Little Fockers (2010)

Call me crazy, but I’ve always enjoyed Meet the Fockers over Meet the Parents. Some try to argue that the sequel brought down the quality of the series but I think it holds its own just fine. This poorly conceived dud, however, deserves all the criticism thrown at it.

Greg and Pam Focker (Ben Stiller and Teri Polo) are preparing for their twins’ fifth birthday party while also nearing the completion of building a new home. When Greg’s father-in-law Jack Byrnes (Robert De Niro) approaches him about becoming the heir of the Byrnes-Focker family throne, Greg reluctantly accepts. This leads to even more scrutiny and opinion from Jack about how Greg’s children should be raised. As if brochures for private schools and delayed construction schedules aren’t enough, Jack inadvertently uncovers aspects of Greg’s secret promotional work for an erectile dysfunction medication. Rather than question Greg about the few pieces of evidence he finds, Jack assumes Greg is having an affair and sets off on a mission to bring down his son-in-law.

A chief problem in this film is that Greg’s children (the titular little Fockers) aren’t featured enough. The humor in the Meet films is largely situational and it works best when Greg is trying to impress his father-in-law. In Meet the Parents, Greg was trying to make a good first impression on his future in-laws. In Meet the Fockers, Greg is trying to give Jack a good first impression of his parents. This time around? It feels more like Jack is trying to cement his legacy rather than Greg trying to do anything impressive.

There are only a few scenes where Greg has humorous moments with his kids. The rest of the time he’s arguing with Jack or sneaking around to do his promotional work. I can see Greg finally being at the point of sticking up for himself and dishing it right back at Jack but sometimes these moments feel a little too mean-spirited for a goofy comedy. When, at long last, the two come to blows, the fight scene alternates between being too corny and too serious.

Greg is a nice guy and means well. Jack should know this by now, so his jump to the conclusion that Greg his a cheating scoundrel is unrealistic. What we really need from this film is Jack to make a few choice comments about parenting styles, Greg to try to impress Jack and fail, and conclude with Greg being himself and showing Jack that that results in a loving bond with his children. Instead, we get more cheesy post-CIA paranoia antics, a lot of crude humor stemming from the nature of Greg’s side work, and not enough of what made the first two installments work.

Astounding as it may seem, Little Fockers came just $20 million short of matching the box office haul of Meet the Parents. Ordinarily that may suggest an additional sequel but I highly doubt one will surface given the terrible reviews it got from critics and audiences alike. Maybe it was the change in director or a change on the writing team. Or maybe the concept and characters were milked for all they were worth after two films. Whatever the case, the well seems to be mostly dry and what little is brought up in the bucket is tolerable at best but leaves a bad taste in your mouth.

RATING: 2.25 out of 5

Fantastic Four (2005)

With a resurgence in comic book movies in the 2000s, it was inevitable that one of Marvel Comic’s most popular superhero teams would make their way to the big screen. The Fantastic Four are a colorful and fun bunch of crime fighters but telling their story was always going to be a difficult task. Each member requires substantial visual effects and telling their origin story is no easy task.

Reed Richards is a brilliant but bankrupt physicist on the verge of a breakthrough. He believes he can prove the spark for evolution lies within rare bursts of cosmic energy. To gather the data he needs, he convinces his former classmate and millionaire Victor von Doom to allow him the use of his private space station. Richards and Doom assemble a team including gruff astronaut Ben Grimm, Doom’s beautiful assistant and genetics researcher Susan Storm (who is also Richard’s ex-girlfriend) and Susan’s brother, Johnny, a hotshot astronaut who lives like a rock star.

The experiment goes horribly wrong and the team is exposed to the dangerous cosmic radiation. Back on Earth, Richards, Grimm and the Storm’s discover that they have all developed bizarre mutations, giving them a variety of superpowers. Each of them struggles with their new abilities and, after saving many lives during an accident on the Brooklyn Bridge, they form a team dubbed The Fantastic Four by the media. Meanwhile, Von Doom’s reputation is ruined and his corporation slides into bankruptcy. He too is developing powers and decides to use them to punish Richards and his friends for ruining his life.

One of the best things about the Fantastic Four is that they have always been on the lighter side of the superhero spectrum. Unfortunately for the filmmakers, happy-go-lucky super teams were no longer in vogue after the immense popularity of the dark, gritty Batman Begins, released just a month earlier. With the successful rebirth of Batman, comic book movie fans wanted more of the same- troubled, morally ambiguous heroes dealing with inner darkness. They wanted believable looking effects, stunts and fights. This is simply not possible for the Fantastic Four.

I think this led some critics and plenty of movie-goers to leave theaters feeling disappointed. Frankly, they never should have expected anything but a loud, colorful, mostly brainless popcorn flick. That is the essence of the Fantastic Four. Their powers and attitudes lead to sight gags and cheesy one-liners. That’s what made them so popular as a comic book series; they were able to save the day without being too serious.

Batman Begins did the right thing and gave its origin story enough time to develop at over two hours long. Fantastic Four has a run time of just over an hour and 40 minutes. This forces the filmmakers to rush just about everything in order to introduce the major players, set up the accident, develop their new powers and throw them into conflict with Doom. This lightning-quick pace hurts your ability to suspend disbelief because the pace of everything borders on absurd.

On top of the pace, the powers each member of the Four and Dr. Doom possess require plenty of special effects. Johnny Storm (aka The Human Torch) and Ben Grimm (The Thing) get the best of the lot with superb digital effects and makeup work. Richards (Mr. Incredible), who can stretch his body in unnatural ways, has the least realistic looking effects because his power is virtually impossible to make look real. The effects during some of the action sequences look a tad stagey at times but are usually adequate enough.

If there is one thing we can learn from this film is that standalone superhero stories are easier to pull off than team stories. With Batman, Superman, Spider-Man and Iron Man, filmmakers can devote more time to develop their main character. With Fantastic Four, we have four good guys and a villain to develop in a much shorter amount of time. While fans of the comics know each character is interesting in their own right, all we’re able to get out of the film is a quick glimpse and a caricature of an otherwise cool team of superheroes.

I still think that critics and moviegoers were too hard on this film. I think that the Fantastic Four are at the top of the second-tier of comic book superheroes but they are still second-tier. Any film version of their origins was bound to be a little over the top and goofy. It would be a stretch to say that the filmmakers did the best with what they had, because the film could have been a little bit longer to provide proper character development. Then again, it could have been a lot worse (and by worse I mean the unreleased 1994 version of the film made solely to secure copyright to the property).

RATING: 2.75 out of 5

Sin City (2005)

If this film had been shot and produced in the same manner as conventional films, it would have been a failure. The saving grace of this neo-noir comic book film is its style and art direction. Sin City is a visual masterpiece that really looks like a comic book in motion. Because of this, some of the effects that would seem laughable in any other film are laudable here.

Sin City accomplishes a rare feat for me- it is a film that I nearly fell asleep watching, but rather enjoyed. The high concept and suspenseful payoff at the end of this installment make up for the weighty, overblown and overlong feel this movie carries through much of the middle. Under normal circumstances, this film would have been at least a whole star lower on my scale. It’s uncommon for technical aspects to save a film, and should certainly not be tried more often, because it usually won’t work.

This film is mainly for readers of the Sin City series of comic books (the industry would like me to refer to them as graphic novel, but I don't really care) and for those who enjoy high concept comic book film adaptations (of which there are few). It can be hard to follow at first, because Sin City brings you into an already living world. Nothing is explained to you about this world’s construct except through dialog. It takes a few minutes to get used to, but more focused viewers will catch on quick.

RATING: 3.5 out of 5