Letters to the Editor
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Better than the first one . . .
. . . but still among five or ten worst movie's I've ever seen. The Silver Surfer looks cool, true, but he's boring and predictable. Even if you're not familiar with the comic book "mythology," there's never a doubt in your mind about where this movie is going from its very start.
The acting is terrible -- I mean, really, really terrible -- with Jessica Alba the worst of all. Was it my imagination, or was she reading her lines from cue cards?
And poor Andre Braugher, so great in Homicide: Life on the Street, saddled in a role as a character we've all seen dozens of times already. On the other hand, he probably had a pretty good payday for it.
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And thus
And thus:
"This does not include stories told merely for amusement"
does mainstream condescension for comics and the comic book medium perpetuate.
After all, other than "mere" entertainment, what do these arresting blends of text and image offer? Well, to name a few, these are stories that reflect the human condition and its myriad complexities, tackling issues such as racism (The X-Men), youth maturing into adulthood and the awkwardness that oft accompanies such transition (Spider-Man), myth (Neil Gaiman's Sandman series; and, did I use that word correctly there?), death (indeed a distinctly popular subject in the comic medium, for example Signal To Noise), planetary and societal collapse (DCs Kingdom Come series), environmentalism (Swamp Thing), heroic identity and humanity's response to it (Superman), the Jungian shadow and justice (Batman) or revenge (Punisher), socio-historical criticism and human self-awareness (Alan Moore's Watchmen), growing up Latina (and lesbian) (Love and Rockets), U.S. national identity (U.S.), commonality and connection between the super and the human (Kurt Busiek's Astro City), youth and the power of imagination to be transformative (The Books of Magic), rage, release, and regret with a touch of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (The Hulk), the human confrontation, struggle, and sometimes reconciliation with the unknown (Hellboy), social criticism (Walt Kelly's Pogo and the blistering Transmetropolitan by Warren Ellis) and the Everyman (Jeff Smith's Bone), and the list goes on and on . . . .
Ah, well, I guess there isn't much to the comic medium after all, aside from "mere" entertainment.
No kings,
Robert
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WTF?
"The light, pleasingly casual quality of the first picture"
Wait, this was written by the person whom Salon hired to be its film reviewer?
I recently caught the first F4 on cable, and you don't have to be a cinephile to see it for what it is: a badly written, atrociously acted, juvenile pile of crap.
you guys have such smart writing all over Salon - wish it were so in your film section.
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Suffering the Surfer
Having always found the Silver Surfer a stultifying bore in the comic books, I don't have any particular enthusiasm for his cinematic debut. In fact, the only aspect of the character I find interesting is how he purportedly came to be.
The tale I've seen told is how in the "Marvel Way" of doing comic books – reduced to its most basic elements, writer does a plot-and-character outline, artist draws the pages, writer fills in the dialogue – a story of the Fantastic Four (#48, original series) was to feature a new villain, Galactus. Artist Jack Kirby, working out the visual aspects of the character, decided that a cosmos-roving planet-eater needed a herald of his coming and drew in this little guy on a vehicle that suggested a surfboard. Writer Stan Lee saw this incidental figure and, after Kirby told him the idea, ran with it. God knows why. But so was born the most overrated, pompous blowhard in comic book history.
Yep, can't wait to see him on the big screen!
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I'm confused
Is the film worth seeing or not? Did Stephanie Zacharek like it or not? I'm baffled.
I'm familiar with The Fantastic Four but would hardly call myself a devoted fan. But I saw the first film and thought it was close to abominable. Is the second better? I can't tell from this review. Has Jessica Alba learned how to act? Have the producers bothered with having a coherent screenplay this time? Telling me the plot is complicated doesn't quite address the latter point. I know the story of the Silver Surfer and would not be deterred by a complicated plot. I would be deterred if the acting were weak and the writing were uninspiring.
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But is it "clobberin' time"?
It may be difficult for the Gen-Y and Xers to understand the historical significance of the Marvel Universe in general, and the Fantastic Four in particular. But for this Baby Boomer -- back in the day before video games, VCRs and 300 channel cable TV -- comic books were THE escapist entertainment.
When Marvel comics hit the stands it was nothing short of revolutionary (with their cocky NYC attitude literally exploding from the page courtesy of Jack Kirby's dynamic art and Stan Lee's brilliant writing) compared to the hackneyed, whitebread comics that came before.
I can still remember discovering my first Marvel comic, the Fantastic Four's "The Battle of the Baxter Building." Oh the joy! Comics would never be the same, and thanks to Stan Lee, neither would I.
I thought the first FF was a worthwhile (yes, worth the wait of 40 years or so) adaptation and I'm looking forward to "The Silver Surfer."
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Wrong year
Fantastic Four #1 was released in 1961 not 1966. Following FF came many of Marvel's greatest hits: 1962 had Spider-man & Hulk, 1963 Avengers & X-Men debuted. By 1966, many of the important titles had already come into existence--I'm sure their existence owes much credit to Lee & Kirby's success with Fantastic Four.
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But is Galactus in it?
Everyone associated with this film (including the reviewers apparently) seems to be tripping over themselves to keep a lid on whether or not it will show Galactus. I don't want to see it if he is not in it. What would be the point? Personally, (and I'm probably going to get beat up by a lot of traditionalists over this) I preferred the "Ultimate Galactus" version better then the original. It just seemed more terrifying to me.
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The Very Definition of a Strawman
And thus:
"This does not include stories told merely for amusement"
does mainstream condescension for comics and the comic book medium perpetuate.
Wow, you've got this whole argument cooked up to rebut a quote which as far as I can tell you made up yourself. I even googled it, and the only hit I got was your letter. What the heck was that all about?