I figured that it was time to do what I ought to have done upon its initial release and see this movie (I had promised myself that I'd see it in theaters - reviews be ****** - but was so deflated by the negativity that I ended up breaking that promise) (thank you, HBO, for adding it to your lineup), and I wish I'd gotten around to seeing it sooner, because, in spite of everything, I really enjoyed it.
Tonally and structurally, the film reminded me very much of X-Men First Class, The Amazing Spider-Man, and Casino Royale, and benefited greatly, IMO, from taking the same kind of grounded, slow-build approach that those films did, building up the characters and the narrative independent of any big action set pieces so that when it does eventually reach a point in its narrative where action set pieces come into play, they feel 'earned' and the point where things look the bleakest for the characters carries more 'weight'.
I also loved the 'look' of the film, particularly the way the characters' powers were rendered and the design of their 'containment suit' uniforms (Reed having designed his own suit made the entire concept even cooler, although I wish somebody had commented on that fact). I kept my Sue avatar primarily because I love the design of her costume, and it and the other characters' costumes look as good on film as they did on the poster(s) from which my avatar is derived.
The cast was also terrific, with great chemistry, and totally embodied the "Ultimate" versions of the characters, upon which most of their characterization was based. Of particular note, at least for me, were the relationships between Reed and Ben, Reed and Sue, and Johnny and Franklin.
I also liked Victor's reintroduction as 'Doom', especially once they brought him back to 'Area 57' and he started using his powers; the sequence was very reminiscent of the introduction of Doctor Octopus in Spider-Man 2 and the pages of Ultimate Spider-Man Vol. 2. His character design was also great, reminding me of a cross between Darth Vader, the Bio-Men from Defiance, the robots from I, Robot, and the 1970s Sentinels from X-Men Days of Future Past.
All in all, I found the film to be infinitely better than its negative reception indicated, and feel very saddened by the fact that we likely won't be seeing any follow-ups to it, because there deserves to be.
I'm giving it a 9 out of 10, and will be adding it to my blu-ray Superhero Movie collection (which currently only consists of the X-Men films) at some point.
