Soulless fun

Rating: 4/10 (12 June 2007)

Why soul-less? Throughout the whole movie, I didn't really feel connected to the characters or their fate. Trying to analyse this, I think it's that they don't go very deep into anyone's psyche at any point; there's the different characters and you have an idea of the kind of people they are, but no one makes you take a deep look at any of them. When insights are given, they're rather thrown in and glossed over as though someone thought the film ought to have some more substance.
The silver surfer is very cool, and the Fantastic Four's powers are believably and seamlessly animated (I can't remember/never really saw the 1st movie to compare to). It was more predictable than the average Hollywood blockbuster (oops is that a spoiler? :-), and personally I'm not sure I like Jessica in blonde, not sure it quite suits her skin colour.
I had to think whether to knock it down to 4 from 5 (which I almost gave it) but in the end, I'm estimating the novelty-gain factor (ie. how you rate it having just seen it 1st time compared to the longer term view). Not a complete panning, but don't look for more than good special-effects and Jessica Alba being hot. No doubt big F4 fans will be commenting on everything that's different compared to the comics, I went with a friend who knew them. Still kind of a fun movie though, of the throwaway sort, which saves it a little.