I was expecting the worst when I saw this movie in theatres, so I guess it could only be better than I expected. Still, I rather liked the movie. Then again, I honestly enjoyed the 2005 Fantastic Four movie so...there's that.
It definitely suffers from the death of a thousand cuts. Cassandra Webb herself is fairly compelling and very watchable, but could've been a lot better. Personally, I think making her an older woman would've offered an interesting perspective that most other superhero movies haven't touched yet, but she does well enough. Her mother issues straddle the line of being believable and being too vague in how they affected her, but the emotional catharsis she gets when she finds out the truth honestly made me tear up...though that scene does run out of steam thanks to some clumsy exposition right after that could've been cut down to two lines.
The rest of the characters are decent as well. The three teenagers are believably dumb but decent without being too annoying or goody-two-shoes. And after the MCU's repetitively massive stakes, there's something genuinely refreshing about a small-stakes superhero flick. No multiversal collapse, just three innocent lives to be protected from the villain.
The villain, however, is absolutely the weakest link. Ezekiel Sims isn't too bad in action scenes, especially since a bad-guy Spiderman vs. normal people makes for an interesting role reversal. It's when he talks that he suffers, being so mind-bogglingly flat in his delivery that any menace evaporates. And while he's not incomprehensible and I stand by my praise of a simpler story being refreshing, his backstory and motivations could've used a little more meat.
For what it is, I enjoyed my time, even if I could see a better version of every other scene in my head. It's not 'good', but if you can watch it on the cheap, give it a shot.
Film Many problems bring down a decent flick
I was expecting the worst when I saw this movie in theatres, so I guess it could only be better than I expected. Still, I rather liked the movie. Then again, I honestly enjoyed the 2005 Fantastic Four movie so...there's that.
It definitely suffers from the death of a thousand cuts. Cassandra Webb herself is fairly compelling and very watchable, but could've been a lot better. Personally, I think making her an older woman would've offered an interesting perspective that most other superhero movies haven't touched yet, but she does well enough. Her mother issues straddle the line of being believable and being too vague in how they affected her, but the emotional catharsis she gets when she finds out the truth honestly made me tear up...though that scene does run out of steam thanks to some clumsy exposition right after that could've been cut down to two lines.
The rest of the characters are decent as well. The three teenagers are believably dumb but decent without being too annoying or goody-two-shoes. And after the MCU's repetitively massive stakes, there's something genuinely refreshing about a small-stakes superhero flick. No multiversal collapse, just three innocent lives to be protected from the villain.
The villain, however, is absolutely the weakest link. Ezekiel Sims isn't too bad in action scenes, especially since a bad-guy Spiderman vs. normal people makes for an interesting role reversal. It's when he talks that he suffers, being so mind-bogglingly flat in his delivery that any menace evaporates. And while he's not incomprehensible and I stand by my praise of a simpler story being refreshing, his backstory and motivations could've used a little more meat.
For what it is, I enjoyed my time, even if I could see a better version of every other scene in my head. It's not 'good', but if you can watch it on the cheap, give it a shot.