First attempt at a movie adaptation was so horrible it is only available as a pirate vid online. Next two big budget adaptations by Sony are considered fair at best.
Now a fourth attempt has no buzz, little in the way of marketing, and worst sign of all they are not showing it for critics before release(always a bad sign showing the studio expects it is a stinker).
I’m not sure why this property in particular is so hard to adapt, it is almost tailor made for film due to the four person dynamic and personality clash. Basically super heroes crossed with a sitcom or family drama.
The fantastic four are simply not all that interesting and mostly coast on past glory. Everyone thinks Marvel canceled the comic to screw the movie, but in reality it simply did not sell enough to be worth it.
Jack Kirby made the FF work, no one else has. It’s a team of 3 squares and the Thing. They don’t have interesting personalities, except for the Thing. The 3 dull ones have simple powers to portray on film, the Thing has an unique appearance and great strength. The Hulk is similar to the Thing and has been difficult to portray also. It’s a tough movie to make, if you’re going to make them 3 dimensional animation is the only way to do it. They need to be narrated, their dialogue is too dull.
I think that it would take someone who truly likes and appreciates the FF to write a good script for a movie. You can tell how little a scriptwriter “gets” the material he’s trying to adapt to screen by how off-the-wall the revisions he makes are. In the case of the FF, they’ve always started by tossing out the comic book canon and writing movies that I would call “inspired by” the Marvel comic. Heck, I could write a better script for a FF movie than what I’ve seen so far.
I watched the first trailer for the new one. Looks like special effects have improved significantly since 2005 in terms of doing the Human Torch.
Mr. Fantastic did not do any of his stuff in it, though. The stretching special effects were (I thought) the WORST part of the 2005 version. Are they going to suck this time around, too?
I thought I read somewhere that the first version was never intended to be released. Someone had the rights to the franchise with the stipulation that they had to make a movie by a certain date in order to retain them. They made a movie on the cheap just to keep the rights, and with the intention of releasing a better movie later.
What can I say? Not every super hero team works out. The X-Men (AKA Wolverine and a bunch of his mutant friends) and The Avengers are very likable. Fantastic Four…not so much.
You can’t even blame it on bad acting. Chris Evans was the Human Torch in the 2005 version. Now he’s Captain freakin’ America.
What an outrageous comment! The original Invisible Girl had a fascinating personality. For instance, she was a girl and as we all know, gals love to shop! Also, she would sometimes complain that Reed never took her out for a night on the town, as ladies are wont to do. The possibilities were endless!
The Venture Bros features a parody of TFF, that could be toned down a little and transferred to film(except for the fact the Thing is mentally disabled and the little brother of Sue) I think Mr Fantastic could be portrayed as a superior feeling ass, who comes around during the film.
Oh and the only thing I remember from the first two Sony FF movies is the second one butchered Galactus, frigging Galactus turned into a space cloud?!?
In the 1960’s? Superheroes with no secret identities, one of whom is a “monster” physically.
The new movie looks kind of interesting, if too military and generic.
Also, this is a stupid thing to be bugged by, but the young man they have playing Reed looks un-Reed-like to me, and feels like “generic Hollywood Jewish kid.” I can’t believe this kid’s schnozz bugs me this much. Then again, Ioan G. didn’t look like Reed to me either.
Mr Fantastic could be portrayed as a superior feeling ass, who comes around during the film.