The Fantastic Four!
Jun. 17th, 2006 11:06 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
akeyoftimeSo, The Fantastic Four wasn't as bad as I'd feared.
That said, I have plenty of critiques.
First and foremost, because it's what Robert and I argued on most, was the science. I get that it's futuristic and even that it's not necessarily the focus of the movie. But you know, it's either serious science, or it's hokey science. Not hokey science passing and serious science; that I will make disgusted sounds at and criticise.
The super-suits. Yes, adaptable from the start. Yes adaptable to each of their unique mutations? Eh... that's taking a lot for granted. Also, how did the Fantastic Four patches, added afterwards, hold up to their various tests? Come now. I could have accepted some futuristic developments better - extremely flame retardant material, extremely stretchy material, hell, even li ght reflective material. They wouldn't have been perfect, but really, that's life. Of course, this isn't life, it's a super-hero movie, so let's move on.
Another science nit-pick; I'm told the sun supernovas at 20,000 kelvin, not 40,000... Admittedly, my sources could be wrong, but even so, that leaves several questions. How in the blazes (hee! unintentional pun!) did the thermometer survive all that heating? And how did the containment box hold together for so long?
Then, of course, there's the machine. It will solve all their woes and make them normal again. Their very own reset button! Star Trek: Voyager would be proud. It's nice that the fact that it would take incredible amounts of power are addressed. Personally, I think creating three storms within a few hours should have caused a black out. Heck, one storm should have done it. Even ignoring that, I like that drawing enough power on their own was impossible to easily achieve. I don't even mind that Doom got involved - I thought that was a delightful twist. What has me questioning, first and foremost, was how our dear Thing got it to work AGAIN to turn himself back into his monolithic self without Doom's help? Not ot mention resetting it so that it would give the exact original wave. As I said, the "serious" science in this movie bugs me.
Since we're on the topic, let's turn to something the movie did manage to address relatively well; The Thing. I was delighted to see his struggle to accept who he was and for society to do the same. His wife's rejection of him was stupid. I cannot say how I'd react in such a situation, but hell's bells was the entire thing over-dramatised and over-simplified. Giving him a new girlfriend at the end (especially such a Mary Sue, and I don't care if Sues probably aren't supposed to be blind) makes me cranky and really cheats the character out of a lot of his depth. I like that he's tortured and that he's lost things. It's, well, human. The neat little bow reeks of Hollywood veneer. I'm also wondering why, after all of that, he climbed so willingly back into the machine to embrace his "destiny". It felt like a plot device, not a character's decision.
I'll skim through the rest, as it's getting late. Sue Storm: largely reduced to a romantic interest, but I don't know that she was much better in the original series. Why is it that the lead only wins once he's won the girl? I liked the idea of a married couple and would have been much more interested in that than this insipid little romance. I have no major objections to Mr Fantastic or The Human Torch. It's hard to fully develop everyone and I think they managed to capture something interesting in both of them. Torch was always a kid; I seem to recall he burned down a building in one of the cannon universes before he really grew up. Doom annoyed me. I had no sympathy for such a cardboard cut-out villian. It was a risky venture and things went wrong. You weren't prepared for that thought in any way? Oh and the pure villainizing of his father. Ugh. In short, the Von Dooms were walking stereotypes. Not. Impressed.
Briefly, I liked the movie. It's not the best of the Marvel movie franchise has put out, but it's still better than Daredevil (Which had such potential, damnit! Why oh why did you make Kingpin black? You made him another cardboard cut out stereotype with no chance of escape, another black gansta!). I'd give it three out of five pastries. It's entertaining; just don't think too hard.
That said, I have plenty of critiques.
First and foremost, because it's what Robert and I argued on most, was the science. I get that it's futuristic and even that it's not necessarily the focus of the movie. But you know, it's either serious science, or it's hokey science. Not hokey science passing and serious science; that I will make disgusted sounds at and criticise.
