The Not-So-Fantastic 4

[cathyr19355]

Last weekend, esrblog and I went to see the latest Fantastic 4 movie.

No spoiler cuts are necessary for any review of this one, because in overall mediocrity it was a lot like the original one two years ago.

Ioan Gruffudd, as Mr. Fantastic, made a valiant but doomed effort to be convincing in his role despite the comic-book thinness of the script. Jessica Alba, as Sue Storm, his financee, did a reprise of her unconvincing I-just-wanna-be-a-regular-all-American-girl performance from the first movie, while Chris Evans and Michael Chiklis as Johnny Storm and Ben Grimm did amiable, sit-com level comic relief.

Doug Jones, playing the Silver Surfer with the aid of Laurence Fishburne's voice, gave the most convincing performance of the movie. esrblog, who once followed the Marvel comics on which these movies have been based closely, claims that the plot was surprisingly true to the original comics. He was particularly hostile to Alba's performance, which he dissed as "plastic", and he considers her unattractive.

Overall, not an awful movie, nor a great one. If you're not a big Marvel fan, wait till it comes out on DVD and get it from Netflix or something, and save yourself $10.

Comments

[jmaynard.livejournal.com]

USA Today did a story on page 1D the Thrusday before it was release lauding Alba's role as not the usual comic book heroine, but rather a strong woman whose costume covered her entire body. Sounds like they were so busy getting that set up that they forgot to give her any real character.

[cathyr19355.livejournal.com]

That's my impression.

it's true that the F4 superhero costumes do cover the actors' entire bodies, including Ms. Alba's. However, it may be worth mentioning that, in the wedding scene where she attempts to marry Mr. Fantastic, Alba wears a strapless wedding gown that exposes a goodly amount of skin, and that there is a subliminally quick flash of her naked (to explain why would constitute a plot spoiler, so I won't bother). So it's not as though the movie makers were intending to rely entirely on the quality of her acting. To the extent she's supposed to be *playing*, as the USA Today reporter claimed, a "strong woman," she's not very convincing in my book.