re: Fantastic Four Review Thread 86% RT Score 111 Reviews

So is this thing going to make money? Looks like Superman kicked its arse this weekend.

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The power-creep, the bastardization of characters by creating "families" or "universes" which are all just some form of derivative of the main character and the age-locking of most characters at their prime selling age (instead of letting them age out then get replaced by new characters) have watered DC and Marvel down to the point of rarely being good stories about their characters having to get through more down-to-earth issues and either some multiversal omnipotent danger (because endangering a mere single universe is no longer enough) or provide some far-left social lecture.

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spot on

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It's no coincidence that the best-performing Marvel movies have pulled almost exclusively from the pre-2000 stories and pre-2000 characters (and then remained true to those stories and characters, unlike something like Kraven for example).

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Amazing, huh? If the MCU stays focused on when comics were actually good with engaging stories, it will thrive.

I think they'll turn it around. Audiences seem to have enjoyed Thunderbolts and F4. They need to get people back on the bandwagon and this is a good start. Next year they have Spider-Man and Doomsday. Both should be massive hits.

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Everything seems to come incredibly easily to Marvel's first family. Reed happens to have already been working on the technology they need to win the day. Johnny translates and learns a whole alien language in a couple of months (I assume? The timeline of events is also pretty slippery). Sue is exactly powerful enough for whatever needs to happen at the time.

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Fair

Johnny becoming an alien translator, Sue being able to push an immortal being, Reed having the wherewithal to transport Earth (in orbit with appropriate velocity and orientation?!?) or trap/transport Galactus.

There's a lot of leaps there. Just ignore them or you won't be able to enjoy the movie.

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Johnny translating an alien language was absurd, and it was the worst part of this movie. Sue was OP

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Those were both problems. The Surfer was the only being (besides Franklin) with the power necessary to even slightly budge Galactus.

Other random thoughts:

There was a lot of montage to fill in fan references and history (in some ways and origin story).

They didn't make Ben's SO blind which was an interesting choice.

Vanessa Kirby (no relation?) did well with what she was given. But, and I know this isn't PC, the early character arcs including Namor, etc would have required her to be more beautiful (Rosamund Pike or Charlize Theron).

Chris Evans actually did a good cocky Johnny Storm even if Reed and Sue weren't good in the 2005 version. We haven't had a great Reed yet. Ben with the beard looks a little like a wooden Indian but I didn't hate it.

Galactus was really good overall. Usually he's drawn like a big power ranger but he was imposing and appropriate superficially. The only herald I like was the original SS but I won't dwell on that. Johnny didn't have to fall in love with him or her to raise the obvious ethnics of exterminating living worlds

On the balance I liked it well enough to give it a soft recommendation. It is better than the prior movies with different casts

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but i still haven't see Eternals, Kang Jai (or whatefver that kung fu movie was), either of the Ms. Marvel movies or either black panther movies

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Shang-Chi is a fun movie (especially the first two acts); the rest you definitely can skip.


The first Black Panther is meh... the problem is that T'Challa's best character arc occurred in Civil War and that really didn't leave much for him to do. He definitely shined in the movies where there's a lot more going on (Infinity War, Civil War); he's also hurt by his supporting cast. Aside from M'Baku, Killmonger, and Okoye... the rest is highly forgettable or straight up annoying. M'Baku isn't really active until the third act and Killmonger is the villain so yeah.

The best "Black Panther" movie is Civil War.

Everything else you listed is WORSE then meh - they're straight up bad. The only on-screen charisma in the second Marvel movie is Iman Vellani and her character's family, and that's not enough to break free of the black hole that is Brie Larson.

From deadline...Low 40s would be a big drop. Disappointing considering it's being well received

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FRIDAY PM UPDATE: A bit of a calm spell before the Freakier Friday-Weapons double bill happening next weekend, with The Fantastic Four: First Steps eyeing around $12 million today for a $40M-$45M second weekend, which gets it close to $200M+ (or $198M on the low end). On the low side, that’s a 66% decline in the vicinity of Captain America: Brave New World (-68%), but harder than Thunderbolts* (-56%) which indicates the front-loaded rush to Marvel’s first family. The pic is booked at 4,125 theaters.

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I'm heading out in a bit to watch it with some friends. I've heard good things from many people. Everyone who watches it seems to enjoy it, but word of mouth just isn't spreading.

Watched it tonight. Disclaimer, I'm not a F4 fan at all.

I thought it was good, if not incredibly predictable. I LOVED the 50's future setting of this universe. That brought my experience from a solid 6 to an 8.

I definitely enjoyed Superman more, but for a Friday night with nothing to do, it was fine.