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At the cinema, while everyone fell in line to buy movie tickets to "Transformers The Movie", I bought tickets to "Fantastic Four: The Rise Of The Silver Surfer". I did not have enough time to watch it in the previous week, having been ordered bed rest by my doctor. Systemic Viral Infection. Anyway, I figured I had better watch Fantastic Four now before theatre owners re-allocate cinemas to upcoming flicks, especially since Harry Potter and the Order of The Phoenix is on July 11.
Watching the movie made me think that this franchise is the most comical of the comic-turned-movie productions of Marvel. Well, I guess the producers are trying to make it THE most comical. I think though, that there's too much effort put in to make it funny, making it not funny. There are moments. Like Mr.Fantastic's scenes where he gets squished by Invisible Woman's forcefields or by the Thing's hide. This is bordering on slapstick though. There's the wise-cracks of Johnny Storm too, but the talk is cheap. I haven't really followed The Fantastic Four in the comics but more on in the trading cards I used to collect as a highschool kid. So, I'm not sure if there were really antics like these in print.
The battle sequences were good. I liked the part where the runaway helicopter wreaked havoc on Reed and Susan's wedding. Then there's the whirlwind attack of Dr.Doom against the team. Speaking of Dr.Doom, his mean streak wasn't that bad here. Instead of being hateful, he's just become annoying. On the other hand, the rendition of the Silver Surfer was good. That, combined with Laurence Fishburne's voice made for a great character. I can't say the same for Galactus though. The one I saw in the trading cards wore a violet and blue outfit, while the one in the movie looked like a warped cloud. It's not worth the money to watch the movie again just to get a second look.
Over the past two weekends I have watched the 3rd sequels/installments of the following franchises—“Shrek”, “Spider-man”, and “Pirates of the Carribbean”. Here I’m just downloading some thoughts regarding each one. Pirates of the Carribbean- At World’s End is ranking first on my list amongst the three, and largely because the other two competitors didn’t blow me away that much. I actually watched it two times: once using my own money, the next at a screening sponsored by my company. I mean, sure, Shrek 3 had the hilarious lines while Spiderman 3 had those cool fight sequences, but At World’s End was just plain mouth-gaping WOW both in terms of cinematic effects and of screenplay. In Spider-man 3 I was more amazed with the Harry Osborne-Spidey rumble scenes (both during the first part in the alleys, and then the one in Harry’s pad) than their finale two-on-two fight against Venom and Sandman. This pales in comparison with the chaotic fight sequences inside the maelstrom In “Pirates…”, though. Shrek had minimal fight scenes, the most poetic part being Snow White’s transformation into a banshee commanding all those forest animals. I can’t get over Rapunzel being a baddie though. Anyway, enough of that. Another good thing about Spider-man 3 was that it didn’t hesitate to make a decisive move to kill off Harry Osborne. In my opinion, few villains would be able to make a dent that big in Peter Parker’s psyche than his best buddy, so it’s a shock that James Franco’s character becomes disfigured then reconciliatory, then dead. I guess they won’t need the Green Goblin anymore in Spider-man 4. From what I hear, this is the last Spidey flick of the current creative team-- Sam Raimi, etc.-- so I’m thinking the next flick would have a different spin on it too ( there’s also the possibility of a new cast too. Hm. I can’t imagine anyone playing Spider-man now other than Tobey). Now on to Pirates of the Carribbean, another film which does not hesitate killing off people for story development. Take for example, Ex-governor Swann, Zhao Feng (who I though would be part of the pirate gathering), and surprise, Admiral Norrington (who I thought would play a meaner role in part 3). Their deaths made perfect storyline sense though, unlike Spider-man 3 where the effect of Harry’s death will be known in the fourth installment. Aside from that, the film really builds on its characters, as in the case of Tia Dalma/Calypso, Davy Jones, and Elizabeth. Can I just say that Elizabeth is the greater pirate than all Barbosas, Sparrows, and Turners combined? The only “WTF” moment for me in the whole screening was the marriage-while-combatting-“men-fish”-while-being-whirlled-in-a-maelstrom. But that was the only downer for me. The rest was pure I-wish-I-could-write-a-story-like-this. I guess there could not have been another way than for Will Turner to be captain of the Flying Dutchman, since Jack Sparrow had reservations on the immortality bit. At least Will gets to shag his wife every ten years. Hm. Come to think of it, Jack didn’t have that much comic moments here than he had in “Dead Man’s Chest”. *Sigh* Too bad this movie’s installment days are up. Or is it? I mean, there’s still the possible quest for the Fountain Of Youth. But then Elizabeth and Will won’t be in it anymore, so I guess this really is the last. Which is far from what I can say from Shrek and Spider-man. Shrek will probably have future adventures with his triplets under the aegis of King Arthur. Spider-man still has a lot of villains in its comic history to sustain its run for a looooong time ( think Carnage, Electro, Mysterio, Black Cat, etc. ). Oh well. At least I can look forward to the “At World’s End” DVD release soon.
