Fluke_Skywalker

It seems pretty clear now that the "Comic book" film is on its last legs. The combination of an oversaturated market married with a steep decline in quality has the genre about to join the Western in the mausoleum of pop culture. Can one great movie change that? No. A string of good to pretty good ones? Again, no. This is a nosedive that even Chuck Yeager couldn't pull out of. Enter: 'The Fantastic Four: First Steps', a film so mid, so meh, that your super power will need to be not falling asleep.

Ironically this is the fourth try at a live action F4 adaptation (If you include the Corman hoax from the early 90's, which I do). That's a whole lotta effort for an IP that really doesn't have much "cool" factor or cultural currency. But Marvel never met a toothpaste tube it couldn't squeeze dry, so here we are.

Filled with atrocious CGI f/x, a wafer-thin story and a total lack of emotional connection, the two best things I have to say about this movie are that it's short and that I enjoyed the retro futuristic visuals. That's it. Forgettable score. Poor casting. I could go on and on. Everything else here is a swing and a miss.

This isn't the worst movie in the increasingly inconsequential MCU, but it sure isn't good enough to act as a course correct for Disney's once Titanic brand.

No film genre is more formulaic and cliche-ridden than sports, and to be sure F1 doesn't break any new ground. But formulas become cliches for one simple reason. They work.

The old saying "What's old becomes new again" definitely applies here. In an age where Hollywood continues to offer up the tired comic book film and unneeded and often unwanted remake, what audiences are thirsting for-even if they don't exactly know it-is a return to the red meat and potatoes "Good guy overcomes challenges and wins/saves the day." type of film. No capes flapping or heavy-handed messages. Just likeable people we can root for. It's so simple you wonder why studios can't grasp it. But hey, I'm just a paying customer. What do I know?

F1 is an appropriately fast-paced (if a tad bit over long) movie that is perfect for Summer movie season. It looks spectacular, eschewing the CGI cheats of so many Summer "event" films these days, and delivers white-knuckle action that feels tactile. Director Joseph Kosinski, who directed the excellent Top Gun: Maverick (a film that should have woken up Woke Hollywood and showed them how to make movies-and money-again), really knows how to make these kinds of films. I wish he'd been named director of the new Bond film instead of the overrated Denis Villeneuve and his soulless, joy-deficient style.

Like Top Gun's Tom Cruise, Pitt is one of our last real movie stars. He's surrounded here by a capable cast, but make no mistake this is his movie and he carries it across the finish line.

Setting aside the question of whether or not 'Remo Williams' is a good interpretation of the 'Destroyer' novel series that it's based on (I've read two or three of the books, but that was several years ago, so I don't feel qualified to answer it anyway), the next one would likely be "Is it any good?". To that I have an answer. No. If asked to permit a follow-up question, I'd nod likely "Yes", though grudgingly so. If said follow-up was "Well, is it at least fun?" I'd answer "Yeah. Kind of.".

The premise here has lots of potential, but only reaches some of it. Actors Fred Ward and Joel Grey have good chemistry and the story hits all of the mismatched student/master stuff pretty well, but the villain and his plot are under-cooked and the lack of stakes cause things to fizzle out in the finale.

I suppose if you're an 80's kid like me you will find enough nostalgia oil here to grease the rusty gears, but I doubt anyone who has never dialed a rotary phone will find much to keep them from checking their social media feeds before the run time hits the half hour mark.