Movie Review: Fantastic 4

Fantastic 4

I've never been a comic book reader, but I did enjoy a few Saturday morning cartoons as a kid. One of my favorites was the Fantastic 4 series. I was delighted to hear that a live action version of the story was finally being made, and I held high hopes for what modern special effects might make of such a film. I'm delighted to say that I wasn't the least disappointed when I finally sat down to enjoy almost two hours of just plain fun.

Dr. Reed Richards (Ioan Gruffudd) is a brainiac scientist who believes that, by studying a cosmic storm, he can get the basis for technologies that could prolong life and cure disease. His best friend Ben Grimm (Michael Chiklis) is a space shuttle pilot and astronaut who partners with him to present the proposal to various business and government entities. Unfortunately, none seem to be interested in spending the money needed to send Dr. Richards into space where he can more closely study a coming storm. In desperation, Richards turns to his old college rival, Dr. Victor Von Doom (Julian McMahon). Von Doom is a successful industrialist to the tune of a substantial personal and professional fortune and Richards hopes that offering a percentage of the return on any new technologies will get Von Doom to invest.

Dr. Von Doom is both greedy enough and vengeful enough to accept Richards' proposal. Though he demands most of any future profits for himself, Richards grudgingly agrees because — to him, at least — it's the research that matters most. But Von Doom isn't done quite yet: he triumphantly brings out his own genetics researcher to join Richards' crew. Susan Storm (Jessica Alba) isn't just a scientist, but Richards' ex-girlfriend and Von Doom's current paramour. To a lesser extent, Grimm, too, is dismayed to find he's relegated to co-pilot under the command of Sue's brash younger brother, Johnny (Chris Evans).

Despite the inevitable personality conflicts, the group — including Von Doom — make it into orbit and on to a well shield Von Doom company space station. But things begin to go wrong almost immediately when the cosmic storm arrives hours before the estimates and the shielding doesn't work quite as well as expected. Though all survive the exposure to the extreme conditions of the storm, it turns out that there are some after effects. The cosmic rays have fundamentally altered the DNA of each of them in ways they discover entirely by accident.

As each of those affected works to get their newfound talents under some semblence of control, Richards vows to do everything he can to reverse the effects. Von Doom, meanwhile, suffers a profound reversal of his own when a group of investors pulls its funding from his company. Motivations and emotions have a profound effect on each in their subsequent struggles, and it doesn't help that their secrets inevitably become public knowledge or that the public clamors for more from the astronauts dubbed by the media the Fantastic 4.

The storyline in this first Fantastic 4 movie (yes, sequels are already in the works) is relatively shallow, but it does provide a solid foundation for future films. The acting, too, is sometimes merely adequate (Jessica Alba, though drop dead gorgeous, is overrated as an actress in my opinion; Chris Evans and Michael Chiklis, on the other hand, come across particularly well). The script is often trite. And the director has previously helmed films dramatically different from this one (Barbership and Taxi are on Tim Story's résumé). But this is a comic book brought to life, for heaven's sake, and neither drama nor deepness are required for such a movie to be a good one; creative editing or camera angles would be no more than whipped cream on an already fluffy and sweet dessert.

This is, of course, a very special effects intensive movie. As such, it's fortunate that those effects are absolutely stunning. A scene on the Brooklyn Bridge combines wonderful on site action with beautiful effects — or so I thought. I've since learned that the entire scene was filmed on a stage set surrounded by blue screens, and that the rest of the bridge, city, river, and more was later added by computer. This scene is brilliantly done, and the rest of the movie no less so. Though the effects rendering the super powers of all of the major characters are impressive, the Human Torch in particular is nothing short of awesome to watch.

I freely admit that Batman Begins and Spider-Man 2 did take comic book characters and give them some gravitas. Those movies are not only fun to watch, but emotional and dramatic as well. Fantastic 4, on the other hand, doesn't offer comparable drama. Comic fans have already lamented that this movie isn't as "deep" as some of its predecessors ahve been. What it does give the theatre goer, however, is pure, unadulterated entertainment for almost two hours. That, as far as I'm concerned, is worth every nickle of the ticket price and then some. Some genuinely comic moments in an otherwise okay script don't hurt, either. The friend with whom I saw this movie agreed: Fantastic 4 makes no pretense to be other than what it is, and what it is is fantastically entertaining.

POLITICAL NOTES: NASA is momentarily lambasted in the film as being essentially afraid (or disinclined) to take many risks or to pave any new ground. Unfortunately, there's more truth to that notion than I'd like to admit. Space exploration is dangerous, but the public's demands for the impossibility of complete safety are hobbling NASA. Between the general attitude of the public and the government's penchant for controlling things it doesn't know enough to control, NASA is, indeed, disinclined to do much to truly push the envelope any more. But by turning to a private investor, Dr. Reed Richards shows that what we've just barely begun to do in the real world is likely the best hope for the future of exploration and research in space.

FAMILY SUITABILITY: Fantastic 4 is rated PG-13 for "sequences of intense action and some suggestive content. Any child who can handle an action-filled video game should be fine with this movie which, at times, resembles such a video game. The intensity, though, and some difficult personal moments for some of the characters would likely best be understood and appreciated by slightly older children. I'd say Fantastic 4 is likely just fine for ages 10 and up, and the effects are just terrific enough that adults will enjoy the experience as much as their children.