Though I have often been called a geek, it’s usually because I like computers and such.  I did collect comics when I was younger (okay, when I was older too), but not as much as some other people I knew.  I’ve always been more of a technical geek than a hidden-away-geek.  Not that there’s anything wrong with either.

As such, I’m generally on the periphery of most movies that have anything to do with comicdom.  I can typically keep up – while my wife would often run or walk the other way – and I can often enjoy them to at least some degree.  But in this case, I didn’t so much.  I liked the original Fantastic Four, and I’m aware enough of who the Silver Surfer was to be able to keep up, but I just didn’t really care for this sequel.

Read the rest of this entry »

Edward Norton stars in this film, where he is billed only as The Narrator. We don’t actually ever get to hear his name, which is interesting, but strangely, you don’t find yourself missing out on that fact (or at least, I didn’t).

When we meet him, he is simply a body in motion, moving through airports, living a life that most of us can associate with, finding some measure of satisfaction through filling out his apartment with items in the IKEA catalog, slowly making where he lives into a reflection of what you see on each page.

And then on one of these trips, he meets Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt). That’s when everything changes.

Read the rest of this entry »

I have to admit to not being a huge fan of The Fantastic Four growing up. Heck, I wasn’t a fan of any of the traditional superheroes, though I did like comics in general well enough. I just didn’t want to be reading the same ones as everyone else. So while I was acquainted with the basic premise, I didn’t have too much attachment to it. I completely understand that someone who was in love with the story may have ideas that are completely shattered if the movie wasn’t faithful to the original story.

When the four primary characters travel to the space station to research cosmic rays, they find that their calculations were off, and the rays are both more powerful than expected and closer. So they are bombarded by radiation that is unknown in origin and in power. This in turn gives them new powers, and they return to Earth with these powers, which transforms them into the superhero team that is known as The Fantastic Four.

Read the rest of this entry »