no character development, poor direction, not a good movie

Rating: 4/10 (12 July 2005)

I have never been a fan of comic books, but have enjoyed the movies based on comic book characters. The wife and I really enjoyed X-men, X-men II, Spiderman, and 3 of 5 of the Batman movies. Now, I had no expectations going into this movie. I did not know the story, and could not be disappointed by a lack of being true to the comic. If it was true or not, I don't know.
On casting: Jessica Alba is what, 24? She is supposed to be the same age as the other MIT grads who look as if they are in their late 30's if not into their 40's? I just didn't buy it. I am not a huge fan of hers anyway. Not that she did a bad job, it is just that she was not the right choice for this role.
Character development: It didn't exist. Sure there were some attempts to tell the audience about the characters, but not enough time was spent getting you to know them or even care about them. I think each person got one sentence about their past. For instance Johnny getting kicked out of NASA for trying to smuggle models aboard a flight simulator. That is about all there was introducing his character. Von Doom got three scenes devoted to his character, and it still wasn't enough.
Directing: I have no experience making movies, just a fan for a long time. Anyway, I'd say that there were too many plot holes to make this a good movie, but it is hard to find the plot. Maybe I fell asleep, but how do people walk around a space station like they are walking on earth? Did I miss the part about artificial gravity? They may have mentioned it, but I don't remember. They could have, and should have added at least another 20 minutes to this film in order to answer some obvious questions that the directing brings up, and to develop the characters.
Overall: I think this film was made to show of Alba's body in a tight outfit and to demonstrate special effects. I know I am in the minority, but she doesn't do anything for me. There are other types of movies out there (adult) that I'd watch if I wanted to see a woman showing off her body.
I left this movie wishing I had the 45 minutes and my money back. I know the movie is longer than 45 minutes, it is just short. I would wait for this to come to the rental store, or to cable/sat before I watched it. I really can't believe the box office numbers for this movie. But, I was one of the people out there on the opening weekend, so I contributed.