...So why does this moovie not enjoy the status of the X-Films?

Rating: 10/10 (15 December 2005)

Year 2000: X-Men comes out, the first major Marvel moovie in a long time. BLAM, it's a hit, we have guys like Magneto and Professor X and Wolverine brought to life, people loved it, and Hugh Jackman's career gets a boost. 2002: X-2 comes out, same thing. In the meantime, we saw Spidey and The Hulk come to life, and we also saw The Punisher "Punish" John Travolta. Heh. And people liked these films, and the parade of Marvel Heroes coming to life was extended to The Fantastic Four.
So, what exactly went wrong here? To my eyes, nothing. The characters ARE The Thing, Mr Fantastic, Sue Storm, and The Human Torch. Dr Doom, when in fact he becomes Dr. Doom, IS Dr. Doom. Hey, I believed it. But a lot of people, say they did not. Why? Well, it may be a thing to do with the pacing of the film: To my first viewing, the beginning seemed rushed. They told that part of the story too fast. What the heck DID happen in space? I see that people would get confused if not already familiar with the story. Is that it? I heard that there was an indication that a better Sue Storm could have been cast. Well, either these people are blind, or Jessica Alba really IS invisible. I vote that they are blind. A lot of people did not think Dark Angel was invisible, I certainly did not. And I did not think that The Invisible "Girl" would have been better cast. Not being a collector, but being a comic book fan and being familiar with the 4antastic 4, I believed it: I had no trouble assigning The Invisible "Girl" to Jessica Alba. So, that will probably get a hostile response, but so what? She was great.
And the same goes with the rest of the cast, down to Stan Lee doing HIS cameo. Chiklis, as far as I am concerned, will forever be The Thing. He's got the look, and he's got the Voice, and IT'S CLOBBERIN TIME. I believed that he stopped a truck, and I believed it was The Brooklyn Bridge, and I SAW Reed Richards stretch down and save a fireman. I SAW Sue Storm throw a shield around a fire, and I believed it, twice. (Thrice, cos I am watching it again as I type this).
And when it came down for us to discover the characters, in this moovie form of the 4-4, I saw many years of Comic Book lore put right in front of my eyes. What was wrong with it? As far as I am concerned, nothing. But some Marvel Purists, will maybe agree with me that the beginning, the origin of the 4-4 was told too fast, and they may also find fault with the "discovery" portion of the film which granted, takes a large amount of the film. But to true believers, this is what happened. As far as the story following the comic book, this was closer than The X-Men, it was closer than Spidey's tale told by Sam Raimi.
So, is it the director's fault? Should they have given the task to a veteran? I don't think that was the problem either, on a personal level, I believed the characters, they acted the way I expected them to act. Reed is a geek. Grimm is from The Bronx. Johnny is reckless and insane, and does not do what he is told, and Sue is complicated, and Alba certainly has that down pat, she can't be read in the first half of the film.
The problem, then, if a story suffers, then it suffers in the script, and we had a big Hole between Doom and the 4-4. The way this was told, Richards should have caught on immediately that not all was copacetic with Von Doom. In that regard, Richards was an idiot. But Richards is a dolt when it comes to women, not scientific observation, so he would not have missed what was going on with Von Doom. So: The middle of the story could have been told a bit better, and more developed. I mean, how much of a story do you have with people who have put themselves in confinement? Well, I hope that is not considered a spoiler.
As far as spoiling this moovie for anyone who has not watched it: I will not say that the images in the moovie are well composed, the CGI is there, but not real obvious, and some things that you think are CGI are real and some things that you think are real, are CGI. I will not say to the comic book collector that loves images, that they will get their hearts desire with how this production LOOKS in comparison to what we saw when our first issue of 4-4 was bought in... 1960? Whenever the series came out. No, I will not say that. I will also not say, that maybe this story was told FAST, cos they wanted to get to the sequel FAST, to tell the story that the 4-4 are famous for. Know what I mean? Naw, I won't say that! I will say that I enjoyed this twice in a row (and I believe I already said that) and I think that the Fans, who just want to enjoy this as it is told, will enjoy it, given the chance.
Nuff Sed!