Full disclosure: Fantastic Four was my absolute favourite comic book when I was growing up. It projected an old fashioned sense of adventure combined with classic sci-fi concepts and extremely well-drawn characters, particularly for its time.
Since it debuted in 1962, it has remained a popular series and is regarded with extreme fondness inside comics circles.
As a result of never really having had a successful TV or film adaptation, it isn't so well known outside comics circles. To the uninitiated, the central concept may even seem a little quaint. And it kind of is. But in a good way.
Four astronauts get bombarded with cosmic rays in outer space which give them superpowers. They then use these powers to help mankind, all the while bickering like the familial unit that they are.
That's the idea in both the comics and the film, except for the latter they have tied the creation of the Four's greatest villain, Dr. Doom, into the team's origin.
The four are made up of: Reed Richards aka Mr Fantastic (Ioan Gruffudd - King Arthur, Horatio Hornblower), an egghead with genius-level intellect whose powers involve being able to stretch his body to ridiculous proportions. Sue Storm aka The Invisible Girl (Jessica Alba - Dark Angel, Sin City), Reed's old girlfriend and a formidable scientist in her own right who in addition to disappearing can create bursts of transparent energy and force fields. Johnny Storm aka The Human Torch (Chris Evans - Not Another Teen Movie, Cellular), Sue's hot-headed younger pilot brother who can inflame himself and fly. And Ben Grimm aka The Thing (Michael Chiklis - The Shield, The Commish), a test pilot with blue collar origins who has mutated into a hulking rock-like man with superhuman strength.
In the comics, Dr. Doom was an Eastern European dictator named Victor Von Doom who had an unrelenting personal grudge Reed. He possessed no super powers, but had an intellect to challenge Reed's and mountains of cutting-edge technology (including an army of "Doombots" designed in his image) at his disposal.
For the film they have made Von Doom a dashing young industrialist who is Reed's romantic rival for Sue's affection. He funds the Four's outer-space experiment and is therefore present when they get their powers. Following the accident, Doom finds himself able to tap into elemental powers while slowly turning into metal. Or something. He is played by Australian Julian McMahon from Nip/Tuck, who does a fine job, but Doom is clearly the silliest character in the film.
A Fantastic Four movie has been rumoured for years. Legendary B-movie producer Roger Corman even made an unreleased cheapo version in the early 90s, but it was produced solely as a means of retaining the film rights.
Everyone from Chris Columbus (the first two Harry Potter films, Home Alone) to Sean Astin (Sam in LOTR) was rumoured to be directing the adaptation, but the job ended up going to the relatively innocuous Tim Story, whose previous two films were the shallow action comedy Taxi and the sleeper hit comedy Barbershop.
Advance buzz for the film was not positive. I went in with lowered expectations and was surprised when the film didn't totally suck. In fact, I quite enjoyed it.
It's no ready-made classic on the level of the Spider-Man films or Batman Begins, but it presents a colourfully spirited viewing experience.
They don't waste any time establishing any complex psychological motivations and instead go straight into the story, which does feel kind of paired down. While this makes for film-going experience not nearly as rich as the above films, it effectively demonstrates how sometimes it's nice when an ostensibly "fun" film doesn't drag you through the emotional wringer.
In this sense Fantastic Four represents an antidote to the darker, more serious comic book films by giving us a less-brooding, more family-friendly experience.
Sure, a director with more of an individual style could have wrought something better out of the material, but Story does an adequate job. The action set-pieces are well executed, but I could've done with at least one more large action scene. Despite the presence of plenty of "big" moments, you can tell they've tried to give us a cut-price blockbuster here.
The areas where the film succeeds are really down to how faithfully the four main characters have been translated. I was actually surprised how well the film captured their dynamics and particular personal traits. Reed is endearingly dorky; Ben is gruff, but good-hearted; Johnny is cocky but funny. Sue isn't as well-essayed, making Alba's job a little harder, but the actress emerges with her dignity intact.
The superhero-team-as-family-unit idea had its thunder stolen somewhat by last year's The Incredibles, which borrowed considerably from the Fantastic Four comics, but kids and less discerning adults should be sufficiently entertained by this movie.
They should've made The Thing a whole lot bigger, but he looks a lot better moving about on screen than he did in the initial publicity photos.
There several moments of genuine humour, but an equal number of groaners. And a shameful amount of product placement kept pulling me out of the reality of the film.
Because of my childhood history with them, I have an enormous amount of goodwill for these characters, so perhaps I am being a little kind, but I really was expecting the worst.
At the end of the day Fantastic Four is a fun, unpretentious family adventure film which will have evaporated from your mind seconds after leaving the theatre, but is pleasantly diverting while you're watching it.
Moderately recommended.
Dominic Corry
