Fantastic Four (2005)

I saw the Fantastic 4 today and I really liked it. Actually, i liked it a lot more than i'd expected to. It seems that the kids who saw it really dug it as well, since they all broke into spontaneous applause at the end (twice!).

I really enjoyed it. It isn't the BEST comic movie ever made, but certainly not the worst. i give it a nice B+. maybe even an A- if i'm in a good mood. Dr. Doom's origin is pleasantly changed in some ways...tying his origin to the FF's in a sensible way. Anyone that's ever talked to me about the FF knows that i can only take it in small doeses. This is mostly because at some point, no matter who's writing, the thing devolves into a Deus Ex Machina from Reed Richards. THAT was no where to be found in this movie (thank you)...BUT Reed does rig up something that works by (God, perversely i wanted them to actually say) "reversing the polarity" of blah blah blah. well, they didn't really say that phrase (which in comics and sci-fi is the end all be all for undoing any crap that goes wrong...how do we fix it??! we REVERSE THE POLARITY!). it actually hinted at it enough to make me chuckle but didn't over endulge enough to bother me at all (a tall order). i really liked the way the film looked a LOT more than the trailers and posters had me thinking.

Is it better than Batman Begins or Spider-Man? nope...but neither is the FF comic better than those either. Is it better than Daredevil or the Punisher? easily!

Go see it. I had a fun time.

Here's a bit of trivia i noticed:

Stan Lee did a Cameo like he normally does in Marvel movies, but this time he actually played a Marvel Character. He appears briefly as Willy Lumpkin, the mailman for the Baxter building/Fantastic 4.

There were some neat FF comic references: The thing is in the EARLY kirby style of a lumpy heap of rock rather than the common stylized look of the newer comics. at one point sue has the blonde haircut of the early comics with the ends sorta curling up.

The IMDB adds: Johnny races against a missile like he does in the opening act of the comic. Johnny's flame-form is a smoldering pillar of fire like it was in the earlier comics rather than the more familiar burning man look. Ben smashes into an oncoming truck in an angle identical to the one given in a panel where he exits a manhole directly in the path of an oncoming car.