Kevin's Watch

Just read the synopsis of Josh Trank's Fantastic Four reboot film.

www.aintitcool.com/node/65887

(See if you can find any positive comment in the feedback section. )

This is the one that is supposed to correct all the mistakes and misunderstandings that Tim Story's two FF films had made.

This is the film that will help set the stage for Fox to make a shared universe film featuring the X-Men and FF.

After reading the synopsis...

“The Fantastic Four’ will tell the story of two very young friends, Reed Richards and Ben Grimm. After an event transforms the boys, they find themselves empowered with bizarre new abilities. Reed becomes a scientific genius who can stretch, twist and re-shape his body to inhuman proportions. Ben becomes a monstrous, craggy humanoid with orange, rock-like skin and super strength. However, the two end up being owned by the government and used as weapons. But after they mature, two others with powers come into the picture – Sue Storm “The Invisible Girl” and Johnny Storm “The Human Torch.”

Right off the bat I have a massive problem with this film. Another...origin...story....ugh...I can't take it anymore.

Thanks to The Amazing Spiderman film beating the origin story concept into the freaking ground by retelling the same origin the original Spider-man told and made abundantly clear to the record number of movie goers world wide that viewed that film in 2002 I've become very annoyed by wasting the entire first act of a film on establishing characters that don't need establishing.

My second problem is taking an unfamiliar approach to the story.
Re-imagining established characters away from the source material can work sometimes. Remember the 1998 Godzilla film? That approach worked really, really well...not!

It appears this new film is going to try to change the dynamics of the classic Fantastic Four story to a point of being nearly unrecognizable.
The synopsis and casting rumors so far suggest that the film will be targeting sci fi tweens with little or no interest in the original comics.

The bad news is that this version of the FF will be another confusing, disappointing outing destined for the $5 video pile at Wal-Mart.

The good news is that when Marvel finally re-acquires the rights to the FF they will be free to make a satisfying and entertaining film that bears little resemblance to what has gone before which is a good thing. IMHO.

Marvel will never reacquire the rights. That's the entire point of remaking the films every few years: it keeps the rights from expiring. (Honestly, I think Marvel are better off not integrating things like the X-Men into the same universe as their other films. Spider-Man is another issue, though, and should have a place in the MCU.)

And yeah, it seems odd that they'd come up with a completely new origin story with no connection to the comics.

That origin story might be based off the Ultimate FF series; it's been a long time since I read it, so I'm not sure.

dANdeLION wrote:That origin story might be based off the Ultimate FF series; it's been a long time since I read it, so I'm not sure.

That's probably true. I've read some feedback on other message boards saying the same thing. That version of the FF for example isn't the Fantastic Four that most fans think about. I think even fans of the Ultimates series in general would agree that its an alternative story line, not the mainstream. Let's shake things up a bit by doing a "What IF" series.

What I can't quite understand is why its been so difficult to bring the FF to the big screen. Fans of the first two films (of which there are few) offered the same kinds of comments. "I think Chris Evans was pretty good as Johnny." "Michael Chiklis really captured the Thing's personality" "The second movie was a little better than the first one." What we want is a film that makes choosing your favorite superhero film difficult. "The Fantastic Four is the best superhero film of all time!" Has never been uttered to my knowledge and with good reason. Most people compare it to Daredevil or Ghost Rider as far as how it successfully translated the comic characters to live action.
FF should have a similar feel as say The Incredibles (which IS my favorite superhero film). The film should be endlessly entertaining, clever, fearless, intelligent, fun and respectful to the source material.
I think the Avengers film did a great job of hitting on all of those points and should be an inspiration to the creative team working on the new FF film. Instead we get some drivel about special children misused by the government.

X-Men and its sequels and the Sam Raimi Spiderman are the only non Marvel studios productions that I've genuinely liked. Everything else has been a disappointment to me in one way or another, particularly The Amazing Spiderman which was and is pretty unnecessary.

I haven't been this disappointed in superhero movie news since I got the first look of Halle Berry in the Rat Hat Catwoman costume.

In any case I can't wait until Marvel has complete control over their properties once again.

Okay. This is getting out of hand.

www.aintitcool.com/node/65933


Again, note the comments below the article. See if you can find anyone who thinks this film is heading in the right direction.

Why are you talking about this? You know you're right, and you also know you'll end up watching in n hopes that you're wrong. But you're not.

Anyway, why don't we talk about the Lego movie instead?

dANdeLION wrote:Why are you talking about this? You know you're right, and you also know you'll end up watching in n hopes that you're wrong. But you're not.

Anyway, why don't we talk about the Lego movie instead?

BUT I DON'T WANT TO BE RIGHT!!
I want to be wrong. I want my Fantastic Four movie with no asterisks or caveats or it would have been great if onlys.
If they can make The Avengers they can make a good if not great FF movie.
But they aren't making that movie they are making someone else's FF movie and I'll have to keep waiting.

Like I'm still waiting for a good Ghost Rider film.
Like I'm still waiting for a good Daredevil film.
Like I'm still waiting for a good Hulk film.
Like I'm still waiting for a good Catwoman film.
Like I'm still waiting for a good Supergirl film.
Like I'm still waiting for a good Elektra film.
Like I'm still waiting for a good Green Lantern film.
Like I'm still waiting for a good Spirit film.
Like I'm still waiting for a good Man-Thing film.
Like I'm still waiting for a good Shadow film. (I actually kind of liked the Alec Baldwin Shadow)
Like I'm still waiting for a good Phantom film.
Like I'm still waiting for a good Howard the Duck film.
Like I'm still waiting for a good Green Hornet film.
Like I'm still waiting for a good Dr. Strange film.
Like I'm still waiting for a good Flash film.
Like I'm still waiting for a good Wonder Woman film.
Like I'm still waiting for a good Black Panther film.
Like I'm still waiting for a good Captain Marvel film.
Like I...I give up.




