Movie should have been more than just SFX and a rushed plot

Rating: 3/10 (11 July 2005)

I enjoyed the movie as pure entertainment, but nothing more than that. I went into the theater with reasonable to high expectations, but what I ended up with was a rushed movie with no substance. It was very bland and the intelligence factor wasn't present. My perception of the FF4, based on the comics, is a team who exhibits style and aggression on an organizational level, with a little humor added in FF4 style. The comics displayed that flawlessly because that was the point of origin. When being converted into a feature film, execution of the comic idea was only half thought out. I remember somebody on the FF4 IMDb message board stating that the fault of the film's outcome was to blame on the director and crew, but that somebody forgot about the power of Hollywood's studios. You have writers hashing out rushed and mediocre scripts. That is a bore and just plain laziness. SFX don't make a movie, but Hollywood knows that.
In my opinion, the story was off from the beginning. Dr. Doom's character was ruined. The studio took one of Marvel's most villainous characters and turned him into a mediocre antagonist. His intelligence and ideas were overshadowed by Reed Richards (Ioan Gruffudd). Dr. Doom was disfigured in a lab experiment not aboard the same shuttle as the FF4!! Doom is one of the smartest men in the world according to the comics, and he is not easily beaten. I know big screen adaptations don't always follow comic ideas, but if a studio doesn't have enough resources or time, use other options. The mole man villain would've been more suitable. As a matter of fact, the mole man was FF4's first villain.
Bland and cheesy acting performances is what the audience is receiving from this movie. The only two characters that exhibited better performances and chemistry were Chris Evans (Johnny Storm) and Michael Chiklis (Ben Grimm). Just like the comics, these two are always at each other's throats. The film interprets that very well. Jessica Alba was not convincing at all. T&A does not save this movie. The casting director made a mistake with this girl. A more suitable actress with credibility and a little more age would've been better for this film. Ioan Gruffudd (Mr. Fantastic) worked with what he was given, but blame the unstructured dialog on the writers. Julian McMahon's demeanor was convincing, but again, the writers for the film made Doom's character very simple.
Overall, I'm a little divided with this film. On one hand, you have a very unstructured, weak plot combined with cheesy elements to make a superhero film. And, on the other hand, you have good cinematography with pretty good SFX. Fox studios needs to learn how to combine these elements to make a great film, or otherwise, they will end up with a movie like this. This film was a good idea, but was badly executed. Better luck next time Marvel!!
Final Judgement: *1/2/****