July
6
'Four' Thoughts
"Fantastic Four" took a famously long and circuitous route to the bigscreen and gets there reasonably intact with decent but not spectacular results. The "FF" movie — screened for the L.A. media last night — is a lightweight but entertaining affair. It doesn't rise to the level of "Spider-Man 2" or "Batman Begins," but is still an enjoyable and often funny film that captures a lot of the joy of the comicbook and its relatively upbeat characters even though it doesn't fulfull its complete potential.
From a comics fan point of view, expectations will play a huge role in how the movie is received. Those expecting the film to be a transcendent and definitive experience will be disappointed; those who can accept the movie as a fun and light-hearted romp will be pleasantly surprised. The film's lighter tone and PG-rating should set the pic apart from such serious and dark comicbook and fantasy fare as "Sin City," "Star Wars: Episode III," "Batman Begins" and "War of the Worlds." That could give the film an edge at the box office this weekend, it's one chance to score big before "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" hits July 15.
This is at heart a character pic and as in most FF comics the fun really comes from the ways in which this family of characters interact. One of the major differences between the FF and other Marvel heroes was the way the FF embraced their roles and lived openly and publicly rather than hiding their identities either for practical purposes (like Spider-Man) or safety (like the X-Men). Johnny Storm and Ben Grimm are, as in the comics, the most interesting characters and Chris Evans' wisecracking, x-treme sports-loving version of Johnny is really fun. The look of the Thing has been under heavy scrutiny because of the costume that actor Michael Chiklis wears in the pic. The final version works better than what was seen in the trailers, and the Thing looks like he's made of a hard, rocky substance as opposed to the guy-in-a-rubber-suit look of the infamous Roger Corman version. Chiklis also does a great job of bringing humanity to his rocky alter ego through effective use of his eyes to convey the sadness behind Grimm's lovably gruff persona. Ben and Johnny's playful rivalry is true to the comics and gives the film a likeable foundation.
The brains of the group are, as you'd expect, Reed and Sue, played by Ioan Gruffud and Jessica Alba. They're good in roles that are true to the comic in that they're easily the least-interesting members of the team. And while Reed's stretching effects have a few seams, they're surprisingly faithful to the creative ways the character uses them in the comics. Julian McMahon's Dr. Doom starts out pretty different from the comicbook version, but gets a great deal closer to the Latverian monarch readers know and love by the end of the film. Why the metal mask he eventually dons isn't articulated so his mouth can be seen moving when he talks is a mystery given that the similar approach on the Green Goblin's mask in "Spider-Man" is one of the few common complaints about that pic. Rounding things out are a few good background bits for the fans, with Stan Lee playing mailman Willie Lumpkin and a small role for Alicia Masters.
The area where the pic is noticeably lacking is in the action sequences. There's some of Jack Kirby's vigorous action in a few scenes, but there's none of the cosmic grandeur that made "FF" such a potent mix. In that way, the movie feels smaller than it should. It also could have benefited from a few scenes that would have served the plot well; the movie isn't so long that it couldn't have spent a minute or two resolving Ben Grimm's relationship plot.
Still, the spirit of the pic and the fact that it gets a lot of it right makes it easier to overlook the faults. Much has been made about the need for Marvel to score a hit with this pic after a few less-than-stellar b.o. performers. "Fantastic Four" should do well this weekend, but the real test will be whether the pic can gross more than $100 million domestically — a tough challenge for all but the the most super pics this summer.
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Sounds good to me. That is all I ask of these movies, is a couple of hours of fun.
Posted by: Grotesqueticle | July 06, 2005 at 05:56 PM
I was surprised at how much fun this turned out to be, especially Chris Evans' performance. The funny stuff was actually funny, and Ben Grimm was everything I'd hoped he'd be in both body and soul.
Posted by: coolhandjennie | July 13, 2005 at 01:51 PM
I enjoyed reading your review. It's nice to know I'm not the only one who loved Michael's performance as Ben Grimm.
Posted by: Tricia | August 21, 2005 at 05:11 PM
Forget everything you know....
This movie is a mental rollercoaster!
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