[Review] Fantastic Four
The name Fantastic Four suggests a certain joie de vivre, a delight in its own comic book silliness. When Marvel's first family were translated to the big screen by Tim Story in 2005, and again for a 2007 sequel, that lightness of touch unfortunately slipped into kitschy smugness, with the excessive focus on camp humour sucking the characters dry of believeable humanity. As oversaturated as the blockbuster movie scene has become with reboots and reimaginings, Fantastic Four presented a worthwhile opportunity for Fox to do right by the characters with the same balance of wit and sincerity which made Joss Whedon's first attempt at The Avengers such a rousing success.
Unfortunately, the studio decided that rather than going for a balanced approach, they would instead push to the opposite extreme, banishing all joy and warmth in favour of something closer in tone to Christopher Nolan's Batman movies. It doesn't take much of a comic book fan to point out that Batman and Fantastic Four couldn't really have much less in common, unless one were to look back to the Bat's loopy silver age incarnation at a stretch (no pun intended, Mister Fantastic). Consequently, this latest Fantastic Four is a movie perpetually at war with itself, unable to reconcile the fun suggested by its title and its characters with the miserable tone the writers inflict upon them.
[youtube id="AAgnQdiZFsQ"]
Fantastic Four
Director: Josh Trank
Rating: PG-13
Release Date: August 7th, 2015
The movie is an origin story to the extent that few movies have been origin stories before. Tim Story's 2005 version pushed through the core character dynamics and roots of the Four's powers in about twenty minutes before starting towards the main smackdown with Doctor Doom. Trank's version dedicates virtually the entire movie to setting the stage for how the characters get their powers and eventually come to terms with them, leaving the ultimate showdown - more or less the only real action sequence - squished into what amounts to little more than ten minutes at the end. In fact, Toby Kebbell's Victor probably gets no more than fifteen minutes' total screentime, with his introduction every bit as rushed as his exit. Considering Doom is supposed to be one of Marvel's most fearsome and complex villains, we're offered little sense of the character beyond a dash of petulance and hints at unrequited feelings for Kate Mara's Sue. Of such meagre ingredients are great supervillains not made.
What we're left with for the remaining 80-odd minutes is a tedious and mostly plotless trawl through a series of events telegraphed so blatantly that even those not spoilt by the trailer or arriving with any knowledge of the comics will have a clear idea where it's heading. It might have worked as a character piece had the characters been given any greater definition than the cursory outlines on show. Reed Richards is the clever one. Johnny Storm is, boom boom, the hotheaded rebel. Sue is, um, a less brilliant version of Reed, with a weird fascination with musical patterns that exists for no other reason than to give her a single, lazily-written scene she can call her own around the midpoint. Ben is Reed's best friend and a bit angsty. Only Reed and Ben give off the faintest sense of humanity, mostly because the movie gives their friendship a little backstory. As for Reed and Sue, they spend what little time they have together making snide comments and being annoyed with each other... so maybe a perfect set-up for a married couple after all.
The script offers nothing to the reasonably talented cast, who flounder trying to create any semblance of chemistry. This is in no small part down to them spending so little time together as a foursome, to the extent that there's little reason to believe Ben has even met Sue until the very end. The familial relationship between the Four is often cited as what makes their superhero team different from others, yet the movie goes to great lengths to keep them apart. Ben departs the story once Reed joins the Baxter foundation, only returning when Reed drunk dials him (not joking) to come along with him, Johnny and Victor on an unsanctioned first journey in their pan-dimensional travel machine, leaving Sue behind. When they return, Victor abandoned, the four are segregated all the way through to the climax, at which point Reed starts talking about the importance of working together even though, as far as viewers are concerned, it seems as though they barely know each other.
The first half of the movie is significantly better than the second - a glimpse of an N64 controller is maybe the highlight of the entire thing - at least feeling as though it is building towards something even if it's patently obvious what that something is. Everything thereafter descends into a disorganised shambles, hitting one or two solid grace notes - an emphasis on the horror of each character's condition is well-played, and Doom's first demonstration of his vaguely defined powers is appreciably nasty, even if the movie has to subsequently forget them to stop him winning too easily - but otherwise spending a lot of time on entirely disposable training montages and grumbles about distrustful governments before hurrying the finale. The CGI is uniformly abysmal, particularly when it comes to Johnny's weightless human torch mode (which seems to cast little to no light or heat in several instances), Doom's melted action figure excuse for a face mask and the Thing, trouserless and dickless throughout, barely matching his mouth movements to his speech.
