Fantastic Four

Grayson saw this with Jamie's dad when it came out, but I didn't see it until last weekend with him, when the DVD came out.  I know nothing about the comic book, but I thought the movie was actually pretty good.  I have a contractual agreement to like anything Ioan Griffud does (I can even pronounce his name correctly) since he does such a great job as my favorite literary hero Horatio Hornblower in the A&E series, and I thought he did well here, even mastering an American accent (why can't Sean Connery?  I've always wondered that).  But all four are actually pretty good, and it probably has something to do with the focus of this movie being more on the relationships between the four than on their powers.  Michael Chiklis is probably the best since he has more to emote about, and is able to do it well, even through the prostheses he has to wear (how they made it so expressive I have no idea).  But I liked the flame guy and Jessica Alba as well.  The villain (who Jamie and I like a lot in Nip/Tuck) does the best he can with a role that degenerates into a mask-wearing villan towards the end, but at some point you just have to realize that somebody has to do it.  The final fight scene was surprisingly short - I thought the bridge scene was actually a lot better - but there are always sequels I suppose, and we'll get to see what they can do in that.  Not quite as good as the series' principal homage, The Incredibles, but then, not much is.  But a good start to a new superhero series.