An awesome and ridiculous film that leaves you thrilled beyond the point of your natural endurance
2012
Theatre
The show has suddenly become quite wonderful, and the galvanising factor is the terrific stage debut of Melanie C
Blood Brothers
Music
The British pop music industry may be eating itself but if Muse are the pick of what it can offer the world in 2010 then British music is in rude health indeed
Muse
I was smitten by both Gilberts enormous luxuriant moustache and the intelligence and nuance of this highly entertaining play
I totally recommend Babbo to anyone who is looking for really good and traditional Italian food
Always been a fan but never seen them live. I was ecstatic to be part of this epic event. WOW!
London,
Derek Malcolm's rating
Reader rating
Dir: Tim Story.
Cast: Ioan Gruffudd, Jessica Alba, Chris Evans, Michael Chiklis, Julian McMahon
Description: Dr Reed Richards, Sue Storm, her hot-headed brother Johnny and astronaut Ben Grimm aka Mr Fantastic, The Invisible Girl, The Human Torch and The Thing reunite in the face of adveristy. Mankind is threatened by the appearance of the slippery Silver Surfer, who tests the quartet's special powers to the limit. Meanwhile, villainous Victor Von Doom wreaks his revenge on the team, who put him behind bars.
Country: US. 2007. 91mins
Movers and shakers: Doug Jones is the body of the Silver Surfer
Little Miss Marvel: Sue Storm (Jessica Alba) finds the Fab Four aren't the only ones with superpowers
The second big-screen adventure of Marvel's Fabulous Four might not offer much in the way of involving drama but - unlike certain other summer blockbusters - at least it doesn't overstay its welcome.
In a compact hour and a half, the mission is accomplished, and the world saved from the Silver Surfer, an intergalactic herald come to Earth to prepare it to be swallowed up by a huge and greedy planet.
With his cosmic-powered board, he can absorb and manipulate the universe's ambient cosmic energies.
But he has a conscience as well as a Zen-like detachment, which is lucky for a Fab Four who might otherwise have failed to save the situation.
They are, in Tim Story's film, at any rate, a fairly anodyne lot, given to speaking in clichés and, when not using their exceptional powers, are presented as rather ordinary denizens of America.
Their leader is bodystretcher Mister Fantastic (Ioan Gruffudd again), whose attempts to get married to the Invisible Woman, Sue Storm (Jessica Alba), are rudely interrupted by news of the Silver Surfer's arrival.
Whereupon the two, aided by Chris Evans as the Human Torch and Michael Chiklis, the most endearing of the quartet, as the freakish Ben Grimm, set to work amid a plethora of special effects.
These are nothing to write home about, but just about suffice.
What doesn't suffice is a dull screenplay and a storyline that goes dead about halfway through.
Fortunately, things pick up when Julian McMahon's Dr Doom sets up a spectacular finale.
In in all, it's a variable effort that adds nothing much to the franchise while giving its fans roughly what they expect: fun and games, in fact, from a comic-book series that never carried the weight of imagination of Marvel's best work yet managed to be popular all the same.
Details are correct at the time of publication - please check with venue before booking.
howget that film sorry the second big screen adventure
- Mohamed, croydon
"A comic-book series that never carried the weight of imagination of Marvel's best work "?
I know I'm being a massive geek here, but I don't think you could possibly BE any more wrong about the original Stan Lee/Jack Kirby version of The Fantastic Four, which is generally considered amongst the MOST imaginative comics of all time and which, along with Stan and Steve Ditko on Spiderman, set the tone for the entire Marvel line.
I can't really judge how good the films are though - all I need is for The Thing to say "It's Clobberin' Time" and I'm sold!
- Mj Hibbett, London
Morning:
11°c
