Ranking the Fantastic Four in the Superhero Movie Rainbow
Filed under: Action, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Theatrical Reviews, 20th Century Fox
C.K.'s rating: 6.5 out of 10
I saw the Fantastic Four last night, and while it wasn't fantastic, I have to disagree with Peter and say that it was better than I expected. I think to properly look at this film you have to look at it in comparison to the comic book upon which it is based, and comparatively alongside all the other superhero movies that Hollywood has been spewing forth in the past decade or so.
Peter faults the movie for being somewhat of a goofy comedy, but that perfectly falls in line with the cheesy humor that flows throughout the Fantastic Four comic books series. There are serious dramatic moments, but there is a lot of slapstick humor bouncing between the Thing and the Torch in the comic books (and this is one of the reasons that it was never a favorite read of mine growing up). So, I thought the comedy aspects of the movie were a strength, a good throwback to the comic book that will play well to its fans. Things that struck me as very unlike the comic book, and thus weaknesses: Ben's acceptance of his fate as the Thing for the Hollywood happy ending and Reed Richards' "clueless genius" status falls far short of the real genius of Reed Richards in the comic book.
Now let's look at the movie in the continuum of Hollywooded superhero movies. Read after the jump for more...
I think Fantastic Four ranks pretty high on the superhero movie spectrum. This is all completely biased to my own tastes but I would rank the movies in the following groups:
- Bottom Tier—Catwoman, The League of Extraordinary Gentleman, Daredevil, Elektra, and all the Batman movies post the Michael Keaton bundle and pre-the most recent one.
- Middle Tier—Van Helsing, Hellboy and The Punisher.
- Upper-Middle Tier—Hulk and Fantastic Four.
- The Bomb-diggities—Spiderman, Spiderman 2, X-Men, X-Men 2, and Batman Begins
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
7-11-2005 @ 10:50PM
Peter Sciretta said...
It's good to see an alternative point of view.
Have you seen the Daredevil Directors cut?
And where do the Keaton Batman movies or Superman movies rank in your book?
And why do you rank Hulk so high?
Reply
7-11-2005 @ 11:37PM
Ted said...
The movie ended up being much better than I expected. Some moments fell flat, but it was not the Batman & Robin type movie that I thought it might be.
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7-12-2005 @ 12:25AM
Tim said...
Subsections in no particular order.
Give me my 90 minutes back:
Catwoman, Batman & Robin
Bottom Tier:
The League of Extraordinary Gentleman, Elektra (I don't know what they were thinking), Superman movies (not 2).
Middle Tier:
Hulk, Van Helsing, Batman Returns, Batman Forever, Superman 2, Daredevil, Blade 1/3
Upper-Middle Tier:
Blade 2, The Punisher, Hellboy, X-Men
The Bomb-diggities:
Fantastic Four, Spiderman, Spiderman 2, X-Men 2, Batman Begins, Batman, Daredevil Director's Cut (the way it should Always have been).
Reply
7-12-2005 @ 3:19AM
Scott Weinberg said...
A+ / A / A-
Batman Begins (2005), Spider-Man (2002), Spider-Man 2 (2004), Superman (1978), Superman 2 (1980), Unbreakable (2000), X-Men (2000), X-Men 2 (2003)
B+ / B / B-
Batman (1989), Batman Returns (1992), Blade (1998), Blade 2 (2002), The Crow (1994), Hellboy (2004), The Hulk (2003), The Mask (1994), The Rocketeer (1991)
C+ / C / C-
Batman (1966), Blade: Trinity (2004), Constantine (2005), Mystery Men (1999), The Phantom (1996), The Specials (2000), The Shadow (1994), Spawn (1997), Swamp Thing (1982), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990)
D+ / D / D-
Barb Wire (1996), Batman Forever (1995), Daredevil (2003), Elektra (2005), Fantastic Four (2005), Judge Dredd (1995), The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (2004), The Punisher (2004), Sheena (1984), Supergirl (1984), Superman 3 (1983), The Return of Swamp Thing (1989), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2: The Secret of the Ooze (1991)
F
Batman & Robin (1997), Captain America (1991), Catwoman (2004), Fantastic Four (1994), Howard the Duck (1986), Man-Thing (2005), The Punisher (1989), Steel (1997), Superman 4: The Quest for Peace (1987), Tank Girl (1995), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 3 (1993), Vampirella (1996)
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7-12-2005 @ 5:33AM
Bulent said...
Van Helsing is not, and never has been, a comic book property. If you don't know that much then you're not really qualified to judge how Fantastic Four ranks in the comic book spectrum.
