jmbovan-47-160173

Fantastic Four: First Steps sets itself in a Mod 60s alternative Earth. But, it comes across more like Superheroes Meet The Jetsons, all without the fun. The film starts with the Team already established with their cosmic powers and saviors of the Earth, or at least The USA. That was the one good thing this film did: Skip the Origin Story.

Past that, the characters seemed diluted, holding only the most basic elements from the comics. Maybe that was the issue: they used only the comics as character development. For characters that have a long history, they only hold small pieces of the persons the characters are. Glints of what the characters are supposed to be.

The overall plot comes down to grief, greed, guilt, and family. And a lot of random science. I fell asleep watching it at home, and I heard rhe ending. I rewatched the last 60 minutes I missed while sleeping. I shouldn't have.

Flight Risk is a movie that has been done before in multiple variations and multiple guises. Nothing new here, and some things that weren't needed. It's been done better.

Plotting and overall film are adequate to dull. Nothing was added to this film. And in some ways, this film was somehow smaller than other films of the like.

Mark Wahlberg is unnecessary in the role. His character is over the top for no reason and his over the top detracts left and right from the film. And, why bald? Why shaved bald in a stupid way? It does nothing for the role or movie except be a distraction.

Topher Grace plays...Topher Grace, or that character that he usually plays. Weak, nebbish, and annoying Grace has down pat. Too bad he tends to do this character too often.

Michelle Dockery is the only reason to watch this film. She keeps her character real. She's given the least amount of stupid stuff to do. And so she holds the film together and keeps the tension high.

This film was fun to watch as I washed dishes. And baked cookies. And petted the cats.

The Lone Paddler is just another attempt at wilderness horror or thriller that pulls for the idea of character development. It doesn't succeed. This lies partially with the overall script and plot development. But, the acting is mediocre and thus bring little to rounding out the characters.

I'm not even certain what they were trying to bring to the screen, but I was left bored and underwhelmed. Nothing new was presented from a dozen other films doing similar things. So nothing new to a film that has been done before and nothing above decent to say "Watch for this performance!" Or "You won't expect this twist!" There's really nothing here to see.