I'd read plenty of bad reviews for this film, but for some crazy reason, I still wanted to see it. Well, you know, sometimes those reviewers can be a little narrow. So, despite missing the press screening, I took time out to catch it at my local theatre.

Anyway, after the first 30 minutes, I was all ready to set the record straight, sing the praises of this film. It's light, brisk, fun, daring. It does "hero" in the way we used to think of superheroes. And in that first act, they learn their powers (which seems always to be the best part of these kind of films). To boot, our heroes already had a lot of juicy baggage bouncing around the group -- having known each other since college. Toss in super mutation, and hey, I'm having fun.

At the 30-45 minute mark, the four goes public with a huge automobile pile up on a long narrow bridge -- fire trucks crashing and everything. This scene is spectacular, a great pace, a warm heart, suspense, effects -- excellent entertainment. I'm wondering what those reviewers were thinking.

Then, well, the film never picks up from there, just sort of meanders within the inner circle of the bickering four and super bad guy, five. I tend not to appreciate super villains, so I was all the more disappointed that the film narrowed to focus on him. Save for TORCH taking a motocross bike excursion, the public is pretty much dropped from the picture. How unfortunate.

Still, the movie never stinks, just sinks into mediocrity at about its half point. So, we're going to give this one a B+, just barely.

Kudos to Chris Evans for keeping the film above simmer when all else was slipping. And to Michael Chiklis for giving this light film enough heart to choke up your average guy.