Reply
7-12-2005 @ 7:11AM
Michael C. said...
Great review, and a pretty accurate one in my opinion. I am a fan of the comic and have been since childhood and the film worked for me. You can read my review at http://www.chlotrudis.org/movies/reviews/2005/fantastic.html.
Reply
7-12-2005 @ 2:35PM
C.K. Sample, III said...
Bulent, I never said Van Helsing was a comic book. I'm doing two separate things here. 1. Discussing F4 as a comic book to movie transition. 2. Ranking it amongst SUPER HERO movies (which is sometimes connected with a comic; sometimes not).
Last night after I wrote this and was lying in bed, I woke up in a cold sweat, sat straight up and exclaimed "I left the Keaton Batmans out of it!" I meant to rank the first one in the upper middle tier, as it is really good, albeit a bit dated with all the Prince music and that one scene with Jack jumping around defacing artwork in all the carnivalesque glory a Prince song can muster. I meant to rank the second one in the lower middle tier.
Peter,
I have never seen the Director's Cut of Daredevil. I saw the movie in the theater and immediately thought it the worst film I had ever sat through (that impression lasted until I saw Catwoman); horribly, horribly mangled version of the comic, which made me completely detest Ben more than the whole Bennifer sensation already had. I will most likely never bother to see the Director's Cut of Daredevil unless you can convince me otherwise. When I read your higher ranking of Daredevil, I initially thought: "WHAT?!" and wondered for a time if it invalidated any criticism of action films coming from you in the future. It doesn't, but I'm keeping an eye on you. ;-)
On the Hulk: The more I watch it, the more I like it. It is a very well done film with great performances and interesting shots throughout looking at the combined curse / blessing of all the dark sides of human nature, like anger / wrath. It's problem for someone seeing it for the first time (especially an American popcorn munching give-it-to-me-now action flick addict) is two fold: 1. the comic book-esque filming and visual trickery makes you go "cool" but also can confuse a viewer until he/she totally absorbs its metaphor. 2. (and this is the big one) as a Hollywood movie, for pacing purposes, it would have done much better if a good third of the film had been cut from the beginning and filtered in as flashbacks throughout, when needed, to provide the back story. There is too much back story build up between the opening credits and the first transformation into the Hulk.
The Superman movies fall outside the timeframe for movies that I was looking at; I'm basically looking at the superhero renaissance that began with Keaton's Batman. I mean, if I included the original Supermans, then I'd have to go back and grab all those wonderful 70s Spiderman movies that are just amazing in their horrific awfulness.
Tim and Scott, good lists that make me realize how much I left out. The first and third Blade movies and the Crow should be in my upper middle tier. Second Blade in the bottom middle. Second Crow at the very bottom of the bottom, just above Daredevil and Catwoman and probably tied with the Shadow.
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7-12-2005 @ 10:30AM
Tom Ford said...
did someone just mention Howard the Duck...?!
Reply
7-12-2005 @ 11:07AM
Tim said...
Daredevil Director's Cut is, as Avi called it in the commentary, "The 'story version' of the movie." It is really a completely different movie. It is not a Daredevil/Elektra crappy love movie like the Theatrical release, but a Matt Murdock the blind detective and lawyer who moonlights as a vigilante movie. The fight scenes are longer. There is an entire storyline featuring Coolio, and best of all, more Foggy.
It is almost painful to watch however, knowing what could have been. The little vinette extra that is included is an interview with Mark Steven Johnson saying "it really hurt to make these cuts. I didn't want to but the Movie Studio said I had to, and they were paying for it" and Gary Foster (the worst movie producer ever, nothing more than a studio crony that wouldn't know a good film if it sat on his head) saying "Movie fans don't want a story, they want action, they want fastpaced. All this character work was slowing down the movie." I completely hold him responsible for killing the DD and Elektra properties. If you like Daredevil at all (the comic or the movie), please watch this film. I believe you will at least see what Daredevil should have been.
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10-26-2005 @ 7:03PM
ron said...
why does anyone like xmen 2? the movie was awful, they did not even fight a villain. They fought the military and what was Stryker. Come on, that movie stunk. I don't understand, between the Hellfire Club, the Brood, and the Sentinels, the Xmen have kick ass villains and should not be fighting people with 45's and shotguns. IT was dumb and should be low on the totem pole. I mean wow, Wolverine can beat up a cop? Dumb.
Why do superheroes need to fight normal people? Stupid. Superheroes have supervillains so they should fight supervillains....
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