"Fantastic Four" (2005) -- Initial Thoughts

I just got back from Fantastic Four. Hmm. Freestargirl saw it already, and said she liked it better than X2. I didn't. Not that it wasn't a fun ride, and of course it was fabulous seeing Ioan Gruffudd on the big screen (more about that in a minute). But I don't think it was as good as X2. I don't even think it was as good as X-Men. Actually, I'd put it about on par with the first Spider-man. It was good, it had some majorly fun parts, but there were some really slow spots and it felt kind of...scattered. Yeah, scattered, that's a good description. It lacked focus. I think it had basically the same problem as Spider-man (and X-Men too, to some extent): it had to spend so much time explaining who the characters are, their relationships, history, etc, that the plot kind of had to be built around that. I hope they make a sequel, because both X2 and Spider-man 2 far exceeded their predeccesors, mostly because we could explore new stuff, not re-explain the past.

But about Ioan Gruffudd...this is the most I've ever seen of him on the big screen! I was too poor to see 102 Dalmations in the theater, I didn't know who he was when Titanic was around, he's only in like 4 minutes of Black Hawk Down, and King Arthur spent way too much time on that Arthur dude. So I'd mostly seen Ioan on my tv set, which is very lovely, but not the same as having him encased in spandex and filling up a theater screen with his magnificent beauty. I mean, I thought his eyes were huge before! As dkoren/lanyn would say, "Don't step in that puddle, it's me!" And because I went to the 10:05pm show, I had the entire theater to myself and could feel free to shout, cheer, laugh, sigh, boo, and drool all I wanted. Love that. Best thing in the world about being on 3rd shift. I can walk into the theater, tell them what I want to see, and when they pick up a walkietalkie and say, "Uh, Joe, we've got Fantastic Four" (or whatever I'm gonna see), I know I'll probably have the movie world all for me.

Also, I got a free mini-poster. Just what my playroom needs--more Ioan pictures! Can never have enough of those. He's maturing very nicely too...he's still got that puppy playfulness, but he does 'serious' a little more convincingly than he used to. Still one of the best at looking embarassed/uncomfortable too. And now that the rest of his face is filling out and fitting his nose a bit better, he's just d-e-a-d s-e-x-y...oh, did I mention the shoulders? He's always had such delectable shoulders.

Yeah, so the best part about Freestargirl liking Fantastic Four is that she now properly appreciates Ioan Gruffudd. She always used to think I was daffy. Okay, so I am daffy, but now at least she understands it. That makes 4 converts: I'd already gotten ED, LN, and the Chameleon onboard the Ioan fanboat. That metaphor made no sense--I think I'm gonna go watch some Horatio Hornblower movies...that ought to put me back in shipshape!