Four years after the people known as the Fantastic Four were turned into heroes, the Silver Surfer arrives to tell the earth they will next be devoured by Galactus.
The fifth cinematic version of the classic comic book is, in many ways, the best. The focus on character is what makes this film sing. For the first time in movies the characters are people and not so much archetypes.
To be honest I am mixed on the film. Part of it is that the rabif FF fans among my friends were raving and part of it was that right before seeing the film I saw a Korean superhero film called HI FIVE which is a blood relative to the FF in only the best possible ways. I went in expecting to be a sobbing mess (I am six decade old FF fan myself with my sole Stan Lee autograph being on an issue of FF.) I was not a sobbing mess.
My problem with the film is that the narrative has some burps. The film a bit too atached to the comic. The echoes to the early issues of the comic abound and to me the moments when the film soared were the ones that didn't echo the comic book. For example the defeat of Galactus made me yelp because it wasn't the comic story. I also wasn't kean on the saccarine world the FF inhabits largely because it creates things that made me want to ask questions. I'm not going to go into it because it isn't important. Nor will I go into how, outside of Ben and Yancy street, this film keeps the FF in a vacuum even when they are surrounded by people.
The reality is that the characters make this film sing. Everyone, even to the walk ons are perfectly drawn (okay maybe Pedro Pascal is a tad too emotional). The performances and the characters are the things that moved me to tears now and again. For eexample the look Natasha Lyonne gives Ben when he tells her that in the moment the world is facing an ending that he came to see her is glorious. Actually the animation work on Ben is so good that it gives him a new level of WOW.
Don't get me wrong, I really like the film, I just wanted to LOVE it.
Recommended (though you don't have to do it in 3D, it adds little)
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