"It's Clobberin' Time!" - The Ben "Thing" Grimm Thread - Part 1

[Joe Rockhead]

So since Ben kept hearing the phrase "It's clobbering time" from his abusive older brother everytime he was about to be hit, and he said this when he was about to hit Doom at the end, does this make him as if he's acting out some abuser tendencies?

Often the abused becomes the abuser and they subconsciously act out the same behaviour they've learnt all these years. Why would Ben choose to say that otherwise, since it's associated with such negative experiences? Surely he'd pick a better turn of phrase at that moment? Unless he didn't even think about it and said it as if it were second nature.

Which then does raise the question whether this version of Ben, who has been abused, seems to possibly be on his way to becoming an abuser as well.

Why couldn't they go for something simpler, in that "it's clobbering time" is just a fun catchphrase? Why on earth would Trank think that it being an abusive catchphrase would be so much better?

I think that Trank wanted the 4 to be loners and outsiders.

Reed is misunderstood by his parents.
Ben is abused youngest brother in a poor household.
Sue is a Kosovo orphan.
Johnny is the neglected son of Franklin Storm (maybe not neglected, just not interested in all the science stuff of his father)

The phrase "It's Clobberin' Time" doesn't need an origin, but if they absolutely HAD to establish it before hand it could have by simply changing some of the dialog between Ben and Reed when he helps Reed move in to the Baxter Institute.

Something like:

Ben: Let me know if any of these guys give you a hard time.

Reed: I'm not going to ask you to come clobber them.

There are plenty of different variations on that but it is really that simple.

 

[Ragnaroknroll]

I'm finding it hard to understand why this INO version of Ben has any kills. The guy could walk up to an enemy combatant, snap their weapon in two and take his prisoner back in one piece to an Army prison. He doesn't have to kill anyone. But apparently that wasn't gritty enough for Trank and Kinberg.

It's a movie written by juveniles for juveniles while pretending to not be juvenile.

 

[CTFFFan]

One of the things that bothered me most about the movie beyond the awfulness of it was the Thing killing people. Sorry that is ridiculous.

 

[Loki882]

Hey Stan, you know the thing? Well, he's just not that interesting. I've got some pointers for you. Get rid of all the football and pilot background and make him 17 or 18, start fresh. Dont make him from the lower eastside, dont give him an accent, and dont have him smoke or play poker. Make ben really boring before he turns into the thing. Like, he hardly ever says or does anything and just follows reed around like a lost puppy. That way once he does became the thing he'll be more memorable. He can sit in dark rooms and cry alot, maybe not wear pants, or work for the government, no, better yet he kills people, lots of people! Like 40 or 50! Kind of like an assassin or something.

One of my friends had an amusing quip about that. "It's like Weapon X lost control of Wolverine, so they recruited The Thing as a second option."

 

[Quasimod0]

I actually liked The Thing's design, and didn't mind his voice. If he'd had any sort of personality, he could've been a great version of the character. Instead he was just "there".

 

[Loden Greatstorm]

Thing was the best part of the movie for me.

 

[Kelly]

His voice coming out of Thing reminded me of the Beasts voice in Beauty and the Beast (Disney version).

 

[Majik1387]

I don't know if that's a positive or negative reference, but I didn't mind Thing's voice actually.

 

[AndrewGilkison]

It's baffling how they left in that "it's clobbering time" line in scene where Ben is getting the **** kicked out of him by his brother. That was the scene that made me stop watching the first ten minutes of the movie clip I found online. It was so bad I couldn't take it anymore.

I know the editors couldn't do much with this movie but at the very least did they have to tie a comic book character's signature catchphrase to child abuse?

 

[The Slang]

Ben hardly got the **** kicked out of him. He got smacked upside the head. I didn't think the clobbering line origin was bad, maybe not necessary, but not bad.
I actually liked this Thing a lot more than the previous one. He seemed way more intimidating and powerful. He looked better. Voice was fine. Could've used pants.

 

[psylockolussus]

I liked his voice and Jamie Bell is really cute! Looking forward to see his deleted scenes!

 

[The Infernal]

The voice wasn't as bad as it was in the promo material (can't believe they let out so much unfinished stuff), but Bell has nothing to work with in this movie. He feels like a near mute before transformation and his sporadic appearences post feel like an afterthought.

 

[terry78]

They didn't know what to do with him.

 

[Majik1387]

They didn't know what to do with anyone, other than Reed really, and even then it wasn't much.

 

[Wildcard]

Thought Bell was good even though, as stated above, he didn't have much to work with. I do think the "it's clobberin' time" line needs to be done away with...it's beyond tired. The CGI was pretty damn good and in the end, I think I like this design more than the Michael Chiklis version.

 

[psylockolussus]

I definitely prefer this design more. The CGI started looking obvious in the forest action sequence and Planet Zero action scene, but I liked that he was quite big and the scene where the CGI didn't look so obvious.

 

[Eddie]

I was bringing up comparisons between movie Thing and RPG rock monsters and I realized that Golem from Final Fantasy V looks kinda like Thing in this movie:

Odd body shape, no penis, wait... Golem has four digits per hand and blue eyes...

Golem from Final Fantasy V is a more accurate Ben Grimm than movie Thing!

 

[psylockolussus]

Reading the "Ben Drop" scene description, that should have been included in the final cut.

I hope they attached it in the Blu-ray features, plus Jamie's scene with Kate Mara at the early part of the film.

 

[Matt Mortem]

I hated that Grimm pretty much had zero interactions with any of the FF except Reed.

 

[Quasar]

Well he is "a Thing that nobody wanted".

 

[MydnightPhoenix]

I couldn't stand how they used Ben in this movie, but I did like The Thing. I felt he had 2 emotional scenes that gave him more depth and made me feel sorry for him. I do wish he had more interaction with Johnny and Sue. The Design was also much better than the hideous one in the first Fan4 movies.

 

[chamber-music]

Ben was kind of bland and boring before he became the Thing in this movie. They wasted Jamie Bell.

 

[Havok83]

Ben was underutilized period. He was quite forgettable as he was barely there

 

[Dark Raven]

The thing wasn't just barely there. It was non existent.