Who actually enjoyed the 2015 Fantastic Four movie?
 

I just finished watching it and I actually enjoyed it. Call me crazy but I thought the team's powers were really well done (although Reed's were never explained. Why did he get stretchy powers again?) and I liked how there was more of a focus on the science this time around. Sure it was cheesy in places, there was clearly parts from the trailers that were cut out, Victor Von Doom's origin was rather rushed and the final battle was way too short, but I don't think this movie is anywhere near as bad as people say it is. I hear it had a lot of interference from Fox which would explain those problems, so hopefully they'll smooth things out next time and make a sequel that more people actually like.
9% on Rotten Tomatoes? That's lower than Catwoman, and that movie has no redeeming features! Other than Halle Berry looking hot, obviously.

Am I alone here? Did anyone else enjoy this movie, even a little bit? I'm expecting a lot of no's. :P

Nope. Wanted to walk out of the theater about halfway through it, but stuck it out because I'd already paid good money for the ticket. Honestly, it was the first comic book movie I have ever actively loathed. Even TMNT was better in comparison, and at least IT was FUN!

Care to elaborate as to why? :) I actually had fun watching the F4 get their powers and then banding together to defeat Doom.

I gotta admit, I kinda liked the first half of the film right up until the characters actually got their powers. The rest of the movie just felt like an odd fan fiction. Also, I much prefer Kate Mara's version of Sue Storm over Jessica Alba.

I might have. If I woulda watched it. Preferred to check out Ant Man because c'mon, Paul Rudd is awesome.

I'll admit I enjoyed the first half more, the rest wasn't so bad though. But it did show signs of interference from Fox.
The thing that bugged me about Kate Mara's version of Sue was the fact that she wore a wig during re-shoots. A very noticeable wig that's not even close to her actual hair. It was really jarring when her hair suddenly changed.

I may have enjoyed Fantastic Four, but even I will tell you that you made the right decision there. ;)

Where to start.... well, for one thing, the "darker" tone was utterly unsuited to the characters and their origins and to the comic book, and there was almost NO family element to them, beyond the almost backhanded relationship between Sue and Johnny and his dad. Those were just some of the most obvious errors, along with the complete misrepresentation of Doom. He's not just a punk scientist with enviro-anarchist and nhililist outlook, he's a straight-up egocentric genius dictator with occult knowledge and skills, a power-hungry despot, and obsessed with the notion that he knows what's best for the world.

Reed was also woefully mischaracterized. The movie made him out to be a bit of a coward and a jackass, which he is not. Almost nothing about the movie was accuratecto the material.

That "thing" was not Doctor Doom. It's a walking sorry excuse of garbage that makes Deadpool from X-Men Origins look like a faithful adaption of the character.

But that's just my opinion.

Yup, pretty much this.

I was onboard to watch the film until I saw the leaked scene of "Doom" walking down the corridor fighting some soldiers.

Moral of the story? Watched Ant-man a second time instead.

I'll give you that one. :lol:

I'd also like to add that nobody should ever leave the theatre before a movie ends, no matter how bad it is. Because it's their own money they're wasting. :P

Fighting?! That was FIGHTING?! There was no fighting there. That was just a bunch of lambs to the slaughter. Complete with the mallet(powers) to the head.

Time well spent, I'd say. Wish I'd gone to that one instead, myself.

Not seen it yet.

like it just as much as tmnt 2014. So a lot! Reeds powers came from when he was stuck under the rock and it kind of implied that his body was stretched instead of crushed, because of the radiation or whatever.

I don't even remember, I've managed to block most of it from my mind. Except for the cracked green lava skull of Doom.

That's gonna haunt me the rest of my days... I mean, it's potentially a cool design. But no way in hell is that Doom. I don't know much about Doom, but I know that much.

What's wrong with F4
 

Yeah, some things you just can't un-see.

One of the first things in it that I noticed that irked me was Johnny. Sooo.... He went from a flirty, cocky playboy type to a hot-headed street-racer?! I mean, Johnny's never really been known to have a short fuse, per se, though he does get himself into tough situations because of his impulsive streak. But there was so much about ALL of them that was out-of-character, I just couldn't enjoy the movie.

From a character and origin perspective, the original FF movies got them all FAR more accurate than the new one did, and the tone of those movies was also more in-line with the comics. They had more of the family dynamics, too. I honestly don't understand all the hate they get, because as an FF fan, I felt they got a lot right. They might have been a little cheesy, and gods know that 2 could have done better with "Galactus", but they at least understood who the characters WERE! Even Silver Surfer was far closer to his comic counterpart in those, and I'm not even a big fan of him. Also important was the feel of the movies, which for anyone who has read even a few issues, the comics are lively, fun, and exciting, even when they turn a bit serious and dramatic. The first two FF movies matched up with that perfectly, and I really did enjoy them. (Except for that Galactus thing)

But I had some pretty high expectations for the new one because of that, and it just was a total let-down on almost every level. One of the FEW things that was good about it was how the powers LOOKED. Except for Thing, which, again, he seemed "off", somehow, both visually and character-wise. Also- PUT SOME D@MN PANTS ON!!!!

