Rate Fantastic Four *SPOILERS*

[Man in the Funny Hat]

Rated it 7. Definitely no higher. It felt too much like merely protracted exposition without being particularly INTERESTING exposition. They were irradiated. They wound up with super powers. Great. Now have them go DO THINGS with those powers, not just sit around and deal with their respective relationships.

The movie was really more about how a superhero actually comes to grips on a daily basis with his new power - but it wasn't done well from that perspective. Incredibles was vastly superior in that regard.

A sequel will almost undoubtedly be VASTLY superior because they can have stuff like ACTION, and PLOT, rather than just lots of story.

Still it was entertaining enough to not seem like a waste of money, though it could have been so much better too.

 

[orbitalfreak]

I gave it a 6. Almost a 7.

I found the movie a bit bland. There was some story, some character development, some action, but it just wasn't presented well. The story was indeed very cookie-cutter, the whole thing seemed a little bit over the top (certain angles, phrases, poses, etc.). Jessica Alba was there for T&A, it seems. I can't really say much for the other actors, either, except the guy who played Johnny. They all had rather unimpressive performances (though Johnny seemed like a real guy).

Despite all that, it was a decent way to spend $8 (skipping the coke and popcorn). One pet peeve is a change between the previews and the actual movie. When the Torch dives off the building to distract the missle, in the previews, the music cuts out for a semi-dramatic, li'l bit o' chill bumps-inducing moment when he says "Flame on!" In the movie, the music plays on in the background; I think that takes away from the scene a bit, especially having seen it with a silent background.

 

[Captain Tagon]

A solid 7, leaning towards maybe an 8 with the right crowd. Very fun movie though and that's what I expected so it works for me.

And the audience made it even better, cracking up at all of Johnny's jokes, collectively gasping whenever Latveria was mentioned. All in all good stuff.

Not the best movie I've seen recently, but maybe the most flat out entertaining.

 

[stevelabny]

Hmm.
Well it wasn't as bad as everything else so far this summer.

The sfx were bad. What DID they spend their money on? Some scenes were Spidey 1 / Xmen 1 bad. Some were worse.

Jessica Alba was bad. She really was just there for T & A and brought nothing to the table.

Dr. Doom was awful. I thought he was weak before the armor, and afterwards he was the lamest villain of all time. It really felt like the filmmakers couldnt decide how "comic book" they wanted to go with him. His "armor" is from the same cosmic storm, but the mask was a trophy given to him by the people of Latveria? The writing for the character was all over the place. There was even one line of dialogue in the armor that had some sort of metallic reverberation, but the others didn't. Plus, they forgot to have a "Doom does something evil and shows off his powers" scene before the final fight. GAH.

Mr. Fantastic was ok. I wouldve liked a little more genius-dialogue, but whatever. He was close enough to be passable.

The Alicia Masters thing was completely shoe-horned into the movie. Beyond wonky. And we didn't even get to see any of her sculptures? Why not just save her for the sequel?

Probably because the whole movie was done as generic and mainstream as you could. From some obvious dialogue, to the most obvious directing and framing , the whole thing reeked a little too much of "my first action movie"

BUT

Johnny and Ben were near perfect. Thing looked tons better on screen than in the stills, and the flame effects were pretty sweet. And not only were the both good individually, they were great together. That WAS johnny and ben fighting with each other on screen the sane way it WAS wolverine saying his claws hurt "every time".
The scenes with these two made sure I kept a smile on my face through the entire movie, even the kinda weak ending. I coulda done with TWO x-games scenes, but thats why I said near-perfect.

So overall, while the movie is far from great, it at least had the FUN that the other movies this year were missing. I would give it a 6.5 if I could, but I gave it a 7 because tonight I'm actually in a GOOD mood after seeing a movie.

 

[bolen]

Not bad. As others have said the Thing and the Human Torch were by far the best part.

The invisable girl was not bad and neither was Mr Fantastic but Dr Doom was bad. The story of Dr Doom was a Green Goblin lite. I kind of liked him getting powers at the same time as the four but why did they not make him a distinct character?

I give it a 6.5

 

[Krug]

Did pretty well at the box-office with a $56 million weekend..

 

[Logan]

I liked it. Not a great movie, but I wasn't expecting one, either. I do have to admit I had some relly low expecptions for it, the trailers I saw did not impress me in the least. But in the end, I enjoyed. But Dr. Doom was the weakest part of the film. They really did turn him into the Green Goblin, thw whole "big morally grey buissness man beacomes evil wean his investors try to take awasy his company' bit was lame. Ans yes, having him have powers form the cosic strom wasn't a great idea, either, nor was making him an American imigrent.
Oh, well, it was still a fun film.

 

[Henry]

I saw it -- TWICE. Once by myself, and then the next day when I found out some friends were going to see it.

I gave it a 7, because I liked it a lot, but the last act felt rather rushed to me. But I'm a sucker for origins in movies, and seeing how something came to be, because the vicarious aspect of a normal person finding out they have powers is part of the draw to a superhero movie.

The characterizations? Dead on, to me -- even Sue, who in the comics has always needed some spunk rather than the "quiet mothering" that the old Sue Storm from the comics used to do. Jessica Alba (always easy on the eyes) did a good job of being the "aggressive yet sensible" sister type, and the dynamic between her and Chris Evans was pretty fun to watch for me.

Chris Evans as Johnny Storm was great -- if Johnny were created in the 2000's, he WOULD be an extreme sports fan; hot-rodding in the 60's was the equivalent, and only later in the comics as he grew up would be become more sensible.

Ioan Gruffudd (spelling?) was a surprise success as Reed Richards, even if the Welsh did slip through now and again. Another surprise to me was Michael Chiklis - with the exception of the baldness, he's Ben Grimm all the way, and in the suit with the voice alterations he was exactly what I expected Ben Grimm to be.

Doctor Doom? The ball was dropped here, in my personal opinion. Too much "Nip/Tuck" doctor, not enough Smooth-yet-imperious ruler. I understand a possible need for change of the character, but he was changed TOO much for my liking.

In the end, I found "Batman Begins" the better movie, but this one was still a lot of fun.

 

[Zog]

Gave it a 7.

Lots of good character development and story - not enough Super Hero Action.
Spidey got to take on some random punks/swing around New York - the FF had two action sequences - the 'hey we have powers and can save people' and the 'final battle'. It was really well done - just not enough! But, it gives me high hopes for a sequal - more villians, more action!
Doom was weak - but I think at the end of the movie he ended up were he should have started - an insane meglomaniac encased in metal, very smart and very dangerous.

 

[Kai Lord]

A gave it a 3. The worst "event" film of the summer by far and probably the worst big budget super hero film ever made. Worse than The Punisher. Incredibly weak Mr. Fantastic, Invisible Woman, and Dr. Doom. I'm not even a stickler for adhering exactly to the comics, but these characters were just bad. A total tease in the "super hero" action department, and an appalling level of sexual coarseness for a kid friendly flick. I wouldn't have been surprised to see Vince McMahon in the credits as a producer.

A couple of funny lines between Johnny Storm and The Thing though (particularly the bit with the hand held mirror after they get back to Earth.) But not enough to redeem this stinker. Hopefully this sees a 2nd weekend drop of greater than Hulk proportions.