For brainless summer entertainment, you can't go wrong with the new Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer.
The filmmakers clearly were comfortable with their characters, their characters' powers, and the chemistry (both comic-derived and real) of their characters and actors. Playful and smart-alecky even in crisis, just like the comics, and some really great use of each of the character's abilities both in throw-away character development scenes and actual plot development.
Jessica Alba was a little too heavily makeuped for my tastes, and it made me wonder if she's already passed her prime as America's most drop-dead gorgeous woman alive.
The other people, none of whose names I know, were great. The effects were top notch, and there was just enough of a plot to get you from scene to scene without wondering what the hell was going on without any needless plot-rehash scenes (Sam Raimi should have looked in on this film's development whilst doing Spider-man 3 for a refresher on how to do this).
All in all, a ton of fun. I saw it with both a couple that was familiar with the first movie, and a friend who'd never seen either the comics or the first movie -- he enjoyed it and said they did a great job of introducing the characters in a way that prior knowledge of the fantastic four was not necessary.
There is an "adult"-style joke about 1/3 of the way through the movie that hopefully goes over the heads of most of the kids, but it is quite possibly the funniest line I have heard in ANY of the marvel comic-book movies to date. I was both astounded and astonished that it made it into the film, but also immensely grateful and elated that it did.
The filmmakers clearly were comfortable with their characters, their characters' powers, and the chemistry (both comic-derived and real) of their characters and actors. Playful and smart-alecky even in crisis, just like the comics, and some really great use of each of the character's abilities both in throw-away character development scenes and actual plot development.
Jessica Alba was a little too heavily makeuped for my tastes, and it made me wonder if she's already passed her prime as America's most drop-dead gorgeous woman alive.
The other people, none of whose names I know, were great. The effects were top notch, and there was just enough of a plot to get you from scene to scene without wondering what the hell was going on without any needless plot-rehash scenes (Sam Raimi should have looked in on this film's development whilst doing Spider-man 3 for a refresher on how to do this).
All in all, a ton of fun. I saw it with both a couple that was familiar with the first movie, and a friend who'd never seen either the comics or the first movie -- he enjoyed it and said they did a great job of introducing the characters in a way that prior knowledge of the fantastic four was not necessary.
There is an "adult"-style joke about 1/3 of the way through the movie that hopefully goes over the heads of most of the kids, but it is quite possibly the funniest line I have heard in ANY of the marvel comic-book movies to date. I was both astounded and astonished that it made it into the film, but also immensely grateful and elated that it did.
