Hey folks, Harry here... Been a while since I last was here. Life has been good, directed a version of Hitchcock's THE 39 STEPS for stage successfully, and well... Took the family to check out the new FANTASTIC FOUR: FIRST STEPS.
Now that was a spectacular film. We drove to Lawton, Oklahoma to check it out at the Patriot IMAX theater there. The Handicap seating was about 5 rows up from the bottom of the auditorium, which had us beholding an immense screen that filled our entire field of vision. Now, going into this flick, I understood a lot of what I'd be seeing. I knew it was taking place in the so-called Jack Kirby universe of 828, based upon Kirby's birthday. However, I also understood that what we were going to see was really a loving tribute to the 1960's and 70's Science Fiction universe. Having seen Matt Shankman say the words "Kubrick meets Kirby"
KUBRICK MEETS KIRBY regarding a FANTASTIC FOUR movie is a bold glove to throw down. It makes one seriously contemplate Kubrick meets Kirby, which actually happened with Jack Kirby adapted 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY in a truly mind-blowing comic book adaptation. Seek it out! But while the film is an absolute blast, that I truly love... I wish it truly would've honored Jack Kirby by delving even deeper into his imagination wiht the FANTASTIC FOUR.
I've had friends and my wife gripe to me about Sue Storm's over-powering of Galactus moment as coming out of nowhere and the strain it put upon her. Now, sure - if you read comics you know just how powerful Sue Storm has become, but here we needed just one short scene in the Baxtter Building, where Reed Richards would've built a 9 story gargantuan machine for measuring the strength of BEN GRIMM and duing the test, the machine malfuntion nearly crushing Ben until Sue using her force fields relieves the astronomical weight from Ben, so the mass audiences would know Sue's capabilities.
The turning of the flying bathtub looking FANTASTICAR into a Chevy Nova didn't feel Kirby-esque. However, showing Stan and Jack watching the FF do their thing from the TIMELY office windows was super cool... that's just a nod. A real tribute would have been having the sky fill with Asteroids and Fire and Oatu the Watcher become involved.
And we all know that it was another 4 years from the battle with Galactus that Stan & Jack introduced us to Franklin... but of course, to serve the greater purpose of the MCU, they rush Franklin into existence, which helps them with DOOMSDAY and SECRET WARS, but frankly...I would much rather spend time in this 828 and exist in the Utopian society that the Fantastic Four have created. We need more idealism in our stories and less doom and gloom.
Now... I know it sounds like I am upset with the film, but I'm really not. I watched the Corman, Story and Trank films and there's no denying that this is an exponentially superior telling.
I love Pedro Pascal's Reed Richards. I mean finally we have people animating and using Reed the ways he was meant to be. He stretches at the speed of thought, his hand goes where he wants it to be immediately. You don't feel the strain of the stretching, but the speed and sense of motion that it gives him. When Reed takes the antennae and scales fire escapes and Galactus to vent his Cosmic Energy Containments... this was my eyes getting larger than ever before. In the Zero G birth of Franklin, when REED braces himself and Sue by stretching his lower half... it just was... yet that was amazing. I love Reed being overwhelmed by the events taking place. Had Reed in the comics had a Pregnant Sue whilst dealing with Galactus and the demands for handing over Franklin... and no Oatu with his sending Johnny for the Ultimate Nullifier... It would be something exactly like this.
Think about what Reed was about to do in this movie. He was just about to move the Earth and Moon into the habitable zone of another Star System somewhere in the Cosmos so that Galactus couldn't find them.
THINK ABOUT THAT!
That is some Mad Scientist insane shit right there. The egg demonstration as proof of concecpt? WONDROUS. And yet... where's the machinery on the other side of the Universe for making the Earth and Moon reappear - and while you're going into the habitable zone, what about the gravitational distortion that you would be causing by landing into the midst of another solar system? I LOVE IT! It is crazy and wonderful and I'm all for it.
I mean, just imagine the night sky forever being changed. The planet and moon against an alien backdrop, yet safe. New constellations. New neighboring planets. A new place in the universe, thanks to Mr Fantastic.
