Marvel's first family finally flies onto film, and then fall flat on their faces. Fuck.
That's right, today we're looking at...
Based on the comic book by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, Fantastic Four co-stars Ioan Gruffudd, Michael Chiklis, Chris Evans, and (ugh) Jessica Alba as astronauts who go up into space for a little science experiment, get hit by some cosmic cloud, and come back to Earth with superpowers. The rest of the movie finds the group dealing with powers, celebrity, and each other. At the same time, an old college rival who was on that same mission is adjusting to his newfound powers in an even less healthy fashion. By the end, there's a big showdown between the four mass-market ready superheroes and the big baddie.
Not as detailed a synopsis like in previous entries? Well, that's pretty much all you get in Fantastic Four, and that is shameful. The Fantastic Four was the comic book that made Marvel as we know it. It redefined what a superhero comic could look like, but also what superheroes could be. Heroes that could be relatable. People with super powers yet still have human problems. Without it, there would be no Hulk, no Spider-Man, no X-Men, and no Iron Man. The Fantastic Four should have been the first in line to get their own picture (more on that at another time), but even if not, they still deserve better treatment than what 20th Century Fox gave us in 2005.
Fox didn't make a superhero film with Fantastic Four, they made a product. It practically follows other recent Marvel movies beat-for-beat: from introduction, to transformation, through hero's journey, and finally big, explod-y finale. It's so cookie-cutter, you could almost guess what happens next as you are watching it. It's also a generic-looking movie. There's no real sense of style or personality. The only thing that breaks the monotony is the really bad Mr. Fantastic CGI. However, more egregious is how it tries hard to be cool: Johnny Storm is into extreme sports, there's mainstream rock music, and it goes for the laziest of humor. Also, they hired Jessica Alba. She wasn't cast to portray Sue Storm, she was cast because she was "hot".
The only things I actually got a kick out of while watching in this movie are Chris Evans as Human Torch, Michael Chiklis as The Thing (despite the crummy make-up), and the two of them together. Evans did a great job at making Johnny Storm a likeable guy despite his over-inflated ego. Bruce Willis was probably not available, or wisely said no, but Chiklis still perfectly captures The Thing's gruff but good-natured spirit. Not only do these two resemble their comic book counterparts in performance, but their interplay is gold.
Watching the film now, it's clear at this point in time the superhero genre was in trouble of already looking old. Fantastic Four, despite being based on a groundbreaking comic book, did absolutely nothing to redefine superheroes on film. Fox had a formula and they were going to stick with it no matter what. It's ironic, then, that Pixar released The Incredibles a few months earlier. That turned out to be a better Fantastic Four than Fantastic Four.
Fantastic Four
2 out of 5 Cap shields
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