We don't need to talk about the Lego Movie because its going to be awesome fun and everyone agrees. Nuff said.

aTOMiC wrote: Like I'm still waiting for a good Ghost Rider film.
Like I'm still waiting for a good Hulk film.
Like I'm still waiting for a good Spirit film.
Like I'm still waiting for a good Shadow film. (I actually kind of liked the Alec Baldwin Shadow)

I will differ with you here. The first Ghost Rider movie was actually pretty good--Nicholas Cage was right for the part of Blaze and Peter Fonda was amazing as Mephisto.

The second Hulk movie with Ed Norton wasn't bad...but I suspect the one in the works with Mark Ruffalo will be better.

The Spirit was great! Love that film. Of course, Frank Miller did the screenplay and directing so it wound up being good and he used Rodriguez's technique of shooting minimal actor actions on all green-screen background.
"Toilets are always funny!"
"Dentists.....and Nazis.....that's bad."

Baldwin's Shadow film was really pretty good; its worst downfall was a director who didn't capture the right feel. Mr. Baldwin portrayed just the right characterization, though--here is a guy who is afraid of himself despite being charged with the task of serving justice by punishing criminals. Allow the character to use some sort of mystic technique to slow his aging, bring him into the modern world, and then use either the "Shadows and Light" or (ideally) "Seven Deadly Finns" plots from the Seinkewicz/Helfer/Baker series from the late 80s and you have a sure-fire winner of a movie.

You didn't mention Punisher. The first one was excellent; didn't see the second one even though I like Ray Stevenson. You should check out the short film "Dirty Laundry", which Thomas Jane and Ron Perlman funded out of their own pockets. Mr. Jane has expressed desire to reprise the role and I think he should be given the chance.

HL we'll have to agree to disagree about the Spirit.

The first and second Hulk films had bright moments (I preferred IH over H) but only to a certain point and most of my complaints had to do with how CGI FX were handled. The last act of IH devolved into a clip from a video game. Both the Abomination and Hulk animations were "not fully successful" IMHO.

My biggest complaint about the first Ghost Rider had little to do with Cage it centered around a pointless and completely ineffective antagonist. But that's me.

I really liked the Thomas Jane Punisher film and I've seen Dirty Laundry which only makes me wish Jane was in the second film.

We all have different tastes to be sure.

aTOMiC wrote:HL we'll have to agree to disagree about the Spirit.

That isn't a problem for me--I never mind differing opinions.

aTOMiC wrote:My biggest complaint about the first Ghost Rider had little to do with Cage it centered around a pointless and completely ineffective antagonist. But that's me.

Wes Studi's Blackheart? I can see what you are saying given that the movie was more about Blaze/Ghost Rider than the villain. Ghost Rider was a relatively unknown Marvel character with no clearly-identified villain the audience would recognize so they just picked one who would fit in with the story. That happened in Blade, as well.

aTOMiC wrote:I really liked the Thomas Jane Punisher film and I've seen Dirty Laundry which only makes me wish Jane was in the second film.

Nothing against Ray Stevenson, of course, but he really should be given his own vehicle. hrm...let me see....for Marvel I would cast him as Ben Grimm, presuming I couldn't get Chiklis to reprise the role. I could also see him being the Black Knight (Dane somebody) and drop him into an Avengers lineup. Of course, he would also make an excellent Guy Gardner for DC.

Hashi Lebwohl wrote: I could also see him being the Black Knight (Dane somebody)

Dane Whitman.

The FF is my favorite comic of all time.
Or it was until it got all weird.
Doom and Sue had a girl.....but it wasn't Doom?...ah...they lost me then.
Been collecting it since around issue 199.
Do they even have a monthly comic anymore?

Actually I have no idea what's being published anymore.
I check out my local shop and don't see any consistency.
My son has no desire to pick any up either, i find that sad.
He loves the superhero stuff.


The two FF movies were weak.
Had good potential.
I liked the casting and the special effects.
The angry Gov angle is just to boring and horrible.

Kate Mara might make a good Sue Storm though....that's all I care about really.

The new FF film is out, and Rotten Tomatoes has it scored at 9%. That's pretty damn pathetic. I refuse to pay to see it in the theatre, and if I ever get the bluray, I'll get a used one so the idiots who made it won't get a dime off me.

One of my buddies saw it yesterday and he said he couldn't think of a single positive thing to say about it.

dANdeLION wrote:The new FF film is out, and Rotten Tomatoes has it scored at 9%. That's pretty damn pathetic. I refuse to pay to see it in the theatre, and if I ever get the bluray, I'll get a used one so the idiots who made it won't get a dime off me.

Damn! I'm tired of being right all the time.

dlbpharmd wrote:One of my buddies saw it yesterday and he said he couldn't think of a single positive thing to say about it.

I believe it. I don't understand why they don't know how bad it is as they're making it. As though the creative team never read comics, basing their work on a one-page synopsis of the team.

Seems like even the director hates it.

As for no good things to say: The Tor review suggested they actually nailed the transformation sequences pretty well, with a strong body horror aspect, which made me almost consider going to see it...