Yeah, I've only seen the first of the two originals, but damn, what's wrong with Chris Evans? Michael Chiklis was great, too... and I could live with Alba and whoever played Reed. Doom's actor wasn't terrible either, even if EVERY writer seems terrified to make him the ruler of... sorry, can't remember his country at the moment.

People bitched about FF1 and FF2 (haven't seen it yet, so maybe the hate's a little more warranted) which were at least passable, and look what they got instead... that's a pretty lousy trade. :tlol:

And I'm sorry, but a family of superheroes is inherently cheesy and old-school. Own it (like the Incredibles did) and be awesome.

I think one of the reasons some people disliked them was because the comics were first written back in the 60's (62 to be exact- I knows me stuff!), when comics were still very much "for kids". That works for the FF. This- whatever this was- doesn't. Unless one wants to go for the more serious and modern "Death of (fill in the blank)" issues that have been so popular for the FF in the past couple of decades. Personally, I'd have preferred a 3rd installment for the others, because at least that would have given us something more consistent with the comics, perhaps with Namor in it. I'd LOVE to see him on the big screen! (And sorry, Leo, but if you're reading this, HE came FIRST!!)

And you're right. There was nothing wrong with Evens, Alba, or Chicklis. In fact, when I first saw him, I thought "That guy IS Thing!" I was only vaguely familiar with him in passing from The Shield. Now he's on Gotham, and I have grown to really like him. But he was perfect for Ben Grimm; he had exactly the kind of no-nonsense, "I'm a bada$$ and what are ya gonna do about it" attitude that Thing needs. He was also much more heavily involved in the entire story, which was one reason I felt his character was wasted in the new movie.

Evens made for a far better (and more likable) Johnny, too. Signing autographs and hitting on girls, that's Johnny. Didn't see any of that side of him in this one.

To me, it seems that the two Fantastic Four movies are the equivalent of the Tim Burton Batman movies. They're pretty good for what they are, even though some of it might be a little dated. Then FF went full Schumacher with their F4NTASTIC movie. :tlol:

If it weren't for the whole "Galactus is a cloud" thing from the sequel, I think the movies wouldn't garner nearly as much scorn. But again, I freely admit I don't know all that much about Marvel's First Family, so I'm only able to provide an outsider's perspective...

Hmm, that's a pretty good analogy. FF= Burton Bat. I can agree with that! :trazz:

As for the comics, if you're interested in learning more, there's always their wiki entry, or better yet, the Marvel Universe Wiki on their website. There are individual entries for each character. You could also try a few issues either on-line if you have a subscription, or just pick up one of the older trades. I started back in 2001, and found the book to be quite enjoyable, at least up until I quit reading in 2008 for lack of funds.

I've Wikied them, and I think the First Family could absolutely be brought into the MCU. They've got a lot to contribute, well... their rogues especially do, at any rate. Doom, Latveria, Negative Zone, Galactus, Namor, Silver Surfer, Skrulls, Kang, Annihilus...

Marvel needs to do absolutely whatever they need to do in order to force Fox to give over those rights. Let 'em keep X-Men (even though I can't fully endorse those movies), but FF deserves to spill over into the MCU. I mean, Kang, Galactus, and Doom? Those are all Phase 4,5,6 worthy villains! (Not in that order, though.) :tlol:

Ah, a new convert! Mwuahahaha, I see my nefarious scheme is working! Just kidding. Yeah, I'd love to see more of their baddies make it into the MCU. Of course, then you get guys like The Fearsome Five, (ie- Wizard and whomever he has working with him at any given time) who might not be as threatening, but certainly make for colorful villains!

I think you mean "The Frightful Four". The Fearsome Five are Teen Titans villains: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fearsome_Five

But yeah, a variation of the team could totally work. Especially now that Spider-Man is in the MCU, even Sandman could be a part of it.

Oops. I got them mixed up, LOL! Can't believe that happened. Well, it's been a looong time since I actually read any FF comics.

I liked it quite a bit. Went to see it twice and intend to buy it. I don't have much of a background with the characters. Although I read plenty of Marvel comics, FF was never one of them. I look at stories ending in a big battle as almost a necessary evil of comic book movie, so it didn't bother me when they got through with it quickly. Besides, I thought Doom was scary.

