People want to see a cool super hero movie. F4 - when it becomes a super hero movie (emphasis on that) - it is awful. The final act (the only act where they become heroes, or at least come together) is worse than act I can remember in these movies. Green Latern had cool action scenes. This does not. Does it build up to anything? No. I understand why people will hate this movie and I get why some here are panicking at these highlighted points.
But...
The irony is that F4 succeeds in areas that comic book fans generally don't pay as greater focus on compared to e.g. costume choice and action scenes. 2/3rds of this movie isn't even about superheroes and thus the positives of that element are buried or ignored in anticipation of something else.
I enjoyed it because I have found films that emphasise action over everything else to become tiring and dull after a while. So personally, F4 filled a gap for me. It made me sympathise and understand the characters. It made the romantic undertones (thank god there wasn't a forced love interest that ended in an awkward kiss) believable and interesting. In fact, even in these reviews, the first half of the film generally gets positive remarks.
It's just a shame that the positives (something that Marvel films desperately need IMO) are ignored and dismissed.
Comic book movies should not just be about people punched through walls and an exact replica of costumes. They should first and foremost be films with good writing and character development. F4 is not great at it, but it does it well, or at least better than others have.
The image of Doom going around these threads perfectly encapsulates the attitude surrounding this film. Shit sticks on the wall because people want to believe it to be that bad. Lets be honest, minds were made up long before this released. It has had nothing but negative buzz. And yet I came away from it writing all this about a franchise I couldn't give a shit about.