Its present 9% score on Rotten Tomatoes, lower than Jonah Hex, The Spirit and League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen, puts it among company whose badness is at least interesting, whereas Fantastic Four is merely dull, disjointed and dispiriting. Production troubles may have taken their toll, but it's hard to credit director Josh Trank's claim that his first cut was 'fantastic' when there's so little here that even hints at competence. It's a movie which roots the Thing's catchphrase in childhood abuse suffered at the hands of his older brother, which should tell you all you need to know. Fantastic Four is a series of compounding misjudgments, resulting in a movie ashamed of its own identity and straining to capture a zeitgeist long since passed. At least half the title is honest. It may not be fantastic, but is a 4/10 movie through and through.
Avengers: Age of Ultron Is a Cinematic Event Comic That Introduces Generic New Characters
Avengers: Age of Ultron grossed $187.7 million dollars on opening weekend, the second-highest domestic box office debut of all time. (The first Avengers holds the #1 spot, with an opening weekend of $207.4 million.) Age of Ultron also scored $439 million overseas, a number sure to climb when the film finally opens in China and Japan.
Even though the new Avengers film is going to remain on top for a while, I think Xander Markham's Age of Ultron review here on Ruby Hornet sums up my feelings: "Even the most successful philosophy will struggle when weighed down by repetitive storytelling." The film plays like a bigger rehash of the first Avengers, though the CG action has a weightless sense of spectacle to it. The film's quieter moments allow the characters to play off each other, giving the movie some personality.
Too bad the four new characters introduced in Avengers: Age of Ultron are so generic. Quicksilver, Scarlet Witch, Vision, and even Ultron feel like bland superheroes and villains. They have no discernible personalities, but are just vessels for superpowers and the dictates of the plot, which sort of makes sense since the Avengers movies seem to serve as the event comics of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
(Spoilers ahead.)
16th Century-Imagined Superheroes by Photographer Sacha Goldberger
Photos by Sacha Goldberger
In the last few decades, we've seen superheroes be transformed and remade continually, but until now, we've never quite seen them like this. Photographer Sacha Goldberger has created a series of 16th Century-looking superheroes at a special art exhibition in Paris titled "Super Flemish". Through a compilation of make up artistry, design, and lighting, each character is photographed to look like an Elizabethan-era painted portrait, and it's as realistic as you can get.
To name a few, the portraits include characters from DC, Marvel, and Star Wars, and it took an entire crew to portray each one. Outside of the hair and makeup artists, casting directors were even hired to book models that closely resembled the Hollywood actors that played each superhero in recent films. The detail-oriented project proved to be a success, and they are all creatively entertaining.
Take a look at the following portraits, and find more of Goldberger's full portfolio here and on his Facebook page.
[Via ComicBook.com]
Ryan Gosling, Josh Brolin on rumored shortlist to play Batman in Batman vs. Superman
Pre-production on the unofficially titled Batman vs. Superman film hasn't even begun yet (pre-pre-production?), yet rumors are flying out over which actors Warner Bros. want to portray Batman in the upcoming film. Earlier in the weekend, a report came out that WB was looking for an older actor to portray the Dark Knight, preferably somebody in their 30s or 40s. A day later, a shortlist of actors has popped up including a few interesting names.
Josh Brolin (Oldboy) and Ryan Gosling (Only God Forgives) are the two biggest names on the list, which also includes Joe Manganiello (Magic Mike), Richard Armitage (The Hobbit), Matthew Goode (Watchmen), and Max Martini (Pacific Rim). Obviously, with such a high-calibre film as Batman vs. Superman, Warner Bros. will want to grab an equally attractive actor to fill theaters. However, they'll also want a young enough actor who could possibly be willing to portray the superhero in future films, as well. Brolin could make for an interesting Batman, but I don't really think he'd be interested in the role. Gosling, meanwhile, doesn't fit the Bruce Wayne/Batman archetype, either; the same goes for Goode. Armitage could be a good fit, though. Martini and Manganiello, I'm not too familiar with.
