Okay, I've never been a fan of the Fantastic Four. And I read Ebert's review. So my expectations were low. It's not a bad movie. I figure other people will chime in with reviews, so I just have some plot and casting observations.
"Fantastic Four" is true to the Silver Age comic book is respect: the characters squabble like the characters in the comics. They quit like the characters in the comic. The Thing angsts. Reed broods. Johnny acts out. Sue worries.
But something is off. It's Julian McMahon. He's a first class actor and he has genre street cred from "Charmed." And he's incredibly beautiful. He used to be a model. You can believe if this guy got one little scar, he'd get a mask.
Dr. Doom needs a certain kind of gravitas. He needs the gravitas of towering intellect. Julian McMahon has physical gravitas. He's got the arrogance for power, for command. He'd make a perfect Namor, for instance. He should have played Namor in this movie. He should have played the namor of the early FF. The Namor who was the genuine competition for Sue's affection. The Namor who resided in water and could take on the Thing physically and negated Johnny's powers.
I suppose you have to have Victor von Doom in the move, but they could both be in the movie. You'd have to rework it, but Julian McMahon would make a perfect Namor (and there aren't many peoiple who'd look good in green Speedos for 100 minutes.) Stellan Skarsgaard or Gary Oldman would have made a better Doom.
And with Namor in the flick, they wouldn't have need to give Doom powers.
It's also Jessica Alba. She's not strong enough to hang with Michael Chiklis, Julian McMahon and the others. She's incredibly beautiful, but she teases us in the movie. And frankly it is distracting. They have been better off just letting us see Jessica Alba in her underwear because, well, anyone can see her anyway. Just do a Google image search, and you'll see what her doctor does. I think they should have used Alyssa Milano. She and McMahon have great chemistry together.
Posted by Mike Chary at July 10, 2005 10:48 PM
Completely agree with your Namor comments.
On Alba--well, yeah, she's pretty boring, but, then again, so is Sue Storm...
Dave
Alba's a weak link, but not a paper mache' link as I expected her to be. McMahon was fine for Victor the oily businessman who is *almost* as brilliant as Reed (and hates him for that), but is much more shrewd. Once the mask goes on, though, the voice is totally wrong.
I thought the movie was a lot of fun, but it wasn't any kind of "great movie" or anything. There were many times that the theater erupted in laughter (with the movie not at the movie) and numerous people were clapping at the end. The plot and the drama is not the reason to see this movie. The fun little gags are.
Ben's angsting and Johnny's hot-headedness worked the best with Reed and Sue a little less so. Doom did need a little more gravitas and arrogance, but I had had enough fun by that point that it didn't bother me too much. One quirk that bugged me with this movie that also bugged me with Spider-Man was when the characters with full-face masks spoke without being able to see their mouths. Yes, I know it's true to the comic and at least Spider-Man's mask is malleable so something is moving - but the armored masks just don't seem to work.
The problem is that the guy named Doctor Doom is actually not the character we know as Doctor Doom.
I've been giving the McMahon/Namor thing some thought, and it occurs to me that He could actually play Namor in the next one. a) He's WWII vintage and doesn't age, so they could trivially make him Doom's father, b) It's based on a comic book so "exact duplicate twins" wouldn't be entirely out-of-your-mind wacky, c) having someone around to remind Doom of what he used to look like would be just about right, d) given Sue's comments about what she wants in a guy and Namor's personality, plus her history with Doom would make him a more natural rival for her affections next time, and e) there is no "e."