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People keep saying this is a non-conventional superhero movie. I don't see that.

Unbreakable was unconventional, so was donnie darko (though a movie I couldn't stand)... Given the set of characters, there is no way that the plot is any real departure from the standard formula.

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"Ok, last time we made a FF movie we totally butchered one of Marvel's most beloved villains, and people hated it. Clearly, the only thing to do is make a dark and gritty reboot! And make that beloved villain a blogger!"

I'll consider it a small miracle if I hate the FF reboot less than the Green Lantern movie.

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There was this really cool deconstruction of the FF from Planetary by Warren Ellis....

Doing a quick google search for frames from the comic it looks like somebody else had the same idea to draw connections to that story:

http://www.inquisitr.com/1530625/the-four-could-this-twisted-vision-be-the-inspiration-for-foxs-new-fantastic-four-movie/

Big fan of all the planetary stories.

Basically the Four were Nazi's brought over to America. They were a covert mission to mars years before the "real" mission in the 50's.

They were the bad guys of the story, and uber powerful. which was pretty cool.

fantastic-four-meets-the-four-141010-665

The leader of the Four is Randal Dowling, creator of Science City Zero. A brilliant scientist, Dowling comes up with the plan to launch the Four into space, and he comes back with the ability to “stretch” his mind, allowing him to steal information from others.

Next up is Kim Süskind, daughter of a Nazi rocket scientist and Dowling’s lover. Kim is able to turn herself invisible and project invisible force fields.

Alongside those two, there’s William Leather, a hothead who comes back from the Four’s journey with the ability to project a fire-like energy from his body, as well as some other super skills.

Finally, there’s Jacob Greene, the pilot who flew the mission that took the Four into space. Greene faired worst of all of the Four, mutating into an incredibly durable but hideously disfigured monster.

“Disabilities,” eh? One thing about the way that the Four are portrayed in Planetary is that they’re not all totally happy with their powers. Süskind can turn invisible, sure, but she also loses the ability to see – because the light isn’t absorbed by her eyes, because they’re transparent, because science! – unless she uses special goggles. Greene, of course, is near indestructible, but so deformed that he can’t live among people.
Read more at http://www.inquisitr.com/1530625/the-four-could-this-twisted-vision-be-the-inspiration-for-foxs-new-fantastic-four-movie/#RxD5PkRbPqsb0Vms.99

It was super gritty and quite different from what you'd get from the average comic book.

Edited by Gakken85
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The collection of talent for this film is insane. Trank directing Jordan, Mara, Teller and Bell. It has to be one of the most talented young casts ever assembled.

The trailers are good, but not great. The humor seems to be working and the effects are solid.

The big worry is all the script and story work this film has had done to it.

Who knows, this could be one of those films that wasn't on anyone's radar yet turns out to be better than all the other films we are really waiting for.

I think I'll wait for reviews, but this is on my radar.

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Not being racist, but hasn't Johnny Storn AKA The Human Torch always been a white surfer type dude? Just wondering what is the rationale behind the change. Hope it's not just a case of the studio wanting to be more politically correct.

And honestly this version of the thing looks like a pile of walking poo.

I'm not seeing anything in the trailers that makes me want to see this movie at all.

Graham

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In the comics, Johnny is Sue's full blooded younger brother. He's typically been brash, arrogant, and wise cracking. So he counter balances Sue and Reed's demeanor.

In terms of race, yes Fox has chosen to have a slightly more diverse cast for this franchise. Jessica Alba played Sue Storm in the 1st 2 FF films. Michael B Jordan (Johnny Storm) is a really good actor and I think he will really capture Johnny's essence.

The studio's all too often forget that people of all walks of life go to the theaters. That's also why we've seen a lot of the recent blockbusters open over seas. Transformers 4 opened in Hong Kong and Japan if I recall correctly, and they had a few cameos of Asian celebrities to help draw out potential moviegoers.

I don' think its too much to ask that some of our natural diversity be depicted on film especially if the characters race or sexual orientation isn't critical to the characters persona. The most successful film franchise to date ( Fast and furious saga) has had a very diverse cast/production team. There have been a number of recent roles where the studios purposely chose to white wash clearly ethnic characters on the flip side. DC has also chosen to open the doors for diversity of some of their characters. Aquaman will be played by Jason Mamoa, Will smith is playing Deadshot and there is talk that the upcoming Green lantern may be John Stewart instead of Hal Jordan.

I think Marvel Studio's is playing catch up in this regard with some of their properties. I haven't been too happy with what Fox had did with the X-men films in this regard either. Colossus is Russian, Banshee Irish, Kitty Jewish and all of these aspects were tossed aside in the films. The female characters used to be very heavy hitting characters(story) in the comics, but in terms of the films they've taken a backseat to their male counterparts. One of the great things I've always liked about the X-men after the 1975 comics re launch was their international flare. The characters felt like they belonged to everyone and there has always been at least one character that most people can relate to on some level.

Edited by Golden Arms
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i've got absolutely nothing against having a racially or internationally diverse cast, as long as the casting stays true to the written source material as far as practical.

My myself, I prefer to have movie adaptations of comics or books be as faithful to the source material as possible.

So if a comic or book character is black, have him or her portayed by a black actor, if he or she is Chinese, have him/her potrayed by a Chinese actor, if he/she's white have them have them portrayed by a white actor etc.

Just my two cents.

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I hear you and I don't disagree with you. I mainly agree. But in Johnny's case where the characters race has never been a contributing factor to the characters makeup/personality/ experience, I don't have a problem with the production team casting an actor outside of that listed race.

Since most of these comic adaptations are from source material dating back to the 60's and 40's in some instances, it becomes very difficult to stay completely true to the source material, but at the same time try to appeal audiences that have historically been excluded or left out. The comic industry has historically been dominated by white males in terms of writers, artist, and even readers. Today those demographics have changed considerably and it's now a much more diverse industry. Half of all American comic readers are female! DC, Image, Marvel, etc have addressed this with more prominent female characters, more female writers and artist, and less sexualized depictions of women in their core titles. And for the most part it has been positively received. One of the things that DC comics did recently that I applaud, was when they restarted their comic universe(New 52) a few years ago. They elevated Cyborg to one of the Justice league founding members. Very subtle but it speaks volumes. It would've been nice if Marvel could have done something similar with the Avengers or given Black Widow her own solo film. So many of my friends with young daughters dress up as Widow for Halloween, etc.

Besides the FF comic has had a huge problem attracting and retaining readership over the last decade. The book has currently been cancelled. So anything fresh the studio can do to make the characters more appealing, I don't have a problem with. I think a thing that they could do to jazz them up a little is to incorporate the Ultimates version of Reed. Or to use some of his less than satisfactory depictions from over the years. We typically gravitate to characters with flaws and Reed IMO has resembled to much of an outdated boyscout in a time were audiences are more sophisticated. I'm a huge comic fan, and I too generally feel that the FF are generally dull characters.

Another thing Fox should've done from the outset when they decided to relaunch the FF, was to work out a crossover with the X-men films. They've teased about the possibility, but if they don't do it, I think it's a huge wasted opportunity. The X movies have done well and I think their inclusion into the FF universe could bring a lot of their fans over the FF franchise that t has struggled to resonate with audiences.

Edited by Golden Arms
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So, currently the Fantastic 4's book is dead in the water and they decide to make a film for them? With C-list actors like Kate Mara, no less.

Brilliant...

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