The Tao of Torch

Did you have any doubts that I'd rush out to grab the tickets for Fantastic Four the minute it was showing?

You can rest easy. I certainly did that - well actually I continuously prodded poor Jaunty Jared till being the sweet, obliging soul that he is, he agreed to go purchase the tickets. Not that the last Fantastic Four outing was all that great ( seriously cheesy anyone? ) but hey it has my ridiculously handsome husband-to-be Chris Evans flexing his perky, lightly furred pecs - and that's already worth the price of the ticket. It could have a paper-thin plot with Chris dictating dreadfully dull definitions from the dictionary and I'd still be there to watch.

And drool.

Shallow, I know. But it's nice to be embarassingly shallow every once in a while.


Love me! Someone come be my friend!
Fortunately we do have the same cast as the first movie with Chris Evans reprising his role of Johnny Storm, the hot-headed, brash and arrogant ladies' man who finds himself literally on fire. This time around, our squabbling superhero quintet find themselves juggling wedding invitations and end-of-the-world news reports.

The producers obviously know who's the steaming hot enchilada on the show since Chris manages to score significantly more screen time - as Johnny deals with the fact that the team might be splitting up, his muddled search for companionship seems futile ( no doubt saving himself for me! ) and his powers might be on the fritz. At least this time he manages to show-off his budding thespian skills rather than spend his time flexing his biceps. But hey you don't see me complaining, do ya?

Have my personal gripes over the show of course ( though it certainly doesn't overshadow the fact that we have smoking hot Chris in skintight spandex ). For one thing dedicated comic fanboys would decry the dumbing down of a significant epic in comicdom history - and the subsequent transformation of the ominious Galactus into an interplanetary storm cloud. Wasn't too impressed with the two-dimensional Silver Surfer myself ( though his interrogation / bondage scene was disturbingly hawt ). And on a frivolous note, Susan Storm's patently fake wig has to go - quite obvious she shares disastrous fashion tips with the X-Men's Storm. And what a cop-out to shift the wedding to Japan when they were already conveniently in Shanghai!

Don't go expecting an Oscar-winning performance with deep, nuanced dialogue and awe-inspiring cinematography - and you just might find it an enjoyable ( though admittedly mindless ) summer watch.