Not bad for an origin movie

Rating: 7/10 (29 July 2005)

This movie was handicapped by having to tell the story of five origins and deal with all the resulting emotional angst of the characters, which at time threatened to overwhelm the movie. That having been said, I thought it was as good a movie as could have been made under those circumstances, and look forward to the sequel. Keep in mind that X-Men I, to which this has been unfairly compared, had no such baggage, since the protagonists, being mutants, had had their powers since birth or childhood.
Since everyone knows the plot, such as it is, I'll talk about other points. First, Jessica Alba was miscast. She got the irritating role of the uptight schoolmarm constantly breaking up fights between the 'boys'. And whose idea was it to bleach-blonde the hair of the dark-complexioned Alba? I thought the result looked disastrous.
Michael Chilkis, by contrast, had wanted to play the Thing since childhood, and it's obvious that this Emmy-winning actor gave it everything he had. He manages to pull off the two most touching scenes in the movie, while in heavy makeup/costume to boot.
Finally, I lost count of the number of laws of science this movie violated, but hey, it *is* a comic book! Enjoy it for what it is.