Ok well this is my full review. First a little back story; I liked Xmen3, FF1, TMNT, 300, Ghost Rider and all 3 Spiderman films and the first two Batmans, Star Wars:ROTS and the Matrix Movies, plus the Lord of the Rings Trilogy.
So now you know my tastes so it should come as no surprise that I liked FF:ROTSS a great deal.
However there were some elements that I thought needed some improvements and I will deal with those as well.
The Good
The FX
They should win several Oscars and awards for this thing. It was outstanding. The Silver Surfer was a joy to behold and his de-powered state was actually more impressive than the CGI surfer. Doug Jones did an excellent representation of Norrin Radd. I was astonished that the menace of Galactus was actually realized by the “Cloud” but it was impressive how they chose to represent his destructive force. The new thing costume is much improved. The brow was ok, and the Thing looked thick and strong. The torch was also very well done. Sue’s special effects were cool but simple in a good way, they are based around invisibility after all. Her sky riding was a lovely touch at the London eye.
Pacing:
I tell you I had my doubts but the movie did not seem as rushed as it might have been. I think that it could be seen that Tim took great pains to use the action to move the story along. I found that they used the wedding preparations as a nice setup to the arrival of the surfer and that scene with Reed dancing was just great.
Humor:
This movie was genuinely funny. The camera really loves Chris Evans and he really enjoyed himself in this movie and is the funniest of the bunch. In the context of this franchise I think that the comedy worked. Johnny burning the flowers at the end had my theater crowd cracking up. Oh and the scene where Reed has some fun dancing, priceless.
Cinematography:
This set the whole tone of the film and the opening sequence of Galactus consuming a planet was great, then the continent hopping as the SS traversed the globe and the Black Forest scene was simply epic.
Johnny’s fight with Super Doom was good but there was not that sense of risk to Johnny and the others as you might have gotten if they had had Doom get a lot more licks in while fighting the four. This was the centerpiece action scene and was spectacular.
Acting:
Johnny was great, Ben was good, Reed was Fantastic, he is now Reed Richards, Jessica was much improved. General Hager (Andre Braugher) was remarkable as was Frankie Raye. I even enjoyed the little cameo by the wedding priest and the guy who tortured the surfer. I will tell you this Alicia was just so sweet, I am telling you she is just gorgeous and they should have used her more in the film, the screen lit up every time she was on.
Family values:
Alba morphed into Sue Richards in this movie, her concerns about raising her children in a dangerous environment was realistically handled. The most touching scenes in my mind was the moment when Johnny saw that Sue was alive and well. That moment is classic. Ben and Johnny sticking it to Reed together about not telling them they might leave the FF was a nice turnabout. More than anything these little gestures are what made me appreciate this movie, these moments were the heart of the FF.
The movie captured the heart of the Fantastic Four. The little things that distinguished them were all represented. They bickered as they did in the helicopter on their way to the London Eye, but the genuine love for each other was there as seen in Johnny praising his big sis on her wedding day, and his realization that the fate of the world and his family was riding on his shoulders.
The score:
Much more suitable, but very subtle I thought. I can’t say I recall too much about the score but it all seemed well implemented.
The music seemed to fit so I guess that it is safe to say that they did not edit it to hell.
The Bad
Galactus’ Missing Humanoid Form:
Well first of all I have to deal with Galactus; I think that they did a disservice to the movie by not having the inner core of the cloud coalesce into a more humanoid form ala the source in the Matrix as the Surfer approached. My eyes may be bad here cause I did not catch the face everyone seems to have seen. I really think that Fox dropped the ball here and it will surely cost them at the box office. They could have made it a little more clear that this was a manifestation of Galactus. Norrin could have done this while talking to Sue when he was captured, Tim this one is on you. They dropped the ball here.
Reed’s stretching powers and sound effects do not sound quite right, it still looks and sounds like rubber stretching. I am not convinced that flesh and bone stretching would have a rubber band kind of sound.
Doctor Doom:
The armor and the action he was involved in was great and Victor apparently is healed of his metallic problem but his line delivery leaves something to be desired at times. This is strange because he got it when he began talking with the surfer of ruling the world but at the beginning of that same scene he had that smarmy Nip/ Tuck voice. Sometimes he gets it and sometimes he does not. I know that Julian can be better at this if given the right direction. Tim Story needs to work on his direction of Doom if we get a number 3.
The Action Sequences:
At times I thought that some scenes were not edited well. The scene of the torch plummeting to earth could have been presented much better. Reentry can be a stunning spectacle and this and other scenes seem as if they needed an extra few seconds. His peril was not played up enough. Tim has to do a better Job at making us feel the tension and danger in these situations. For instance Johnny’s predicament in the first film with the missile chase was perfect, this was a little off.
Inconsistencies:
General Hager must be insane, how else would you explain his reliance on a man who must be wanted for murder and mayhem. It just does not add up that you would imprison the Fantastic Four and yet leave a known megalomaniac walking around free and then give him access to an item of almost limitless power.
Also it was kind of odd that during the fight with Doom Johnny seemed to enjoy himself, this after seeing his sister at deaths door.
The Running Time:
Honestly the movie did not feel all that short but I left the theater wanting a bit more for my $6:50 investment. Also I think for average audience goers, by the time you start to get invested in the characters the movie is done. Watching the interaction between Johnny and Ben made me long for at least two or three more of those scenes. I think in building your core audience you have to be careful with this. I know the core audience may be the kids but I really feel that fanboys, teenagers and young adults need a little bit more.
The Script/Plot that we Got:
It was a satisfying intergalactic story of an apocalyptic end of world situation. I loved it, however a UN meeting or two about the end of the world preparations or a speech like Morgan Freeman did in that movie “Deep Impact” might have set the stage for the final battle and framed the conflict perfectly for the whole world. Like I said Tim has to play up the tension and the real world danger in these movies a little bit more. Of course this would have required like 10 more minutes to develop and discover the Surfer’s secret, Earths Satellites picking up the anomaly and being informed as to the nature of what they were facing. I guess someone felt another ten minutes might have been a killer.
Summary:
Overall this film really worked for me. I think that Tim Story is growing by leaps and bounds and it is clear that he listens to the fanboys somewhat while pursuing his vision. You can’t ask for more from a director at a studio such as Fox.
The improvements he promised were all there, from Doom to the brow to the amped up action. We even saw the castle, a little nugget. It is clear that this was to some extent Johnny and Sue’s film whereas the last one was mostly about Ben but it worked for me.
Reed’s best scene of this film shows you just how unique Tim Story is as a director. When Reed stepped up and announced that yes he was the nerd that studied hard and now he has the girl and the money and all the glitz I think that he spoke for many fanboys of today and yesteryear. We want to be Reed or Johnny or Superman because we wanted to be more than what we were. That Tim Story was able to give voice to the underlying sentiment that shapes so many hardcore fans (geeks in us) of comic books is testament to his membership in our fraternity, he understands.
He truly gets what the Fantastic Four and the comic books are all about and I think that is why his movie feels like a true comic book. He gets it and he is not ashamed to tell it like it is.
This movie got a B from me.
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t: 10 fingers, and 10 toes wayyyyyyyyyyyyy up for you. Thanks for all the trips down memory lane. Hope they put this thread in the arcives. 
And thanks to everyone else who has contributed to make this the best thread ever.
