Spoilers Fantastic Four (Spoilers)

I almost literally just walked in the door after seeing it. First Take - This is the F4 movie that I've been waiting for since I was collecting the comics, back in the '70s. The production design was 1976, as seen from 1962, and the esthetic did justice to Kirby's art in a way that Asgard in the original "Thor" tried to. The story covered the major beats of their fight with Galactus, without being slavish to the original. The Surfer's rebellion even opens the way for her own stories, in the way that it did in the original. Perfect? No, but I'll give it a solid 8/10.

Clint_L said:

And this version of Sue Richards is fierce!

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Vanessa Kirby says with her performance that she was planting seeds for the possibility of doing the Malice storyline at some point in the future.

Older Beholder said:

Vanessa Kirby says with her performance that she was planting seeds for the possibility of doing the Malice storyline at some point in the future.

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That is encouraging. I think the Malice storyline was a bit meh, personally, but it's encouraging that she's been reading up on the comics to the point where she knows random 80s plotlines.

Older Beholder said:

Vanessa Kirby says with her performance that she was planting seeds for the possibility of doing the Malice storyline at some point in the future.

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I'm just glad that someone finally seems to have realized that Sue Storm is the most powerful of the 4 and gave her a story that supports it. Back in the '60s/'70s she was far too often the Damsel in Distress.

Just saw it and enjoyed it. Would have been fun to spend more time exploring Earth 828 and Subterranea.

Kirby was great and I liked that they showed her as actually powerful (and ready to call out Reed). I also liked that they showed Ben and even Johnny as intelligent in their own right.

so was .88 the speed of light a Back to the Future Reference?

and does Pedro never shave his stubble? (I didnt like Reed with stuble and would have preferred Pascal clean shaven or with a proper beard)

John R Davis said:

In the second post credits is there an image of reed fighting a ( x men) Sentinel robot?

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I think it was a Kree Sentry.

Tonguez said:

and does Pedro never shave his stubble? (I didnt like Reed with stuble and would have preferred Pascal clean shaven or with a proper beard)

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He might be like me - even when I'm freshly shaven, I still have a bit of a 5 o'clock shadow. Dark beard + pale skin.

I enjoyed it.

I really dig a good retro future look. And it looked gorgeous. I was planning on seeing it in Imax. But I strolled a little slower than I realised and missed that session. Oops. Had to hang around 10 minutes til I could see it in a regular theatre.

I liked all of the family. Even Johnny, who I normally don't like. I agree with the sentiment that giving him some character beyond playboy idiot really worked. Helped by good performances all round.

Were they isolated? Yeah, I think so. Certainly Reed, Ben, and Johnny are shown to be struggling to have a normal social life. In Johnny's case it seems more that he doesn't really want one, but would rather be exploring space. They have a lot of professional relationships. But that's not the same thing. And of course there is the whole para-social relationship of celebrity thing that the movie hints at.

That being said - I think the family come across as more isolated than intended. Sue is shown (albeit only barely) to have friendly relationships with both Moleman and the president of the Freedom Foundation. I feel certain that there was meant to be more to those relationships but that stuff was cut for length.

I'm a bit rushed, but have more thoughts I will get out later.

John Malkovich's Red Ghost got cut out of live action, but his Super-Apes survived the editing room. Interesting trivia: The Red Ghost and his Super-Apes first appeared in Fantastic Four 13, which also had the first appearance of... The Watcher! The Watcher would later go on to aid the FF, notably in issue 48, warning them of Galactus. The Watcher did not make it into the film, but there is a neat (if thin and convoluted) connection to him.