Fantastic Fail

Karen: I went into the theater to see Fantastic Four having read the reviews, knowing Rotten Tomatoes had the film at a 9% rating, and so I was not expecting anything. That's not true -I expected it to be terrible. And it wasn't, not entirely -the first part of the film was actually somewhat interesting, as the characters were introduced and the story began. But things went awry mid-way and really fell apart in the last 20 minutes or so. All the talk about how the studio had come in and taken the film out of director Josh Trank's hands and performed many reshoots was obviously true, as there were many shifts, thematically and stylistically. Were the reshoots for the better or worse? Who knows. As it stands the film is a mess, but I don't think it is is deserving of the 9% rating -but I couldn't give it a 'thumbs up' either. 

Karen: I realize it is based on Ultimate Fantastic Four, a comic series I never read. That's probably part of the reason it feels so little like the Fantastic Four to me. For much of the film it could be a generic science fiction film, and while that film might be mildly entertaining, that's not what I want to see when I go to see a Fantastic Four movie.

Karen: None of the characters are particularly likable or compelling. There's no chemistry between any of them -maybe between the very young Reed and Ben. Otherwise, everything feels cold and detached.

Karen: This film gets Dr. Doom even worse than the previous two Fox films, which I would have thought impossible. Honestly, if Marvel gets the rights back to the FF, I think it would be for the best if they avoided using Doom in the first film. He's as played out as Lex Luthor is in Superman films...

Karen: The film is already considered a huge bomb, but it's by no means clear that Fox won't try again, and hang on to the rights. I'd still love to see Marvel get the rights, but this feud between Marvel and Fox seems unlikely to end soon. I can see Fox hanging on almost out of spite.

Karen: If you saw the film, what did you think? Do you think critics are being too harsh? And here's a question: if Marvel Studios got the film rights to the FF back, what would be the best way to incorporate them into the movie universe?

Submitted for Your Thoughts and Impressions -- Superhero Stills from Upcoming Flicks

Jubilee and Jean Grey, from X-Men: Apocalypse

Archangel concept art, X-Men: Apocalypse

Psylocke, Apocalypse, and Magneto, from X-Men: Apocalypse

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice

Princess Diana and Bruce Wayne, from Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justic

Bat-Hulk, er, Batman v. Superman, from Empire Magazine

Dr. Doom, from Fantastic Four

Some Thing Ain't Right Here....

Karen: I'm presenting this without comment, because I'm sure you'll all know exactly what to say about it...

Dr. Doom Is Not a Hacker

"He’s Victor Domashev, not Victor Von Doom in our story.  And I’m sure I’ll be sent to jail for telling you that.  The Doom in ours—I’m a programmer.  Very anti-social programmer.  And on blogging sites I’m “Doom”. -Toby Kebbell, actor playing Dr. Doom Victor Domashev

Karen: You've probably already heard that news -that Dr. Doom in the upcoming Fantastic Four film will be radically different than his comic book persona. As in, he'll no longer be the megalomaniac genius ruler of a small European country, but instead, an internet troll.

Really, I am not making this up.

For some reason, the film-makers felt the need to change a character that has been one of the most popular villains in Marvel Comics for over 50 years. Now it's true the film has not come out yet, so these changes remain to be seen. But given the very fundamental nature of them, one can't help but think that we will not be seeing 'our' Dr. Doom on-screen (again). 

Why is it that Fox can't simply bring the character to life as-is? Marvel Studios has stuck pretty close to the characters as presented in the comics, and they've been wildly successful. It makes sense -they have been around for 50 years and are a proven commodity. They work, dramatically speaking. Sure, there have been some tweaks here and there, but for the most part, the characters on the screen are clearly recognizable, not only physically but in personality, to their comic book counterparts. Thor is Thor. Captain America is Captain America. Iron Man is Robert Downey Jr. -OK, that one is not a great example. But Iron Man's origin is still very close to the original, just updated for the times.

Why can't we have a Dr. Doom, who is named Von Doom, who is the dictator of a small country in Europe, and is both a genius technologist and a sorcerer? Look, if we're going to swallow the whole idea of people with super-powers, why is that too much to ask?

The way this movie is shaping up, it seems it will bear little resemblance to the Fantastic Four of any era. It's a shame that such a beloved group of characters can't get the cinematic portrayal they deserve. Certainly they are no harder to bring to the screen than any of the Avengers. Personally, I hope the movie, if it is as bad as feared, crashes and burns and the rights revert to Marvel so that we can finally get a decent FF film a few years down the line. Maybe then we will be able to get over the indignity of Dr. Doom being portrayed as a hacker.

Who's the Worst... Depiction of a Marvel Character in Film?

Galactus?

The Absorbing Man?

Yondu?

Who's the Best... Depiction of a Marvel Character in Film?

Doug: Best, favorite, "big kudo for a great performance"... -- you decide how you want to deal with this. And in a week, we'll look at this on the flipside. Save your disappointments for that coming "Who's the Worst...?"

Fantastic Four -No More?

Karen: There are strange rumors floating around regarding Marvel and whether they might put Fantastic Four and Ultimate Fantastic Four "on hiatus" until after Fox's Fantastic Four film comes out. Bleeding Cool initially reported that Marvel might put the titles on hold in order to not promote the film, and then published another article, reportedly showing that artists for sketch cards were told not to draw the FF or related characters.

It's hard to know if any of this is true -it seems to me like it would be cutting off one's nose to spite one's face. I don't think the comics do very much to promote the films, and considering most titles sell less than 100,000 copies, it seems like Marvel would only be hurting themselves. But I'm interested to see how this might play out. It's no secret Marvel Studios (and Disney) would like to get all their characters back, and especially the FF and their related properties. The Fox films have not done very well, financially or critically. I doubt Marvel needs to 'help' Fox fail -they seem capable of doing that all on their own.

  

Gender Bending With... Victoria von Doom?

Doug:  Who the heck is running Fox and why are they intent on destroying all we know and love about the Fantastic Four?  In earlier news, we learned of the very strong possibility that the Human Torch will be played by an African-American actor while the role of the Invisible Girl (his sister, mind you) will be played by a Caucasian actress.

Doug:  Now today comes a wonderment of wonderments -- could the role of Dr. Doom be cast as a woman?

Readers' Write (8): Discuss... The Lack of a Great Fantastic Four Film

 

While Karen and Doug are on vacation in January, our readers have been entrusted with carrying on the daily conversations.  Today's Discuss is a do-it-yourselfer.  As we've done in the past, the first commenter gets to pick today's topic of conversation.

Generally speaking, the Discuss category is for narrow topics.  For example, in the past we've started conversations on topics such as the Sub-Mariner, Animal House, and the Captain America television movies.

Thanks for holding it down for us!

The Prowler would like to discuss reasons why a top-notch film based on the Fantastic Four still awaits the light of day.

Discuss: The Best Depiction of a Marvel Character on Film

Doug:  Any character from any Marvel movie -- who's tops in your book, even if you didn't like the particular film he/she was in?