Personally, I think Jon Hamm (Mad Men) would be the greatest Batman of all time. Granted, I don't really care much for Batman as a character, but Hamm is one of my favorite actors, and his Don Draper character basically is Bruce Wayne minus the mass wealth and superhero persona. Original reports had him on the shortlist, as well, but his name mysteriously dropped from the updated version. If WB and DC seriously want to get to the same level Marvel's on, they're going to have to nab a big name actor, and Hamm would be the perfect first step for that plan.
[via Collider]
The Dark Knight Trilogy: Ultimate Collector's Edition revealed
While Christian Bale won't be coming back as Batman anytime soon (if at all), DC and Warner Bros. have a special little sump'm sump'm to make sure his legacy as The Dark Knight won't be forgotten any time soon (as if that would happen in the first place). This fall, the "The Dark Knight Trilogy: Ultimate Collector's Edition" blu-ray boxset will be released, collecting the entire Christopher Nolan and Christian Bale Batman trilogy on blu-ray. The collection will also include two exclusive featurettes, "The Fire Rises: The Creation and Impact of The Dark Knight Trilogy" and Christopher Nolan & Richard Donner: A Conversation, as an incentive for those who may already own the films on blu-ray. Also included are a 48-page hardcover book featuring art from the films, collectable Hot Wheels toys of the vehicles seen in each film, and art cards created by Mondo. The full list of features is included at the botom of this post. The Dark Knight Trilogy: Ultimate Collector's Edition will retail for $100.
Are any of you interested in buying the set, or are the added features and memorabilia not enough to supplant the copies you may already own?
[via Collider]
About the Ultimate Collector’s Edition (UCE):
*Disc 1 – Batman Begins Feature and Special Features
*Disc 2 – The Dark Knight Feature
*Disc 3 – The Dark Knight Special Features
*Disc 4 – The Dark Knight Rises Feature
*Disc 5 – The Dark Knight Rises Special Features
*Disc 6 – Bonus Disc of New Special Features (details follow)
NEW Special Features:
- The Fire Rises: The Creation and Impact of The Dark Knight Trilogy - The inside perspective on the fascinating story behind the creation of one of the most celebrated franchises and how it changed the scope of movie making….forever. Full of never-before-seen footage, rare moments, and exclusive interviews with Guillermo Del Toro, Damon Lindelof, Michael Mann, Richard Roeper, Zack Snyder and others.
· Christopher Nolan & Richard Donner: A Conversation - For the first time, Directors Christopher Nolan (The Dark KnightTrilogy) and Richard Donner (Superman) sit down to discuss the trials and triumphs involved in bringing the two most iconic superheroes of all time to the big screen, and how Superman influenced Nolan when developing Batman Begins.
· IMAX® Sequences: The Dark Knight; The Dark Knight Rises - See your favorite scenes as they were intended in the original IMAX© aspect ratio
Exclusive NEW Memorabilia:
· Premium Mattel Hot Wheels Vehicles: Batmobile, Batpod and Tumbler
· Newly commissioned collectible art cards by Mondo featuring Scarecrow, Joker, Bane, Harvey Dent, and Ra’s al Ghul
· 48-page hardcover book featuring production stills and behind the scenes images from all three movies
Christian Bale is done with Batman
While Christian Bale (The Dark Knight Rises) and Christopher Nolan (Inception) have previously said they wouldn't return to the Batman universe, many people still held out hope that Bale would take up the cowl in the proposed Justice League film DC and Warner Bros. have tried to get off the ground for awhile now. However, Bale recently refuted the notion that he would put on the Batman suit in the superhero ensemble, stating:
”I have no information, no knowledge about anything. I’ve literally not had a conversation with a living soul. I understand that they may be making a Justice League movie, that’s it. It’s a torch that should be handed from one actor to another. So I enjoy looking forward to what somebody else will come up with.”
Of course, with the way The Dark Knight Rises ended, it would be easy to conclude that Joseph Gordon-Levitt would become the next Batman. After all, The Dark Knight Rises was really a film made to pass the torch to the next generation. Of course, there's been no word about another Batman film, let alone one set in the same universe that Nolan and Bale populated for the Dark Knight trilogy. With rumors that the universe seen in Man of Steel is separate from that of the Dark Knight universe and the Justice League portrayal won't be the same Batman character we have grown to love over the past decade, this news comes as a pretty obvious statement. Still, with the way WB has handled the DC film properties lately (Man of Steel only barely serving as an exception to this), it just seems like Bale was necessitated to clear the air to at least help make sense of their attempt to create a unified universe the way Marvel has done with their film properties.
[via Collider]