I certainly wasn't expecting much, but the Fantastic Four movie was much better than I would have guessed. As a fan of the comics, I thought it did a fine job of presenting the characters' personalities and it hit most of the hallmarks of the team - the in-fighting, the lack of secret identities, the sugary science. But what kind of weblog entry talks about things I liked? So...
Thing was comically, tragically short. Stupidly short. I think the Thing suit was actually shorter than Thing actor Michael Chiklis. The Thing looked great in the close-ups, when they used the much more animated and expressive face mask... but whenever he had to stand beside somebody else (somebody human), he was invariably shorter. They should have pulled some Frodo-and-Gandalf effects on the guy and made Thing at least a foot taller and broader than anybody else in the movie. Forgetting about his height (which the crowd scenes make impossible) he was very true to the books.
Torch was the scene-stealer of the entire movie... and I don't mean that as a compliment. I liked him, mostly, and being an immature ass has always been one of Johnny Storm's beats in the comics... but this Torch was so obviously written to steal scenes that it inched toward overbearing. Did we really need that many extreme sports scenes? And although his fire form was more CG modernized in comparison to the original Jack Kirby red-guy-with-flames look, I have to confess that it was a thrill to see him fly.
Reed was great. I loved him. Most reviews I've read hate him, or hate Ioan Gruffolffoelddleold's performance... but I thought he was perfect as the team's absent-minded professor. See, I understand Reed. I've been a faithful follower of the FF since Marvel's awful Heroes Reborn storyline (when was that, 1998?) and a student of the characters (and the classic 1960s stories) since well before that. So I've seen how the man acts... and this movie captured the super genius that is Reed Richards. When he switches over to science-geek talk, when he ignores Sue because he's working, when he volunteers himself as the test subject for an experiment that he doesn't fully trust: that is pure Reed. Unfortunately for him, both his name and his power are a potential cinematic embarrassment, so he almost never gets called "Mr. Fantastic" and he is rarely shown stretching to the limit in crazy shapes like he does in the comics. It's a slight insult to Jack and Stan that the movie plays off the team's code names as being foolish and un-creative improv remarks from a media-hungry Johnny!
Aside: Willie Lumpkin! Boy, I wish they'd let Stan wiggle his ears!
Sue. Sue. You know, they didn't really know what to do with her in the comics either, for a good twenty years! It wasn't until some writer realized her potential - aside from simply turning invisible, which has been the topic of many a feminist essay - that she became a great character. The movie grabs a little of the modern era Sue Storm but most of her role is to spur on the other characters: yell at Johnny, comfort Ben, be cold to Reed. Just like Mr. Fantastic, she doesn't get to do some of the really spectacular stuff she does in the comics, like making flying platforms or creating bubbles around bad guy heads to cut off their oxygen. She just fades away or creates a force field. Torch and Thing get to do all the flashy stuff.
Dr. Doom was easily the most mishandled character. They got his ego, but they simplified his motivations down to cardboard levels. Now, I wouldn't have expected the movie to talk about his days as a Latverian exchange student in college with Reed or his ill-fated attempts to meld science and magic so he could resurrect his dead mother... but it is a much more layered and interesting backstory than Dr. Luthor and Mr. Hulk, which is what we got. I had high hopes for his costume - did you notice the Von Doom building's elevator! - but they were quickly dashed when the movie drops in a Green Goblin mask out of nowhere. Does Latveria have a long and storied tradition of making metal Darth Vader masks? I sort of didn't mind the change to an organic metal body much as I sort of didn't mind giving Spider-Man organic web shooters. What was super-awesome was the final shot, which implies that we could be visiting cheery old Doomstadt in the sequel.
I would not be surprised if a Fantastic Four sequel stayed with a revived Doom and didn't add in anybody else. The FF villain roster contains a large portion of ridiculous oddball foes... Mole Man? Blastaar the Living Bomburst? Annihilus? Psycho Man? Dragon Man? Cornballs like that are why Dr. Doom has inherited so much attention over the years... he's the least sucky one. Maybe they could do the Mad Thinker and his Awesome Android. Maybe the Skrulls. Maybe the Inhumans. But there's always the Big Guy himself: I can't imagine a comics fan alive that wouldn't want to see a movie tackle the coming of Galactus and the Silver Surfer... but that would be so cool that I can scarcely allow myself to consider it.
And there's always the Red Ghost and his Super-Apes.
A bit more manageable would be Reed and Sue's wedding, which was a super-hero guest star extravaganza in the comics... and would be the same on film, if they could get some choice cameos by Tobey Maguire, Eric Bana, Patrick Stewart, Ben Affleck and Hugh Jackman. Keep 'em in their civvies (unlike the comics' version of the blessed event) and you could have all kinds of fun with it. Peter Parker surreptitiously tries to websling a pig-in-a-blanket from the other side of the table, only to have Logan jab a claw into it.
So anyway, I liked it. Buying the DVD.
