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Wednesday, July 20, 2005

"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!

4 comments:

  1. Arthur dude? Arthur dude?! I must disagree here... Clive Owen blows Ioan Gruffudd out of the water! No contest. (Course, that King Arthur movie sucked badly, except for the good-looking men in it.)

    However, I do think Ioan is quite cute in those Fantastic Four previews I sat through a jillion times during the Star Wars run.

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  2. Hey, I find Clive Owen quite talented and attractive; I especially like him in Lorna Doone (except when I'm being distracted by Sean Bean) and The Bourne Identity. And of course he got most of the screen time to show off his chops in King Arthur, because he was the title character. But the reason I went to see the movie was Ioan (and okay, I love the Arthur legend, but that movie had nothing do to with the Arthur legend, so that reason for seeing the movie is moot).

    I still say Ioan's best work is in the "Horatio Hornblower" movies on A&E. Mmmm. He's great in Fantastic Four too though--maturing nicely, as I said.

    How about we compromise, and I say they spent way too much screen time on that Guinivere chick? ;-)

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  3. God, did they ever spend too much time on her. I love Kiera Knightly, but she was completely wasted in that idiotic role. Actually, my favorite character in that movie was one of the other knights, no idea what his name was, long blond hair... can't remember if he died out on the ice or if he made it to the end now. Obviously not a movie I saw multiple times!

    I got to catch part of one of the Hornblowers back in the day when I had tv... I read all the novels when I was a kid, so I was excited they were coming out as films. Unfortunately, I have about zero memory of it... something else to add to Netflix, I would say!

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  4. Yeah, Kiera Knightly is pretty cool; I liked her in Pirates of the Caribbean and The Phantom Menace, and my brother has a thing for her. Sad she got stuck in such a crap role. I see she's filmed a new version of Pride and Prejudice...hmm.

    As for Hornblower, you totally need to see all 8! My favorite is the third one of the first set, "The Duchess and the Devil", because I love escape-from-prison stories. After Horatio, I love Archie best (played by Jamie Bamber, now playing 'Apollo' on Battlestar Gallactica, yummy yummy!). I've only read a couple of the novels, although I should see if I can get them all thru the library, cuz they rock.

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