Fantastic ? Four

I'm about to out myself once again! Yes, I fully admit it, I'm an recovering comic book geek. Recovering, because being a comic book collector is like being an alcoholic, you're never clean, you just go one day at a time without buying a comic book! But, every once in a while, I'll allow myself to slip back into geek mode, knowing that my wife (something that will keep me from ever becoming a full on comic book geek again, no geek can have a wife!) will drag me back here to grown up land (or as close as I'll ever get to it).

One of those "geek moments" is the release of a cool comic book movie. Well, after the horror that was Hulk, I was a little gun shy of Fantastic Four, and waiting until the DVD release to see it, so as to save a little of my money, in case it sucked! Well, I have to report to you that it didn't suck as much as I thought it would. The Fantastic Four have never been my favorite characters, but they are the original comic book super hero team, so you've got to give them some respect for that. And this adaptation is pretty good, the problem I had, is the problem I have will most of these movies. The first one is the set up for those out there who don't know who these characters are! So that the comic book illiterate can enjoy it without feeling left out. But, for us fans out there, these are not unlike some bizarre endurance test.

The first Spider-man, while a cool movie, was tedious in the extreme to me. And Fantastic Four felt the same way, at times. I know this story backwards and forwards, the only interest here, for me, is the changes that are inevitably made for the big screen and seeing how the special effects are done. And, in those two things, I wasn't too disappointed. The story stayed about the same, with some slight changes for the Ben Grimm character and the Sue Storm character, which are only there to stream-line the story for the uninformed. The special effects were amazing and, while there weren't quite enough for my tastes, they were very well done! Making The Thing a make-up effect rather than a CGI effect (ala Hulk) was a very good idea! Michael Chiklis embodied this character in a way that made you believe that the make-up was real! And I'm going to be berated for this, but I was waiting for the scripted excuse for getting Jessica Alba into her underwear! I know Jessica is an attractive young lady, but come on! Does she have to be mostly nude in EVERY ROLE??? I know, it's just me!

Overall, Fantastic Four is a great rental, but I don't think I'd actually want to own it. I can't see myself wanting to revisit this movie, unless the inevitable sequel is stupendous! Which it very well could be! And, as for comic book adaptations, this one is right up there with X-Men for it's integrity, most of the time comic book material is treated with less respect than other material, and this didn't feel that way. I give Fantastic Four two and a half burning cigars because this has the potential to be the start of a really cool movie franchise! Let's hope that 20th Century Fox doesn't screw it up and go cheap for the sequels! So, until the next time when I'll have to decide which super power I'd like to have...I'm torn between super strength and super stench...Remember that the best movies are bad movies!