“This is about camaraderie. It’s about teamwork, but most of all it’s about history. It’s really about knowing your roots. I mean, kids today, they’re reading about Wolverine’s clone sister. What the hell is that about?” The Secret Wars Re-Enactment Society (By way of Do You Feel Loved?) For old-school comic fans, this is worth seeing for the Kang and Ultron costumes alone. (And, as Chris noted, the payoff is pretty funny too.)
Category: FF
Four, War, and a Bore.
Big-time summer trailers piggybacking off of Sith this week include the final trailer for Fantastic Four (I actually liked the Magic Johnson NBA spot, but this is looking lame again) and a new War of the Worlds trailer, with our first brief look at the invaders. Also, Top Guns Jamie Foxx, Jessica Biel, and Josh Lucas go up against a renegade Skynet-like fighter in the new trailer for Stealth. Oof, Sam Shepard and Joe Morton must have some bills to pay.
Rogues’ Gallery.
In Marvel film news, the Fantastic Four trailer from ShoWest makes it online (nope, still not feeling it), and there’s more talk of the villains for X3 and Spidey 3: Dark Phoenix and (as I guessed…booyah) The Sandman respectively.
Trip the Light Fantastic.
A set of new Fantastic Four images materialize online, along with the new teaser poster. Hmmm, ok…Johnny Storm’s “flame-on” doesn’t look half-bad, I suppose.
It’s Clobbering Time.
In case you never saw the 20-sec promo last week, the full-on Fantastic Four trailer is online now and, well, what is there to say, really? Like Spiderman and X-Men, The Fantastic Four is one of Marvel’s signature franchises…so I’m surprised how leaden this one’s turning out. In no way does this look or feel like FF to me, with the possible exception of Michael Chiklis’ early-Kirby Thing look. Turning Doom into a deranged budget Emperor Palpatine was a particularly bad call.
Speaking of which, not to get too old-school fanboy up in here, but what is Julian McMahon doing with them up there in space anyway? (And what’s with the space station? I seem to remember a 4-seater test shuttle…don’t fix it if it ain’t broke, y’all.) Oof, I’ve got a bad feeling about this…could this actually end up being worse than The Hulk?
Great Caesar’s Ghost.
Quite a bit of new comic-to-film news today: Hugh Laurie and James Marsden join Superman as Daily Planet editor Perry White and Richard White (Lois’s non-Super love interest) respectively, the Dark Knight cradles Katie Holmes in this new EW pic from Batman Begins, and 20 seconds of the new FF trailer appear online (along with this shot of The Thing, also from the new EW.) I know I keep piling bad vibes on this project, but really, the litany of hard-to-discern FX shots coupled with the “Kick out the Jams”-style whiteboy-angst-metal does nothing for me.
Flame On.
20th Century Fox tries to counter that burning train wreck smell (the latest word: $20 million in additional effects and a de-Incredibles script rewrite) by offering a behind-the-scenes look at Fantastic Four with Stan Lee. Nope, still not feeling it.
Not-so-Incredibles.
Trouble’s still brewing at the Baxter Building…Superhero Hype gets an exclusive pic of the Fantastic Four and, man, they look goofy. What’s happened to Marvel? The difference between this and Batman Begins (whose new trailer premieres this weekend) is night and day right now.
The Doom of Man.
No, that’s not a fanboy conventioner…it’s the first pic of Julian McMahon in full Dr. Doom regalia to make it online. Oof, I must say, Fantastic Four is starting to look like an absolute disaster. Elsewhere in comic film news, the full trailer for Batman Begins will apparently premiere in front of Ocean’s Twelve next month.
Incredible Journey.
Well, the folks making next summer’s Fantastic Four film must be having a really bad couple of weeks. ‘Cause it’s hard to see how they can even close to topping the energy and fun of Brad Bird’s The Incredibles, Pixar’s new gold standard (and here I thought Toy Story 2 was going to hold that honor for some time to come.) More a film for comic fans than for little kids, The Incredibles is an inventive, madcap romp through superhero tropes that gives Spiderman 2 a serious run for its money as the best comic book film of 2004.
I must say, I was surprised right off the bat at how PG the film turned out to be. This is a darker film than most previous Pixar forays, with a surprisingly high body count and some mordant sight gags in the mix (for example, the montage explaining the trouble with capes). Whatsmore, Mr. Incredible’s most potent villain turns out to be existential ennui at the workplace, which seems as if it might fly right over the heads of the Finding Nemo age demographic.
Their loss, our gain. The Incredibles is a consistently clever ride, right down to the details. The writers and production designers have not only designed robots, ships, and a evil fortress that breathe originality while still paying homage to classic icons (Not unlike Brad Bird’s The Iron Giant in that regard — so take that, Sky Captain.) They’ve also come up with unique applications and situations for some of the hoariest superpowers going (strength, elasticity, speed, etc…Elastigirl’s break-in to Syndrome’s lair stands out as a particular highlight.)
The only real misstep in the film, aside from it feeling maybe 10-15 minutes too long (and, arguably, the Ayn Randish subtext), is the Brad Bird-voiced Edna Mode, who seems like some unholy cross between Vera Wang and Joan Rivers and comes off as somewhat embarrassing and misconceived. Better thought out is Mr. Incredible’s McNamara-esque boss and the “Issue No. 2” villain, The Underminer, whom I very much look forward to in the sequel. But, look, here I am monologuing again…To sum up, as the sinister mime Bomb Voyage might put it, “C’est incroyable!”