We caught the opening of the new Fantastic Four film last Friday. The story is apocalyptic in that it concerns the destruction of our world at the hands of an alien presence called Galactus - the “devourer of worlds”. The original story, reprinted in black and white in “Essential Fantastic Four Volume 3″ or in color on the “Fantastic Four and Silver Surfer” DVD-ROM, has the Fantastic Four fighting the herald of Galactus - the Silver Surfer - who eventually turns against his master, but it’s only with the help of the alien Watcher (a gigantic bald man wearing a toga) who breaks his vow of non-interference and helps them gain the “Ultimate Nullifier”, the only weapon in existence which can stop Galactus.

Heady stuff for the 60s, one of modern comics’ most classic stories, and close to the plot of the new Fantastic Four film.

I really didn’t like the first Fantastic Four film. Dr. Doom was really weakly portrayed and his characterization was way off base. The FF weren’t convincing and really didn’t click. It just seemed… stupid. Not particularly fantastic.

Granted, it’s difficult to make material with names like “Mr. Fantastic”, “The Thing”, and “Victor Von Doom” work seriously.

The new film is still pretty flawed, but is an improvement over the first one. Jessica Alba is still a bit difficult to take seriously as Sue Storm… much of which is the fault of the script, which can’t decide if Sue’s a ditzy blond or not. In a very few scenes, Alba does a great Sue, but in most of them she just doesn’t have the presence that Sue Storm should have.

More tension in the plot comes from the decision of “get married or save the world? what to do?” than it does from actual concern that the world might end.

And Dr. Doom returns. While Julian McMahon is great on “Nip/Tuck”, his Dr. Doom is a whiny petulant weak little man bearing little resemblance to the powerful character from the comics.

The Silver Surfer is perhaps the redeeming virtue of the film. He’s done right. He moves the way he should move. His character is classic. He has the gravitas that the character should have.

One of the biggest (and most apocalyptic) questions about the film has been how Galactus would be represented. Galactus is more a background force than a central character of this movie.

Spoiler warning: (select the paragraph below in order to make it visible)

When Galactus finally appears at the end of the film, it is indeed as a large cloud, reaching out towards the Earth. It looks much better than this sounds, but there’s no trace of the humanoid, armor-wearing, helmeted Galactus. The effects are really well done and quite menacing, but not what comic book fans will be hoping for.

Overall, it was a fun, not particularly serious film that didn’t leave me feeling appalled the way the first one did.

The film was the number one film during its opening weekend, bringing in $57.4 million, slightly more than its predecessor.

Via: Jessica Alba, ‘Fantastic Four’ are No. 1 - CNN.com
[tags]galactus, fantastic four, silver surfer, rise of the silver surfer, movies[/tags]

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