jgbreezer

Didn't care to watch it all the way through, after scenes that just left us confused. So many names mentioned that we didn't know, and we never felt a connection to the victim in order to care about their death. I also noticed almost every time the author was mentioned there was some compliment of how great an author she was, which feels like it was meant as a self-congratulatory insert from JKR, boosting some ego there.

The investigators that said they were way too busy to take the case, one or two things are supposed to demonstrate that but other things seem not to match that - they seem relaxed about this case, not jumping between things, there're no calls or messages about the other cases they're dealing with while they're going about this one, no piles of documents slightly messily being switched between - when too much is going on, people often get less disorganised and put things away less properly or leave them out, have problems keeping everything in their head and are making more notes or failing at things... None of these things happen.

The surreal and fourth-wall uncertainty here both works for and detracts from this movie. Social commentary and fantastical story, and yet also very down to earth alongside it from a different angle.

I split the difference, but also unhappy that I can't Schrodinger this score to both sides because it definitely doesn't deserve a 7.

Theres show business and relationship drama and emotions, sometimes played woodenly and other times not. Stiff upper lip Britishness-like stereotypes alternate with messy, drama-filled created/filmed scenes that have you wondering which ones are part of the movie within a movie, which are narrative, or outside the fourth wall and which are ... something else, numerous times.

Why soul-less? Throughout the whole movie, I didn't really feel connected to the characters or their fate. Trying to analyse this, I think it's that they don't go very deep into anyone's psyche at any point; there's the different characters and you have an idea of the kind of people they are, but no one makes you take a deep look at any of them. When insights are given, they're rather thrown in and glossed over as though someone thought the film ought to have some more substance.

The silver surfer is very cool, and the Fantastic Four's powers are believably and seamlessly animated (I can't remember/never really saw the 1st movie to compare to). It was more predictable than the average Hollywood blockbuster (oops is that a spoiler? :-), and personally I'm not sure I like Jessica in blonde, not sure it quite suits her skin colour.

I had to think whether to knock it down to 4 from 5 (which I almost gave it) but in the end, I'm estimating the novelty-gain factor (ie. how you rate it having just seen it 1st time compared to the longer term view). Not a complete panning, but don't look for more than good special-effects and Jessica Alba being hot. No doubt big F4 fans will be commenting on everything that's different compared to the comics, I went with a friend who knew them. Still kind of a fun movie though, of the throwaway sort, which saves it a little.