Ok, sure... it didn't happen because Shalla Boll came to spoil it so her big daddy could feast. But it would have. Unless it wouldn't have. I mean, Reed could've killed us all, but at least it would've been the folly of man, not the dinner plate of Galactus.
Then there's Vanessa Kirby's Sue Storm. Having eliminated War on Earth. Rid the world of standing armies. Created a Future Foundation that was bent upon the notion that we are all in this together. And that the world was like... YES, let's go that way! I think my favorite part of Kirby's performance was when she looked at REED. You could see the affection and admiration for him. And from him you could see the love, concern, panic and relief of her. For the first time in a FANTASTIC FOUR movie - you have a fully functional power couple that are there for one another. This is just wondrous to behold. And essential. These two must effortlessly love each other and inspire one another to heights they couldn't otherwise achieve.
Joseph Quinn's Johnny Storm is such a relief. He was the casting I was most concerned about. Didn't really care much for his GLADIATOR 2 role and in STRANGER THINGS... well, he certainly rocked the bats of hell... And did so with epic aplomb. But here... Simply on target. I love that while we get that Johnny is a Ladies man, that he's a space freak and that he tackles the problem from a different angle. But brilliantly. His working on the language to wake Shalla Bal from her droning servitude - was such a great surprise. I don't know about you folks, but I loved the Johnny Storm seperate adventures in Strange Tales. And in those, he handled problems and adventures all on his lonesome and did so with cocky selfassuredness but with wits as well.
Ebon Moss-Bachrach's Ben Grimm... The Greatest. His assist in Franklin's birth, his buddy checking Reed - throughout the picture. Perfect. The way he reads people, and longs for things. When he goes to the Synagogue at the End of the World... To me that felt so bloody George Pal's WAR OF THE WORLDS. There was something truly remarkable about a Ben there. Now, I wish Natasha Lyonne had been Alicia Masters at a Sculptor's shop and blindly feeling Ben's visage as he watched from the streets... but that's my... adherence to the source material that comes up from time to time.
And while we're talking about differences. Let's dive into Shalla Bal. Ya know. As I sit here at my laptop writing to those of you that will read this in my voice, realize that in my left field of vision I have SILVER SURFER 1 hanging over Tars Tarkas' shoulder, not two feet from my copy of FANTASTIC FOUR #1. Did Marvel have to use Shalla Bal here? Most likely due to things that are yet to come, very probably. Does it bother me, not really, as I know she's in that copy of SILVER SURFER 1. And I know that reuniting her with Norrin Radd will be a wonderful moment if they choose to give it to us all. But I gotta say I really love Julia Garner in this role. It's hard because she's such an effect but man... When she chases after the FF in the Excelsior in that escape from TAA II, and in IMAX... just gosh gee whillikers, that was some cinema asswhupping a going on.
Lastly... let's engage with GALACTUS. Bloody near perfect. That Galactus is in a state of Hunger, excuses some of his weakness. That Reed vents Cosmic energy from his back side like Jason with TALOS in JASON AND THE ARGONAUTS was spectacular - and that the lens amplification of Torch's attack temporarily blinds him, then Ben topples that building throwing him off balance and then Sue knocks him into the portal. And ultimately being permanently pushed in by Shalla... Great stuff.
I don't know about you dear folks, but I'm going to watch this one a ton. And I really can't wait for the power to freeze frame and step by step through sequences of this film, because... well, that's where you truly begin to marvel at the work ILM unpacked upon this movie.
I'm not sure what the intentions for the FANTASTIC FOUR are... we've been told that they'll be a big part of DOOMSDAY and SECRET WARS - and that everything changes after SECRET WARS - as Kevin Fiege will pick whomever will be running the MCU. If he gets that right.
Personally, I think the 828 universe is vastly superior to the existing primary Marvel 616. I think it affords a MARVEL alternate universe from our own. I also feel the crafting of a United States that didn't war in Vietnam, that didn't waste energy and lives in pointless wars, is a fascinating vision to give our people. We've spent TRILLIONS on things that have short shifted our infrastructure, education and health. It's time to at least show a better way to inspire our reality to a better tomorrow.
How would Reed Richards tackle Climate Change? What are the comic book solutions and how close can we get to solving them. Or embracing them.
The Marvel Universe can show us a better way, if they choose to.
