recall correctly.