With film adaptations of Spider-Man, the X-Men, and even the
Hulk and Daredevil having been released within the last five years, I guess it
was inevitable for Hollywood to make a feature film about the Fantastic Four.
Based on the comic book created by Marvel Comics legends Stan Lee and Jack Kirby
(Lee has a cameo in the film as a mailman), the film faithfully recreates the
team's venture into outer space, where, once they are doused with cosmic rays,
Reed Richards becomes the elongated Mr. Fantastic; Sue Storm becomes the
invisible girl; her brother Johnny changes into the fiery Human Torch, and Ben
Grimm changes into the orange-colored, rock-hard Thing. Yet the film changes
this just slightly by having Victor Von Doom go along for the ride. Here, Von
Doom--as played by Nip/Tuck's Julian McMahon--is a handsome multi-millionaire
scientist who runs a mega-corporation with its own space program. Von Doom is
also seeing Sue Storm, who used to date Reed until they broke up. Reed Richards
needs Victor's space station in order to conduct experiments on these cosmic rays,
which are approaching the earth--yet when everybody gets zapped, Doom also goes
through his own super powered change when his skin slowly turns into an organic
metal-like substance.
When Ben starts changing into the Thing at a special quarantined facility, he
bursts out of the place--literally right through the wall--and goes home to the
love of his life, who turns out to be anything but once she gets a good look at
the new Ben. Having been dumped, Ben sits on the edge of a bridge and reflects
on how crappy his life has turned out when he meets a suicidal man. Ben's
efforts to save the guy's life turns into a multi-car pileup that entails Reeds,
Sue and Johnny getting into the act as they use their new powers for the first
time to rescue everybody. Meanwhile, Victor Von Doom is slowly turning into a
living metal man with an increasingly growing attitude problem. Unlike Batman
Begins, or the first two X-Men films, The Fantastic Four takes a far lighter
tone with its subject matter. The result is a breezy little flick with plenty of
comedic moments that often sinks into campiness--and it actually works. The film
strives to not only match the tone of the orignal 1960s comic, but also to
present itself as a family film, and it's sucessful on both counts.
Part of why this movie is so watchable is the superb
casting: Jessica Alba, Ioan Gruffudd, Michael Chiklis and Chris Evans are indeed
fantastic as the Invisible Woman, Mr. Fantastic, the Thing, and the Human Torch,
respectively. The four of them develop a great on screen chemistry that makes
you want to spend more time with them. The only time the movie stumbles is when
the filmmakers try to insert product placements in certain scenes, and the
moments where director Tim Story tries to make Johnny Storm out to be a daredevil
seem very forced. And when the big climatic battle comes at the end, it's almost
an afterthought that amounts to nothing more than a street brawl. The special
features include the usual making of documentaries, along with a very enjoyable
commentary by Ioan Gruffudd, Jessica Alba and Michael Chiklis. There are also
deleted scenes, with a funny one showing Reed using his rubbery face to briefly
impersonate Wolverine from the X-Men. Although the new Fantastic Four isn't in
the same league as Spider-Man 2, or the Bryan
Singer-directed X-Men movies, its
superb special effects and an upscale budget make this a far better version than
the piece of crap Fantastic Four movie that producer Rodger Corman made over ten
years ago (which was so bad it was never released). Now that the origin story is
out of the way, hopefully a sequel will make even better use of the on and
off-screen talents.
--SF
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