So I finally saw the Fantastic Four...

[Mercurius]

...and I don't get all the nerdrage and general hatred of this movie. It wasn't great; it wasn't even all that good, but it was still reasonably entertaining and certainly not 9%-on-Rotten-Tomatoes-bad.

It was a bit gloomy and I thought Doom was somewhat silly. I never really connected with any of the characters and had the feeling that something was missing. But again, not terrible. Overall I liked the first two-thirds of the film or so until Doomy showed up. Even then the special effects were pretty fun, although the climax was rather anti-climactic and the defeat of Doom was about as quick and un-exciting as the botched Phoenix saga in X-Men: the Last Stand. But still, it was OK.

Maybe it is mainly a matter of disappointed expectations? I mean, the F4 didn't have the pinazz of the Avengers of X franchises, but the movie wasn't so bad that a well-done sequel couldn't right the ship.

What gives?

 

[Ryujin]

I can't speak from direct knowledge as I took a pledge not to bother with remakes or reboots, but friends have filled me in on their big issues with the movie.

The first is the one that they found the least invasive; the change in the family dynamic. The FF have generally been viewed as the 'nuclear family' of the Marvel Comics world.

The second was the shoe-horning in of Doom as a hacker type, rather than the powerful legacy child from the original comic.

The third complaint involved the fact that it felt like two separate and very different movies, starting from about halfway in. It went from dark and somewhat cerebral, to shoot-em-up and 'splosions.

The whole debacle seems rather well explained by ComicBook19 in one of her excellent reviews. She did something similar on "Prometheus", but I think that it ran afoul of copyright issues. *WHOOPS* Correction, that video series is back up too. Here's a link to her stuff on FF.

[H][video=youtube;qC0mmSDCegk]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qC0mmSDCegk[/video][/H]

 

[Morrus]

It was fine. I quite enjoyed it. No masterpiece, but as watchable as much of the superhero fare of the last decade.

 

[Ryujin]

It was fine. I quite enjoyed it. No masterpiece, but as watchable as much of the superhero fare of the last decade.

And that's the issue. It showed far more promise than the average superhero film of the last decade but because it didn't follow the beats of such a movie, the producers and studio decided to overrule their director. The link that I posted to CBG19's analysis is worth watching.

 

[Morrus]

And that's the issue.

Wasn't an issue for me. I don't need a link to explain why I shouldn't enjoy a film.

 

[Ryujin]

Wasn't an issue for me. I don't need a link to explain why I shouldn't enjoy a film.

Seems like it was because it was only 'as watchable as' rather than the better movie that it could have been, had they trusted their director

 

[calronmoonflower]

What gives?

I imagine that this is part of it,

And it was all wonky after the time skip.

 

[Morrus]

Seems like it was because it was only 'as watchable as' rather than the better movie that it could have been, had they trusted their director

Every movie could have been better or could have been worse. I just watch the movie!

 

[Homicidal_Squirrel]

Maybe it is mainly a matter of disappointed expectations? I mean, the F4 didn't have the pinazz of the Avengers of X franchises, but the movie wasn't so bad that a well-done sequel couldn't right the ship.

Well there's the rub. You have to have a well-done sequel to right the ship. That's unlikely to happen. The sequel will probably be worse than the first. I know, frightening.

What gives?

I was highly impressed with how well Kristen Stewart played Dr. Franklin Storm.

 

[Jhaelen]

And you never had the feeling "Gee, this movie could have been so much better if they'd just..."?

That's how I felt after watching In Time.
The movie had such an intriguing premise, but it fell completely flat because they apparently couldn't think of _any_ interesting plot that somehow involved the setting. So they went for an utterly implausible and unrealistic poor-man's 'Bonny & Clyde' rehash. Blech!

I think it's entirely appropriate to give an 'about average' movie a poor rating if it messes up a good premise.