Movie Review #31: Fantastic Four

Fantastic Four is the latest comicbook movie creation from Marvel Comics. It stars Ioan Gruffudd (pronounced Yo-an Griffith) as Reed Richards, aka Mr. Fantastic, Jessica Alba as Susan Storm, aka The Invisible Girl, Chris Evans as Johnny Storm, aka The Human Torch, Michael Chiklis as Ben Grimm, aka The Thing and Julian McMahon as Victor Von Doom, aka Dr. Doom. The film was directed by Tim Story of Barbershop and Taxi fame (yeah, I couldn’t believe it either).

For those of you who don’t the Fantastic Four, the book was created in 1961 by Marvel founder Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby. The four took a top secret trip in an experimental spacecraft and were bombarded by cosmic rays (nuclear warfare and radiation fallout were the hot topics in the 60s, also responsible for the creation of the Hulk and Spider-Man) that gave them extraordinary abilities. Their adopted monikers explain their respective powers. Unlike the X-Men who were feared and hated by the public or Spider-Man who had the world turned against him by media or the Hulk who couldn’t control his power, the Fantastic Four were immediately accepted by the public. This gives the movie a different feel than previous comicbook movies. FF is lighter, funnier and able to focus on their personal struggles rather than trying to gain public acceptance. They are celebrities and don’t share the same hardships of their superhuman peers. The Fantastic Four has always been about family and their interaction with each other. This movie brought that together very well with convincing performances and clever, witty and heartfelt dialogue.

The sometimes dodgy computer graphics are forgivable because the Thing costume was exceptional. Despite the heavy facial make-up, Chiklis was still able to convey facial emotion, has seemingly total mobility and was able to turn his head and move his neck! Why couldn’t the Batman folks figure that out?

The only character I wasn’t happy with was the movie’s villain. Aside from the poor performance by McMahon (which I attribute to poor writing), Dr. Doom came off as a bully rather than maniacal terrorist because he could not be properly developed in the allotted time. The origin story is told in the first two thirds of the movie which didn’t leave very much time to reveal and build upon the relationship between the heroes and villain. The same problem arose in Spider-Man with the Green Goblin. They should have had some lame villain like the Mole Man or Kraven the Hunter for the first movie (like Scarecrow in Batman Begins) and left the heavy-hitters for the sequel where they could be more developed (Like Doctor Octopus in Spider-Man 2).

Aside from Doom, writers Mark Frost and Michael France got the characters spot on. The personalities and dialogue were very true to the comicbook and the deliveries from the actors only enhanced it. It will be interesting to see Sue’s character develop into the strong, dominant personality that she has become in the comics and maybe some history of Reed, Ben and Victor’s college years. Can’t wait for a sequel that will include Latveria, Doom, HERBIE, the Fantasticar, and maybe an Inhuman or two! Is that so much to ask for?

Toast!