The super-suits. Yes, adaptable from the start. Yes adaptable to each of their unique mutations? Eh... that's taking a lot for granted. Also, how did the Fantastic Four patches, added afterwards, hold up to their various tests? Come now. I could have accepted some futuristic developments better - extremely flame retardant material, extremely stretchy material, hell, even li ght reflective material. They wouldn't have been perfect, but really, that's life. Of course, this isn't life, it's a super-hero movie, so let's move on.
Another science nit-pick; I'm told the sun supernovas at 20,000 kelvin, not 40,000... Admittedly, my sources could be wrong, but even so, that leaves several questions. How in the blazes (hee! unintentional pun!) did the thermometer survive all that heating? And how did the containment box hold together for so long?
Then, of course, there's the machine. It will solve all their woes and make them normal again. Their very own reset button! Star Trek: Voyager would be proud. It's nice that the fact that it would take incredible amounts of power are addressed. Personally, I think creating three storms within a few hours should have caused a black out. Heck, one storm should have done it. Even ignoring that, I like that drawing enough power on their own was impossible to easily achieve. I don't even mind that Doom got involved - I thought that was a delightful twist. What has me questioning, first and foremost, was how our dear Thing got it to work AGAIN to turn himself back into his monolithic self without Doom's help? Not ot mention resetting it so that it would give the exact original wave. As I said, the "serious" science in this movie bugs me.
Since we're on the topic, let's turn to something the movie did manage to address relatively well; The Thing. I was delighted to see his struggle to accept who he was and for society to do the same. His wife's rejection of him was stupid. I cannot say how I'd react in such a situation, but hell's bells was the entire thing over-dramatised and over-simplified. Giving him a new girlfriend at the end (especially such a Mary Sue, and I don't care if Sues probably aren't supposed to be blind) makes me cranky and really cheats the character out of a lot of his depth. I like that he's tortured and that he's lost things. It's, well, human. The neat little bow reeks of Hollywood veneer. I'm also wondering why, after all of that, he climbed so willingly back into the machine to embrace his "destiny". It felt like a plot device, not a character's decision.
I'll skim through the rest, as it's getting late. Sue Storm: largely reduced to a romantic interest, but I don't know that she was much better in the original series. Why is it that the lead only wins once he's won the girl? I liked the idea of a married couple and would have been much more interested in that than this insipid little romance. I have no major objections to Mr Fantastic or The Human Torch. It's hard to fully develop everyone and I think they managed to capture something interesting in both of them. Torch was always a kid; I seem to recall he burned down a building in one of the cannon universes before he really grew up. Doom annoyed me. I had no sympathy for such a cardboard cut-out villian. It was a risky venture and things went wrong. You weren't prepared for that thought in any way? Oh and the pure villainizing of his father. Ugh. In short, the Von Dooms were walking stereotypes. Not. Impressed.
Briefly, I liked the movie. It's not the best of the Marvel movie franchise has put out, but it's still better than Daredevil (Which had such potential, damnit! Why oh why did you make Kingpin black? You made him another cardboard cut out stereotype with no chance of escape, another black gansta!). I'd give it three out of five pastries. It's entertaining; just don't think too hard.
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no subject
Date: 2006-06-18 05:44 pm (UTC)Yeah. I basically thought that the movie did Thing and Torch perfect, Mr. Fantastic was passable, and Sue and Doom were perhaps the stupidest things evar.
Le sigh.
I thought Daredevil was better. (Not by a LOT, but still)
no subject
Date: 2006-06-18 07:24 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-06-18 07:53 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-06-18 07:52 pm (UTC)Sue and Doom = stupid is something we can agree on though :)
no subject
Date: 2006-06-19 01:43 am (UTC)It was good! The kingpin was kinda crap, and Electra could've stood to be a bit more badass, but Bullseye was AWESOME. Hokey crap!
*runs before the vegetables and cutting witticisms start flying*