By Jerry Maynard
We’ve spent some time covering the new Fantastic Four…..um…movie….yeah….but anyways we wont talk about that. We will talk about the successful one though! Yes the most successful film about a family of four that continues to hold its place in time as one of the best superhero movies to date! (With a stellar soundtrack I might add.) Oh wait…that wasn’t the fantastic four??? But there was a family of four and they had stretchy powers and inviso-shield powers…oh yeah IT’S THESE GUYS (and gals)
Brad Bird’s “The Incredibles is the story of a family of …well five actually….who are trying to live a normal life in a world where superheroes have been shunned by society and are now forced to live as ordinary people without using their powers publicly or really in any way that could impact the lives of those around them. I won’t spoil the details for you of the plot but it’s definitely in my top 3 favorite movies ever and here are a few reasons why it’s the best movie about a superhero family and what the fox should learn from it (Four reasons actually!)
1. The scenario is as believable as a movie about superheroes could be
We as a society have a nasty habit of ruining a good thing that we have going for us as we can see throughout history and this movie basically starts off with that premise. Our heroes are doing their thing, saving the day and such when suddenly society has turned the tide and become the enemy of the heroes due to the catalyst of Mr. Incredible Saving the life of a man who has attempted to commit suicide. Instead of thanking him for returning his life to him he decides the appropriate reaction is to instead sue our hero for the damages he received in the life saving act. We as a society tend to look at all the negative that is happening around us and instead of thanking the ones responsible for all the good that has happened and building around that, we instead as a majority will point the accusatory finger and immediately blame the caretaker/leader for all our mishaps and forget all the good this person may have just done for us. This drama continues to play out in our villains story as well…but like I said…I won’t give out too many details however I will say I do think this is exactly how things would go down if superheroes were to actually exist in real life and the fact that the writers seem to have asked the question of what exactly would happen in real life if we actually had superheroes.
2. It sets up the villain in a way that is also understandable
Let me explain what I mean here by understandable. I would not have taken the exact same actions were I In his shoes however, one could understand how this man ended up going down the route that he did and by the time the film reaches the climax you have a scenario set up that makes sense and also truly has set up a point of dire peril that you feel the anxiety and sense of peril that our heroes face in the movie and are right there with them in the tension on screen
3. Our heroes make sense even down to what powers they have!
I love the power castings for all of our characters in this movie. It was an incredibly (See what I did there,) smart and well played move on the writer’s part. (albeit a bit role defining but lets just enjoy the movie and realize you don’t have to be the role stereotype in real life while seeing this is simply just one family example out of many!) Mom has to be able to multitask while at home since she is the stay at home mom and hence has super stretchy powers to do lots of things at once and stretch her way around the tasks! She also gets a suit that is indestructible later….basically adding another power…cuz moms. Dad has to be strong for his family as the the money maker and ya know strong dad stereotype so DAD HAS SUPERSTRENGTH!!!!!!! Teenagers sometimes just don’t wanna be seen and sadly want to disappear at times so Violet , the teenager of the family can not only turn herself invisible but also can put up forcefield walls and bubbles. See the parallels yet? They also have two sons and as most parents of boys will say, young boys are full of life and energy and can run around all day, henceforth the first son, Dash, has superspeed and can run literally from here to Africa and back all day long if he wants. One never knows the person their newborn baby will become as they grow up but our writers know that super babies also…..well…lets save that gem for peeps who haven’t watched
(also Samuel L. Jackson clearly must be cool in real life right…thus…ICE POWERS for fro-zone!)
4.) We have one of the most stellar soundtracks for a superhero movie to date that in my book competes with both Hans Zimmer’s Batman soundtracks and also the iconic theme for superman written by John Williams..Ok I’ll give you that its not as memorable as John Williams music but this soundtrack was what I believe has started Michael Giacchino down the road that has led people to refer to him as the next John Williams (note that he was the composer for the latest Jurassic World film.) The soundtrack in this movie is the closest to perfect I have heard in how it builds when things need to get hyped up and does a good job accenting the sound of what you’d think of while heroes are hurrying through the hustle and bustle of a busy city but at the same time loses absolutely ZERO traction when things get calmer or when the heroes need to stealth mode their way around some evil lairs, nor overly silly when things are a little goofy.
If you got this far without watching the movie then please please go watch it and treat yourself to the real Fantastic Four movie. It’s incredible.
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