In Defense of The Fantastic Four (2005)
.jpg "In Defense of The Fantastic Four (2005)")
Ah, 2005. At the time, there were franchises like X-Men and Spider-Man on the Marvel side, along with Batman Begins kicking off the Christopher Nolan trilogy.
I think the early 2000s were a great time for superhero movies. Some of them were pretty bad. But others were creative and cool, like Push. People were trying things that hadn't been done before. And though the Marvel movies hadn't taken off yet, Marvel films, like Fantastic Four and Spider-Man, were weird and fun.
That's the first thing I love about The Fantastic Four. It's fun. This was back when you could make a campy superhero movie that didn't take itself too seriously. That's how I'd describe this film.
I know that doesn't work for everyone, but I love it. I love slightly dorky costumes. I like cheesy one-liners and sci-fi mumbo jumbo that doesn't sound remotely realistic. This film has all that.
Secondly, this film is awesome because it has a great cast. The titular characters are played by Ioan Gruffudd, Jessica Alba, Michael Chiklis, and Chris Evans. Yeah, the same Chris Evans that played Captain America. Not only are they all great actors, they have great chemistry together.
Chris Evans' Johnny Storm has to be my favorite part of the movie. Sure, he's a jerk more than I'd like, but Chris brings his irresistible charm to the character. I also love the way they portray Johnny and Sue's relationship as brother and sister. They fight, they get annoyed at each other, but they also have each other's backs.
Although I will admit, Sue is done pretty dirty by these movies. She's mostly there to be the girl team member. She looks pretty and wears sexy clothes, although I guess she does get to help out some in the climax. She's just so stereotyped.
Ioan Gruffudd plays the nerdy scientist who is also a superhero excellently. He's kind of the absent minded professor type, not noticing things, or people, that are right in front of him. Plus, I grew up on Amazing Grace and Horatio Hornblower, so he's a big part of my childhood.
Some people also complain about the Thing costume. Personally, I think it looks pretty good and stands up a lot better than most of the CGI in the movie. I'm also a huge lover of practically effects, so having the actor in an actual costume rather than all the motion capture used today makes me happy.
It probably helps I discovered this movie in my mid-teens, right around when I discovered the MCU. It was one of the early superhero movies I watched and I was hooked. It's one of those movies that inspired me a lot and made me love the whole superhero genre.
Is it a perfect movie? No. As I said, Sue isn't well done, some of the CGI is a bit 😬, and the pacing is a bit off. But it's a fun watch and not nearly as bad as people think. Especially if you compare it to the 2015 version. (You can read my rant about that if you'd like.)
Have you watched The Fantastic Four? What's a movie lots of people hate that you love? Tell me in the comments.
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