Spoilers Fantastic Four (Spoilers)

Since this thread popped up again, I made a realization about the FF movie: there's nothing really memorable about it. It's all competently done, but there's nothing there on the level of pre-serum Steve throwing himself on a fake grenade, or "There are always men like you", or "Are you the God of Hammers?"

Now, that's true of several Marvel movies. I'd be hard-pressed to think of a particularly memorable moment from Ant-Man, for example. But still.

Staffan said:

I'd be hard-pressed to think of a particularly memorable moment from Ant-Man

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It did, but they were all Luis.

jian said:

Finally watched it. Here’s what I loved:

1. The original expedition was official, not “my launch got cancelled so I stole the rocket with my friends” (which I’ve always thought was a terrible plot point in the FF’s origin, to start their careers with an act of incredible irresponsibility, so I’m very glad they fixed that). This means that all he members of the team, not just Reed, are world-class scientists or at least as competent and well trained as the average Star Trek protagonist. This is a massive improvement (sometimes it can feel in the comics like Reed is the only one allowed to do any science or thinking) and really helps the rest of the film, such as giving Johnny a really substantial role based on his having figured out multiple alien languages from a single phrase (which is an act of linguistic genius).
2. I love the casual sci-fi stuff, which feels very much like a modern FF story. Sure, their lab is frankly completely inadequate for the science they’re doing, but yup, they casually have a hyperdrive booster in orbit they made earlier and the world can build a hundred teleport stations to TELEPORT THE ENTIRE EARTH MILLIONS OF LIGHT YEARS in about a week.
3. And speaking of global cooperation, I love utopian Earth 828 and would like to move there at the first available opportunity. Racial and gender equality, 1960s stylings, global cooperation at the drop of a hat, incredibly advanced technology (just the display screens in the street, even), and no social media? And everyone puts down their torches and pitchforks after one frankly lacklustre speech from Sue about humanity being one happy family? Yeah, looks amazing, sign me up.
4. 500’ Galactus on screen! Fantastic.
5. I actually really liked the Galactus-Franklin plotline because it makes complete sense for the comics characters, and also gives us the punchline on the FF being worshipped early on. Yes, their choice is selfish, even if it’s one every parent would make, and the world has every right to resent them for it.

What I liked less:

• I agree that the movie lacks heart and emotional punch. The FF do feel detached from the world, maybe because it’s so utopian it doesn’t need them to do anything apart from entertainingly fight the Wizard on Saturdays.
• It all feels a bit anaemic, a bit washed out, rather like the film’s colour palette.

But overall, it’s very competently executed and I’m happy with it as a building block of the MCU.

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For some reason I now want to see a video of "The City Sleeps" starring MC 500 Foot Galactus.

I read the emotional separation of the FF and society in general as a natural result of the absolute hero worship they experienced.

Staffan said:

Since this thread popped up again, I made a realization about the FF movie: there's nothing really memorable about it. It's all competently done, but there's nothing there on the level of pre-serum Steve throwing himself on a fake grenade, or "There are always men like you", or "Are you the God of Hammers?"

Now, that's true of several Marvel movies. I'd be hard-pressed to think of a particularly memorable moment from Ant-Man, for example. But still.

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I thought it was a better than average Marvel movie but I also couldn’t help thinking, we got the absolute best Fantastic Four movie years ago when Brad Bird gave us The Incredibles.

Staffan said:

Now, that's true of several Marvel movies. I'd be hard-pressed to think of a particularly memorable moment from Ant-Man, for example. But still.

Click to expand...

Staffan said:

Now, that's true of several Marvel movies. I'd be hard-pressed to think of a particularly memorable moment from Ant-Man, for example. But still.

Click to expand...

The “I’m done stealing” “I want you to steal” exchange. Louis’ story time. Shrinking the building. The tiny fight in the kid’s room with the train. The scared kid, dad saves the day bit. The new step-dad who spends the movie busting his chops sides with Ant-Man bit. Lots of greats scenes.

Finally got around to watching this. It wasn't bad. Not great. It felt really flat to me. It's the best official FF movie by a mile, but it's still miles behind The Incredibles. Most of the emotional stuff felt forced, not earned. The CGI in places looked really cheap, like on Reed's stretching. It was kinda bad looking throughout. A few of the shots of Johnny flying were clearly the actor just standing on his tip-toes. It was also weird that Ben went to Yancy Street like 4-5 times in the movie when he maybe goes back once every 5-10 issues in the comics. Most of it was what I call sci-fi problems and sci-fi solutions, that is lot and lots and lots of talking about things, having a bit of a sciencey montage, then problem solved. It's always hollow without the characters getting directly involved. Thankfully they ended with the FF going hands on. The end was so reminiscent of the first Avengers I have expected Ben to scream to wake Sue up.

Staffan said:

Since this thread popped up again, I made a realization about the FF movie: there's nothing really memorable about it. It's all competently done, but there's nothing there on the level of pre-serum Steve throwing himself on a fake grenade, or "There are always men like you", or "Are you the God of Hammers?"

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The best way I've heard it described is that this movie feels flat. There's some really neat stuff in it, but there's not enough to underpin that stuff to give it the weight and impact it needs.

TiQuinn said:

I thought it was a better than average Marvel movie but I also couldn’t help thinking, we got the absolute best Fantastic Four movie years ago when Brad Bird gave us The Incredibles.

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I get why folks say that, but it bugs the heck out of me, because The Incredibles doesn't feel like the FF to me at all - or at least only superficially.

ART! said:

I get why folks say that, but it bugs the heck out of me, because The Incredibles doesn't feel like the FF to me at all - or at least only superficially.

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Totally. The Incredibles feels like its own thing and demoting that to being a knock off FF seems to be reductive, and the FF is a lot different in feel than The Incredibles.

The main things that are very memorable to me are

1. Getting the best Galactus we've seen on screen
2. The chase scene through space was great, especially the use of real theoretical science and astrophysics in it which leads to
3. Reed really being the smartest man in the room. The others didn't give that to me, and The Incredibles didn't even have an equivalent. Pedro Pascal nailed that opposite...
4. Them showing how strong Sue was really in powers and in strength of character. That scene with Reed vs Sue about Franklin felt real to me, and on the family...
5. Johnny not just being The Human Torch, but showing his intelligence
6. I also loved seeing the scenes of the world coming together to build the device.

To me, it had all the beats, other than giving Ben his time. They gave HERBIE more than Ben, in all honesty. I could have also used more of them working in tandem, like when Johnny launched Ben at Galactus. Teamwork is where things come together for the FF and they didn't really fight as a team.

ART! said:

I get why folks say that, but it bugs the heck out of me, because The Incredibles doesn't feel like the FF to me at all - or at least only superficially.

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I don’t know what to say - the analogues are right there. The 1960s motif, the powers, a Doctor Doom-like villain, the importance of the family structure. A super-powered baby who may be more powerful than all of them put together. They literally have a Mole Man character!