I had heard that this movie was not so great, and I have finally confirmed the rumors. Yes, there were some good points, and I will briefly cover them. Ready?
The car wreck on the bridge was riveting and fun to watch. The plot line stayed mostly true to the comics (with some notable exceptions). Some of the special affects were well done (Sue Storm's force field) and the accompanying eye candy was ... candy.
What was wrong with the movie? Well, even for the above pros, there were many things that detracted. Chris Evans' Johnny Storm was a bit immature and testosterone-pumped; I think Evans did a good job portraying someone's idea of who Johnny Storm was, but I have a hard time understanding why Stan Lee was gushing all over him. All the actors for that matter. Alba's Sue Storm was a bit too sexy; the comics made her out to be a little more conservative which is what I wanted to see. Some of the special affects were just plain bad. Many of the scenes when Reed was stretching were just too cartoonish for live-action; at one point when he was restraining Ben Grimm (aka "Thing"), you could see his shoulders and arms and it did not present a cohesive picture. The CG for the Torch and Invisible Woman/Girl were dated; is that the best we can do with today's technology? Silver Surfer is going to be exactly the same thing, unfortunately.
I expected Reed's lab to be a lot more hi-tech. The comics made Reed out to be unbelievably advanced and perhaps set the bar a bit too high. Reed's lab in this movie looked too much like a stage filled with props. Michael Chiklis did an excellent job acting as Ben Grimm, but the suit he had to wear was ridiculous. Please! I wanted something that looked more like a stone golem, not a fat suit with rubber ridges.
And Von Doom, the guy we love to hate, and sometimes hate to love. I think Julian McMahon is probably a good role for that guy. However, I did not realize that Doom had a metalic-based power-plant body. Where did that come from?
I do not have a good feeling about the Marvel movies. It will be interesting to see if the rest are worth it or not. I feel saddened by the previews of Silver Surfer; while they look cool (can't beat passing through objects like that), it simply is not the Noran Radd of the comic fame. And what about Galactus?!? =)
