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

[cathyr19355.livejournal.com]

I agree with your theory. Here's my reasoning. The people marketing the movie have every reason to pack as many exciting bits from the movie as possible into the trailer. (This is why sometimes the trailer is much better than the movie--there are times when the movie only has enough exciting bits to make a three-minute trailer.) So if the *trailer* is boring, that either means that the movie makers could only afford clueless marketers, or (more likely) that the movie doesn't have enough exciting bits to make a decent trailer. Either way, staying home is a win.

[nancylebov.livejournal.com]

Actually, I think it's usually a fair guess when (as with FF), a sample of the movie is offered. If that's really boring, then there isn't much hope for the movie.

On the other hand, the trailer I saw for "The Incredibles" was a dreary bit of Mr. Incredible struggling into his superhero suit. The movie was much better than that.

You can't buy brains. Money might improve your odds, but it's no guarantee. I bet it's entirely possible to spend the usual amount or more, and still get a marketer who has a fit of cluelessness at the worst possible moment for making your trailer.

[cathyr19355.livejournal.com]

I stand corrected. It's certainly true that money doesn't always get you the best talent, and equally true that even the best and brightest screw up (consider the New Coke debacle, for instance).

[cathyr19355.livejournal.com]

P.S., I liked the trailer for "The Impossibles", but that may just have been me. :-)