Flame On, Guys! (Wasn't That a Song by the Village People?)

Rating: 7/10 (25 June 2007)

I'm used to being in the minority when it comes to movies. But usually, I hate movies that everyone else seems to love. It's much rarer that there will be a movie almost universally disliked, but which I actually enjoyed. "Fantastic Four" is one of those.
Maybe by the time I saw this I was just sick of all the brooding, psychologically complex superheroes out there and found a good old-fashioned cheesy comic book movie refreshing. What I like about this story is that the Fantastic Four have their superpowers foisted on them, and then have to figure out how to use them. They have a regular Joe quality to them that makes them easier to relate to. They don't have sinister back stories full of murdered parents, ugly childhoods, seething feelings of revenge. They're just geeky scientists who can do pretty cool things.
People seem to be responding to the second installment, "Rise of the Silver Surfer," marginally better than they did the first, but I like both of them. After the overblown mess that was the "Pirates of the Caribbean" trilogy and all of the dithery angst that filled Sam Raimi's "Spiderman" series, it's nice to sit back and let 90 minutes of fun, worry free action adventure cleanse the palate.
Grade: A-