Review: Fantastic Four (2005)
Scott Mendelson
PG-13 (for sequences of intense action, some suggestive content, and
one brief, nasty murder whose sole purpose was to help the film get
that PG-13 and not a more suitable PG)
98 min.
Directed by Tim Sales
Written by Mark Frost and Michael France (who's original draft was
allegedly quite good)
Starring:
Ioan Gruffudd: Reed Richards/Mr. Fantastic Michael Chiklis: Ben Grimm/
The Thing
Jessica Alba: Susan Storm/The Invisible Woman Chris Evans: Johnny
Storm/The Human Torch
Julian McMahon: Victor Von Doom/Doctor Doom Kerry Washington: Alicia
Masters
by Scott Mendelson
I went into Fantastic Four expecting the worst, as the buzz and
initial clips were not promising. I was wrong. All hype and fan boy
complaints about casting (it works well enough, with one exception)
and general concerns about similarities to The Incredibles aside
(Pixar, glorious streak of quality notwithstanding, has a habit of
ripping off old ideas and making them better... Monsters Inc is to
Little Monsters as Finding Nemo is to An American Tail), Fantastic
Four is just a pretty darn entertaining comic book adventure film for
the whole family. There's very little profanity, and no real sexual
content. The one major scene of real violence involves an encounter
in a parking garage that's briefly shocking and violent, but not
bloody or gory. And, content aside, it is about family, friendship,
and loyalty.
Comparing the previews to the film, it's obvious that Fox was trying
to hide what a character driven and NOT action drenched movie it was.
Quibbles of faithfulness to the comics (and there are things to
quibble about), it is very faithful to the spirit and tone of the
original books. The original book was basically a sci-fi adventure as
family melodrama. Can four DNA-altered mutants live together and save
the world together without driving each other crazy? And, gosh darn
it, that's what the movie eventually shapes into as well. The film is
flawed; the dialogue is often 'on the nose', and the film feels
chopped in places, leaving plot holes late in the film. But, glaring
problems aside (the biggest of which I'll go into below), the film
works. It's a close call, and I might not have been impressed, but I
was entertained and I enjoyed the emphasis on drama rather than
action.
The plot, for the eight of you who missed the trailers and have
never ever seen a comic book... Five people go into space on an
experimental journey involving DNA. Mistakes are made, ship goes
boom, and the five are exposed to scary rays that resemble the Nexus
from the seventh Star Trek movie (ya know, the one where they end up
in the Nexus and, by the film's logic, they never ever leave which
means every Star Trek adventure from then on it takes place in that
non-reality). Rather than being tossed into a time ribbon with
Malcolm McDowell, their DNA is altered in differing ways. Reed
Richards (Ioan Gruffard, terrifically low key as the patriarch)
becomes able to stretch his limbs any which way but lose. Sue Storm
(Jessica Alba, not quite motherly enough, but not as bad as you fear)
becomes occasionally invisible. Johnny Storm (Chris Evans, acceptable
as a womanizing hotshot) gets the ability to catch aflame. And Ben
Grimm (Michael Chiklis, full of regret and bitterness, giving easily
the best performance in the film with the best material to boot)
suffers as his entire body turns to stone.
Oh, and Victor Van Doom discovers that his skin is turning to
metal, and he is able to control electricity. Just by those names,
take a guess which one turns out to be the bad guy? You guessed the
guy with Doom in his name? Can't fool you! Of course, in the comics,
his origin was a bit different. After scarring his face is a poorly
thought out scheme to travel to heaven and talk to his dead mother
(don't ask, it was the 60's dude!), he eventually took the name Dr.
Doom because Dr. Doom is a really really cool name for a bad guy, and
one of the main reasons for the guy's 45 years of popularity among the
geeks.
Alas, the film's handling of Doom is easily the chief weakness and
biggest disappointment. Sure, Alba isn't great as Sue, but she is
good enough. And yes, the special effects aren't very realistic, but
the cheesy FX actually gave the film a charming, old-fashioned feel.
And the action scenes aren't very riveting, but it's always refreshing
when more emphasis is placed on character than action. But, Julian
McMahon is perfectly dreadful as Doom, spending most of the second
half isolated and thus forced to poorly talk to himself in evil
monologues. The other reasons for the character's popularity, his
rich background and cool caped costume, are sadly lacking in this
film. His new quasi Lex Luthor backstory is lazy and boring. Truth
be told, the film would have been far stronger to remove Doom from the
plot, to concentrate even more on the readjustment of the Fantastic
Family and to then have Victor Van Doom show himself in the final
scene, ready to earn that PG-13 in the inevitable sequel.
In the end, the long awaited Fantastic Four is a solid B-level entry
into the comic book genre. It's fun, it's well acted by most of the
cast, and, in this summer of dark, gloomy spectacles, it's a light
bouncy adventure story that is faithful in tone and spirit to the
classic comic book series from which it's based. It's surely not
'Incredible', nor is it even 'Fantastic'. But, to use a little known
comic book spoof from 2000, it is just barely 'Special'.
Grade: B-
comparison for the live action comic book based genre:
Top: Superman, Batman, Dick Tracy, Batman Returns, Batman Begins
Really Good: Rocketeer, The Phantom, Spider-Man, X2, Daredevil
(director's cut), Hellboy,
Good: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Batman Forever, Blade, Blade 2,
Fantastic Four
Under whelming: Superman 2, The Crow, Hulk, Punisher, Spider-Man 2,
Blade 3
Bottom: Superman III, Supergirl, Superman IV, Captain America, Spawn,
Batman & Robin, Catwoman