Well, the new version has Reed Richards (Ioan Gruffudd) and Ben Grimm (Michael Chiklis) hats in hand, presenting a project to Victor Von Doom. Richards, a cutting edge genius, needs this project since he has run his businesses into bankruptcy. And we find that both Sue Storm--Reed's former love interest (Jessica Alba)--and her brother, Johnny Storm (Chris Evans) both work for Von Doom, something else to stick in Reed's craw. Von Doom takes on Reed's project, which is a study on DNA in cosmic storms, mostly to enjoy lording it over his college rival.The story moves to Von Doom's space station (of course shaped in a "V", which cover his building and his name is on every single item) and the real start of The Fantastic Four origin begins.

I really enjoyed this movie, saw it twice, less than 5 hours apart. The casting is great, the actors do feel like the FF. To me the best "straight-from-the-comic" riff, is The Thing vs. The Torch relationship, it's dead-on and funny as hell. Reed is super-smart, yet clueless when it comes to Sue. I did like Alba as Sue, but it is a bit weak. But then again, they've changed Sue's character from "superhero mom" to "hot babe." I can't imagine anyone getting that character down with any satisfaction. The Torch and The Thing are the characters from the comic, no doubt whatsoever. And like I said, Doom was way too light and I didn't believe he was Victor Von Doom until the character murders in cold blood in a very chilling scene.

Welp, don't believe the negative reviews (one actually said the SFX looked like they were from the '80s, what movie did this person see?). I had a good time and so did the audience, the true judges of a good film. And while Batman is probably the best comic adaptation of the year, this was the most fun one. I give it a 5 out of 5 and will of course buy the DVD and hope for sequels...

Till next time,
OGRE3000