I've got two friends who watched it with me, and neither of them thought it was bad. Not great, but not bad. I, for one, very much like to see with the story goes from here. And I'm cool with Fox keeping the property. It seems most of the films issues can be traced back to director, and there's no way they're keeping him around. So there's no reason why the next movie won't be better. It seems most of the film's issues can be traced back to director, and there's no way they're keeping him around. So there's no reason why the next movie won't be better. They'll probably leverage one of their other properties to boost Fantastic Four.

I love the MCU, and it'd be great to have Reed and Doom around, but FF has plenty to support its own universe, and I think it's nice to have different visions, instead of everybody being in the same basket. Maybe one day movie will be like comics, where you can have a connected universe, and still have different people giving differing takes on the characters. If it has to be one or the other, I'd rather the properties be spread out.

I really didn't like the first F4 movie and only liked the second one a little bit better. BUT, both of them at least looked and felt like Fantastic 4 on every level; they just had some serious problems with the cast, and SOME of the humor just plain did not work.

From the very first glimpse of this new one, you're like, "That's NOT Fantastic 4. That has nothing to DO with Fantastic 4." And I kind of pretty much don't even like the Fantastic 4, I get the concept but it's not my cup of tea. :lol: It's like Aquaman; secretly I DO get it and I DO know why it works and why it's cool, I personally would just rather make fun of it. :trazz: So I don't love the F4, BUT I do appreciate a faithful and solid adaptation, and I felt like most of the problems with the last two movies - Doom, Galactus - came about by NOT staying close to the source material when everything else was so dead-on. It's like if you just did THAT movie over, re-cast 2 or 3 people, and try to be 100% faithful to the comics instead of like 90%, you'd be set. That's ALL they needed to do with a new F4 movie.

Instead they try the now-overdone "Let's do the OPPOSITE of what the fans want/expect" approach, and sh*t the bed with it. I mean here's the thing... the ONLY people who liked it even a little bit, usually start their reviews with, "Well, I don't know anything about the Fantastic 4"... and you should just stop right there, because that means you'll never understand all the things wrong with it. :lol: It's like someone saying, "Well, I don't know much about Batman but I liked 'Batman and Robin' for what it was..." That was a bad movie AND a bad Batman movie, but you can only understand HOW awful it is IF you're a huge Batman fan. I mean yes, you can argue that even an adaptation should be judged as "its own thing" and whether or not it's a decent stand-alone film, but in this case it seems they weren't really caring much about that, either. So you get this situation where the only people who SHOULD be interested in it, are completely NOT interested because it sh*ts all over what they wanted and were supposed to get from the movie, and the only people who CAN like it are people who go into it kind of deciding they have to just because everyone else hates it, and most of those people aren't quite aware WHY certain things are bad or don't work because by their own admission they don't know the source material.

They always figure comic nerds will go see any comic book movie anyway so they can screw with it as much as they feel like. This time out the nerds spat it up right back in their faces and said "Give us what we know and like, not what you think a 'hip new version' of that should be." One critic I read summed it up pretty succinctly: "This was a movie made for absolutely no one." If you're going to START the project by alienating 90% of your potential ticket-buyers, and taunt them at every turn how they need to suck it up because you're the one making the movie and you don't care if they like it, then what's even the point anymore?

Is it weird that Mirage Volume 4 comes to mind when I read that?
Anyway I was never a fan of F4. But I found the first one entertaining. I had about 3-5 friends go see it and one of them said "It's more like the meh 4. It's not bad there just wasn't anything really good about it."

That hurts, man... that hurts because it's TRUE.

A lot of this feels like nitpicking, guys. :P

Well that makes sense. :roll:

Ditto.

Was he a cloud though? I just assumed he was behind the cloud.

That was their explanation. And in their defense... the huge blockbuster CBMs like The Dark Knight and The Avengers hadn't blown the doors off the industry yet.

A friggin' huge guy in purple and that dorky hat looming over Earth? Maybe 1 in 4 people would have thought it was cool... but those not in the know would have used words like "bizarre", "idiotic", and "WTF."

To be fair, Galactus absolutely could have been truly terrifying if done properly, all he needed was a little "upgrade" to his design. Something a bit more sterile, cold, and dark. He's very much a cosmic-level threat, which is kind of the point. He's a planet-killer. That "cloud" was just their version of "the Nothing" from Never-Ending Story, something that would seem vaguely threatening and evil, without having to take the time and effort to truly show why he's so darned dangerous. That was why he was a disappointment. And "behind the cloud"? That's getting into "pay no attention to that man behind the curtain!" territory. It's cheap and lazy. It's the old man playing at being the Wizard.

^ Agreed 100%.

If done right, Galactus could look great in a realistic setting. Something like this design could definitely work for a movie:

You're both absolutely right. But realistically, I'm not surprised no one at the time thought to upgrade Galactus' look like that.

Fingers crossed for the MCU, right? :tlol:

Hear hear! :tcool: