Fantastic 4 / Ghost Rider / Punisher

[Digital Drift 2015]

We finally come to the dregs of the Marvel cinematic outings. After this it's things like the Hasselhoff Nick Fury, the early Captain Americas and Swamp Thing which barely qualify as movies. 

With the new Fant4stic movie emerging onto the big screen we took a look back on the 2005 version and its 2007 sequel. Were they really all that bad? More to the point, taking the unreleased 1994 Roger Corman version into account, were ALL Fantastic Four movies simply an exercise in keeping the license going rather than in making a superhero family movie that people will love?

After that it's the dregs of the Marvel adaptations. One or two of them have redeemingly fun qualities, but they collectively illustrate how the other studios had NO IDEA what they could do with these worlds and characters.

* Fantastic Four (2005): A pedestrian director wastes Chris Evans.
* Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007) The same guy stumbles through Jack Kirby lore.
* Ghost Rider (2007): Nick Cage as eccentric fusion of Spawn and The Mask on a motorbike. 
* Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance (2011): Cage sleepwalks in pursuit of Antichrist. Filmed in a quarry. 
* The Punisher (2004): Thomas Jane plays urban Machiavelli. Travolta never stops being furious. 
* Punisher: War Zone (2008): Ray Stevenson is miserable. Many men are punished. 
* Elektra: (2005) Jennifer Garner stares at lake Tahoe for 90 minutes. Also occasional ninjas.