four things i liked about that movie that nobody else likes at all

The new Fantastic Four movie has been getting a lot of bad press, but I liked it.

(Full disclosure: I am very fond of the FF. The first comic book I ever bought was an issue of Fantastic Four. So, while it is quite possible that Ant-Man is a better movie, I have no fondness for Ant-Man. And, given how superhero movies generally treat their female characters — when they bother to have any — having Ant-Man without the Wasp is really a slap in the face.)

So, here are four things I liked about Fantastic Four.

1. It’s less than two hours long. Four heroes, one villain, some supporting characters, a clear plot line, minimal soap opera, and no dull parts. There’s really no reason that superhero movies need to be over two and a half hours long (let alone the last round of Batman movies, which seemed to be about five hours long each).

2. It’s yet another origin story (ick), but it completely dispenses with the tedious “how they learn how to use their powers” thing. They get their powers, then a title comes up saying, “One year later.” Nice.

3. The plot is advanced by various highly-qualified scientists making some bad decisions, but it works (story-wise) because they’re drunk. Just think: Pretty much every moronic decision in Prometheus would have been totally justified if all the characters had been hammered throughout.

4. Susan Storm. Scientist, equal member of the team, some flashes of sardonic wit, refuses to allow her powers to be exploited by the government, and she manages to keep her clothes on throughout. She is not a girlfriend, a victim, a prisoner, a hostage, or any part of a love triangle. (One of the male characters has a crush on her, but nothing much comes from it.)

She also exhibits no clichéd “I am a badass female movie character” traits. She is a scientist, and when the other members of her team go off, drunk, to do some dumb things, she’s the one who gets them back. And she outsmarts her big brain teammate Reed when she has to.

See, Marvel, it’s not that difficult to do. 🙂

That being said, it’s also got a lot of problems. The actors are all good, but none are even remotely definitive. There are no great scenes (Howard Hawks: “A good movie? Three great scenes, no bad ones.”). The heroes’ abilities and motivations are very well defined, but the villain’s are, to say the least, not.

So, in my opinion at least, far from a disaster. The planned sequel is now, obviously, unlikely to happen, but I will see it if it does come out.

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