Someone has to explain to me how it makes sense to cast Jessica Alba as Sue Storm. I know her name provides greater incentive for comic-book fans to spend their money on these films, but it’s rather astounding that Hollywood is suddenly bereft of semi-talented blondes who could carry this franchise. It’s not as if the part requires a great deal of acting talent or physical ability. Why would anyone require Alba – whose beauty is specifically a product of her “exotic” appearance – to go blonde and wear blue contacts lenses? Alba is certainly attractive enough to pull off minor changes to her appearance, but these alterations of her image are asking a lot of acceptance from the audience. In fact, the images of Alba’s eyes only alternate between artificial, distracting, and disturbing.
The decision to alter Alba’s appearance borders on being comparable to Rita Hayworth going blonde in The Lady from Shanghai, considering how jarring the results are in both films. Unfortunately for the Fantastic Four’s filmmakers, their creative choices aren’t subdued by the softer hues of black-and-white photography. It’s also probably a safe assumption to make that Story doesn’t have as much talent to fall back upon, considering his crew doesn’t include anyone as ingenious or inventive as Orson Welles. Hence, since Story’s film never exerts or extends itself beyond the customary attempts to entertain, the entire project feels incredibly generic and bland for the most part. Thus, Alba serves as just another comic-book cog rather than as the glamorous object-of-temptation that Welles envisioned and sculpted for Hayworth, though this is kind of an unfair comparison to be making considering the diverging talent-levels and goals of each project.
Seriously, if I ever meet the genius who decided to reduce Alba to just another Hollywood-blonde remind me to smack them with my shoe. Also, someone needs to remind me to start picking better movies to watch during the summer months.
by Chiranjit Goswami | Source: 20th Century Fox 35mm Theatrical Print
25 Jun 2007 5:42 PM | Submit Comment
