Sunny Side Up

A group of scientists, pilots and a billionaire set out to a space station observe and study a storm cloud in space that may hold the key to purging diseases on Earth. Not long after they arrived, the storm cloud gathered speed and hit the station ahead of their projections, catching the completely off guard.

Back on earth, the group began experiencing physical mutations and before they know it, their lives have been forever changed.

For fans of the FF, there are plenty of changes in the story such as the origin of Doctor Doom and the relationship between Susan Storm and Reed Richards but I find them to be a tad more realistic than how they panned out in the comics.

Just a bit of spoiler from the early parts of the movie, Victor von Doom is not the ruler of Romania-like Latveria, he's a narcissistic Latverian-born billionaire businessman who owns a massive empire called von Doom Industries. Susan Storm works as von Doom's chief scientist while Richards is a brilliant but bankrupt scientist working out of his office in Baxter Building in NYC along with his college buddy and former Air Force pilot Ben Grimm. Johnny Storm is a condescending daredevil playboy pilot who lives without limits and conscience.

If you're expecting something like Batman Begins then you're out of your mind because it's fundamentally completely different. Fantastic Four have always been a light, family oriented story and you're more likely to find similarities with the X-Men in terms of interpersonal relationships. The one between Johnny Storm and Ben Grimm is probably the highlight but they could've brought it up further.

The movie's low points include one dimensional characters and some of the effects which would've looked amazing ten years ago or in games but certainly not today - watch Richards when he stretches. There's really no memorable dialog or strong moments but I wouldn't go so far as putting it in the Hulk category or even worse, Catwoman. I actually liked the Hulk but the part about Banner's dad and the dog are just too much creative writing.

I find the humor spot on though some are too cheesy but I could see why they put them there. When you walk in to this movie, expect plenty of laughs. It's a nice change from the dark, angsty and self pity moods of recent adaptations such as Batman begins and the Blade, X-Men, and Spiderman movies.

If you're comparing this to The Incredibles, then I would say The Incredibles win because it's a lot funnier and with deeper characters too. You feel a lot more connection with Bob Parr and his family.

It's not the best of the Marvel Studios but it's one of the enjoyable ones.

This entry was posted on Friday, July 15, 2005 at 7:11 PM. You can skip to the end and leave a response.