Fantastic FourFantastic Four DVD Movie Review |
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After a string of horrible low-budget adaptations in the 80s (anyone remember Captain America?), Marvel comics finally got their act together around the dawn of the new millennium. Gone were the cheap sets, B-level directors and straight-to-DVD casts. Instead, we finally started getting projects that utilized both a decent budget and CGI effects to adequately simulate a world populated by superheroes and their evil counterparts. The Fantastic Four is one such project. The story begins as brilliant-yet-broke scientist Reed Richards (Ioan Gruffudd) and his best pal and pilot Ben Grimm (Michael Chiklis) pay a visit to the ultra-wealthy Victor Von Doom (Julian McMahon). It seems that Richards has determined that evolution on Earth was caused by a cloud of cosmic energy. One of these clouds is soon to pass Earth and Richards wants to study it in the hopes of helping mankind. Unfortunately, he needs access to Von Doom’s space station to do so, and so he has no hope but to appeal to his old MIT classmate and rival.
The group arrives at the space station, but the cosmic cloud appears prematurely and envelops all those present. They manage to get back to Earth, but soon find that they weren’t unscathed, as each begins to develop strange and powerful abilities. Reed can stretch his body to incredible lengths (code name: Mr. Fantastic). Sue can turn invisible and create force fields (code name: The Invisible Girl). Johnny can fly, burst into flames and project fire from his hands (code name: The Human Torch). Ben gets the worst of it, as he’s mutated in a giant orange-hued creature with rocky skin and great strength (code name: The Thing). And don’t forget about Von Doom (code name: Dr. Doom). The good doctor slowly starts turning into living metal with the ability to manipulate energy. Needless to say, this doesn’t improve his already bad disposition, and he wastes no time in pursuing a murderous vendetta against Richards, who he blames for his disfigurement. As you might have guessed, a showdown between the two sides is inevitable. First off, let me say that I enjoyed the film. Despite what other critics may have said (and believe me, most really roasted the film), I thought it did a nice job of capturing the wonder and/or curse of what it’s like to have super powers. Sure, it was hokey in places, but it’s a movie about people who dress up in costumes and fight crime. What else would you expect? The chemistry between the principal characters was solid, especially with Ben and Johnny. In fact, these two characters really steal the show and represent polar opposites in their attitudes towards the space mishap. When told that his DNA has been fundamentally altered, Johnny simply says, “Cool.” While retaining his good looks, he flies about town and becomes a darling of the media. Ben, on the other hand, is turned into an orange monstrosity, and his fiance proceeds to leave him quicker than you can say, “It’s clobberin’ time.” Their respective attitudes are perfectly underscored by the performances of Evans and Chiklis. While I’m unfamiliar with the rest of his work, Evans does an excellent job of portraying a cocky babe magnet. And Chiklis, buried under a massive bodysuit, is still able to perfectly convey the pain and suffering of the kind-hearted Grimm. Anyone familiar with his work on the standout cable series The Shield won’t be the least bit surprised. Here’s hoping that he’ll become a fixture on the big screen. Alba and Gruffudd are less impressive but still solid enough to get the job done. Yeah, it seems hard to buy the smoking hot Alba as a genius scientist, but a lot of that can be attributed to social stereotyping. The rest can mostly be blamed on the script. It also doesn’t help that the pair are forced to play out an over-simplified love triangle which seems to have all the emotional complexity of a junior high school romance. The scenes of superheroics are solid, and the final showdown with Doom is especially nice. For once, we get to see a super team actually use teamwork. That’s more than can be said of the X-Men. There are lots of other nice touches along the way, as well. When Reed falls asleep at his desk, his face contorts without his knowing it. When Sue kicks her powers into high gear, she gets a nosebleed. There are many such moments sprinkled throughout the movie, and it definitely served to enhance my level of enjoyment. But it’s not a perfect film by a long shot. As mentioned earlier, many of the characters could be stronger, and director Tim Story does a disservice by forcing the suitably creepy Julian McMahon to portray Doom in an over-the-top fashion (although this can be somewhat forgiven in a comic book film). The romantic relationships are especially oversimplified. Grimm’s fiance leaves him within a few hours of his transformation. I don’t know about you, but if my fiance dumped me that quickly after a tragic accident, I think it would be a clue that I was with the wrong woman in the first place. Of course, the filmmakers had to then rush to introduce the blind Alicia Masters (Kerry Washington) as a love interest for Grimm, but she seemed to serve no real purpose other than to dispense fortune cookie wisdom about the virtues of being different. I wish they could have waited until the sequel for that one. While there were certainly some bumpy spots, I thought the overall movie was a lot of fun. It didn’t take itself too seriously, and this made many of the flaws forgivable. Had they went for a more serious tone like Spider-Man, it could have very well been a disaster. But they didn’t, and it wasn’t. Here’s hoping that a little tweaking of the formula will produce an even stronger sequel. Grade: B+ If you like this movie, you might also enjoy:
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Von Doom accepts, but only if he gets to call the shots and
keep the majority of any profits which might be made. This quickly brings
Reed and Ben into contact with Sue Storm (Jessica Alba), yet another old
classmate, and her hotshot brother, Johnny Storm (Chris Evans). After a
brief relationship in college, Sue dumped Reed and now looks to be
romantically tied to Von Doom. Needless to say, this causes an immediate
strain on the newfound partnership.
Marvel Comics Fantastic Four on Film |
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