June 15, 2007, - 3:09 pm
Weekend Box Office: Just OK “Fantastic 4” Sequel Disses Torture of Islamic Terrorists
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This weekend’s big box office release, “Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer,” the sequel to 2005’s “Fantastic Four,” is much better than the first installment. But, then, that’s not saying much, since the first one was so lackluster and silly.
Here’s the scoop: The earth’s energy and power is being sucked out of it by a cloud/planet (“Galactus” in the F4 comic books). The earth will cease to exist, unless it is saved, which–of course!–happens, courtesy of the “Fantastic Four.” Sort of. Actually, in this one, the villain–the “Silver Surfer”–saves the day. He is sent here to do the cloud/planet’s bidding.
What I did NOT like about this movie was the VERY CLEAR statement against our military, Guantanamo, and torture of terrorists. In one scene, we see the Fantastic Four being held prisoner by the U.S. military, in a jail-like facility like Gitmo. The U.S. General who heads the place wants to torture the villainous “Silver Surfer” to get the truth out of him about the plot against the Earth. Jessica Alba a/k/a “Susan Storm” a/k/a “The Invisible Woman” yells and screams against the torture of the innocent alien terrorist being. She sneaks into his chamber and is nice to him. Because of that, he is nice back, shares the plot, and eventually helps save the day–by betraying his evil alien planet master.
Like that ever would happen. Yeah–We play nice-nice to Islamic terrorists, and then they spill everything AND turn against Bin Laden and Islam AND save us from Al-Qaeda. Uh, sadly, NO. Only in some liberal’s dreams. Back to reality.
Ironically, this is the same beautiful and beautifully-stupid Jessica Alba who–in summer 2005, when the first “F4” debuted–was wailing against the War in Iraq in press interviews, . She was upset that, instead of a vacation in Italy, he was sent to Iraq.
Hey, Jessica, shut up and act. And get rid of the “Gitmo/U.S. torture of terrorists” political scene and statements from your superhero movie, while you’re at it.
I did like the Silver Surfer character, though. The movie was okay. But definitely not “Fantastic.”
(Although there are a few minor sex jokes/references, you can take your kids to see it. They won’t get the references.)
Tags: al-Qaeda, bin Laden, Debbie Schlussel, energy, Fantastic 4, Fantastic Four, General, innocent alien terrorist, Iraq, Italy, Jessica, Jessica Alba, Silver Surfer, U.S. military, United States
For something that’s being billed as a ‘family film,’ I seriously doubt they would want to include a torture sequence. I think you would admit (considering your past reviews rightfully decrying excessive violence in Hollywood) that family films are in short supply these days. So why would you want to sacrifice one more for the sake of topical realism? And considering your description of the movie’s plotline, I don’t think realism is what the filmmakers had in mind.
CLEARLY, YOU DON’T GET MY POINT. THEY DON’T NEED TO INVOLVE TORTURE OF ALIENS IN THE FILM. BUT THEY CHOOSE TOO, WITH HER WAILING AGAINST IT AND THEN SUCCEEDING IN TURNING THE ALIEN HER WAY, SINCE SHE STOPS THE TORTURE. WHY INCLUDE THE SCENE AT ALL? THIS WAS NOT IN THE F4 COMIC BOOKS, TO MY KNOWLEDGE. IT’S CLEARLY A STATEMENT ABOUT OUR WAR ON TERROR, AND THE WHOLE SCENE HAS NO PLACE IN THE MOVIE.
DEBBIE SCHLUSSEL
AlternativeThought on June 15, 2007 at 3:39 pm