Justice and Rule
Legend
It's not that it's focused on the Fantastic Four as much as we barely see anyone beyond the Fantastic Four. It's just extremely noticeable, especially after a Superman film that really felt like it had a living world packed into it.
I think it's just that there is still tension between Superman and the rest of his cast; conversations aren't always going to be about agreeing things, and Supes gets to question himself and feel feelings.
That is not what the movie is showing. They aren't disconnected from the world, the world is their thing. Sue's speech doesn't work if they are disconnected from the world. They have a very short conflict with the people of the world, but that gets resolved relatively quickly. They show the Four interacting with the world in their montage, and it doesn't feel like that's changed, that they've pulled back. The movie just doesn't have much in the way of characters beyond the Four and the villains.
Really, it feels like a lot got cut from the movie.
I don't see that as being particularly relevant as to being isolated from the world. Johnny wants to go to space again feels more like he just wants more adventure, not that he is walled off from the rest of the world.
It does something, but it definitely doesn't show him as isolated. He goes there all the time. There's a certain amount of celebrity he has, but for the most part we are beyond the time where he's sensitive about his looks or wants to hide. That's not the story.
We aren't shown that. If anything, they are meant to be incredibly involved in the world in different ways. We are shown that. The idea of isolation doesn't jive with what we are shown, it only jives with the specific way they constructed the movie to be how they don't interact with anyone. The President of the Future Foundation seems perfectly comfortable with Sue and Sue with her, we just barely get anything between them.
This just feels less like an intentional plot point and more something that comes about from the odd construction of the film. The film really comes off as something that just cut everything around it out.
But that speaks against the theme of isolation: they aren't disconnected to the world, but rather holding it up. They are constantly involved in it, as shown by the montage at the beginning. Just during the events of the movie that we get basically no else speaking to them. It's a weirdly lonely film for that because they barely interact with anyone else, and that feels less like a purposeful choice as much as things being cut.
Science Johnny is fine, the linguistics was a good call for him. The movie has a lot of smart choices for the characters. My problem was that it missed heart. The Fantastic Four are heroes of the world, but they don't interact with it. Superman is a hero of Metropolis and it feels like he actually exists there with the people.
Superman is also probably helped by Lex being a massive active presence in the movie while Galactus is never; if Superman was constantly trying to figure out how to take out Lex without actually showing Lex, that movie would suffer. But Superman also has underlying problems and conflicts with the rest of his cast that make their interactions pop in a way that the Fantastic Four don't right now: their familial conflicts aren't there. And in fairness, they don't always have to be: this is an older group, they've worked through the stuff we've seen before. We don't need the classic stuff... what we need now is new sources of tension. And that's what it lacked: it didn't create new conflicts between the cast for them to deal with, to make their interactions come out.
Sure, but I'd say that the whole inclusion of Franklin into that aspect didn't particularly work. Like, we know that they are never going to sacrifice him, nor that the world is going to keep saying that (Maybe if it were a Snyder film, and that's a hard maybe).
What I wanted out of Franklin was to see them become parents around him, and they never quite do. The plot is more focused on Galactus and if they have to use Franklin, rather than being new parents, which is what I would have preferred.
I mean, it's fine? It gives more for Johnny to do, certainly, but a dynamic might be saying much. They don't get much time together, not enough to really form anything. I have no problems with Shalla-Bal at all.
Again, the movie is well-acted. It's fine for what it wants to be. I would put it as "good". But it just doesn't have the sort of character conflict that helps me get invested in them and know them; the small squabbles they have throughout it brush away pretty quickly while they worry and work on the Galactus situation.
I've seen people elsewhere say that this feels like being dropped into the last issue of a story arc, and at a certain level, I agree: we are at a conclusion, a finale, where character conflicts have already been resolved and the only thing that needs to a solution is the greater threat. Some people might not want the soap aspects, but this is Marvel: it was built on those aspects to differentiate itself from DC, especially in the Fantastic Four. While I'd prefer most things to be shows because I could get more of it, I think you can make a F4 movie with that stuff. Hopefully the next one will have it.
I'm glad you feel you have no notes for it. Enjoy it.
