July 12, 2005 -- Opening a second comic book superhero movie in less than a month seemed like overkill to me, but the studio executives knew what they were doing. “Fantastic Four” broke Hollywood out of its long box office slump by making $56 million over the weekend. While it is not nearly as good a movie as “Batman Begins” or either of the “Spider-Man” movies, it is not as dark and depressing as those films, either. Audiences have had enough brooding, sombre movies lately. “Fantastic Four” does not take itself, or the super hero genre, so seriously. This movie is more along the lines of such tongue-in-cheek action films as “Sahara” and “National Treasure.”

“Fantastic Four” starts at the beginning, explaining how the superheroes got their powers and their monikers. The audience must endure a lot of bad dialogue and mediocre acting before we finally get to the real action of the film, the four heroes battling the bad guy, Dr. Doom (played by Julian McMahon of “Nip Tuck” TV series). Dr. Doom is a mean guy. He kills an old man (played by none other than Marvel Comics editor Stan Lee himself) just because the old man asks Dr. Doom how he is feeling. Doom also kills his own doctor, just because he doesn't do house calls. He's mean, but he's not a strong super villain. Dr. Doom is pretty bland compared to the Green Goblin, Lex Luthor, The Joker or Doc Ock. Dr. Doom has no enthusiasm for villainy.

Similarly, the main hero, Mr. Fantastic, Reed Richards (Ioan Gruffudd of “King Arthur”) is another weak character. He seems as heroic as, say, Homer Simpson. Richard's super power is that he can bend himself into any shape. This fits because his character is always waffling on all issues, including his romantic interest in hot chick scientist Sue Storm (Jessica Alba of “Sin City”). Storm is the Invisible Girl, yet another bland character. Kerry Washington, who was so wonderful in “Ray,” gives an unconvincing performance as The Thing's blind girlfriend, Alicia Masters. Then we get to the two strong characters, The Thing (Michael Chiklis of “The Shield” TV series), a reluctant hero in the Spider-Man vein, and the human Torch, Johnny Storm (Chris Evans of “Cellular”), a very enthusiastic superhero who embraces the gifts he's been given. He is Sue's brother. The Thing is the most human of all the film's characters showing both strength and vulnerability, despite his alien appearance. Johnny Storm is the only character in the film who seems to be having fun, and he has loads of it. My favorite Storm line follows one in which his sister asks him if his main goals in using his powers are to make money and impress girls. He replies “Is there any other?” Evans strikes just the right note of joy and irreverence in this role. His acting efforts are practically enough to make this a fun film to watch. Almost, but not quite.

Some have criticized the special effects of the movie as being poor. I thought they were adequate. The weakness of the film is not in its production values, but in its acting, direction and screenplay. Neither the story, nor the characters are compelling, except for the fine acting efforts of Chiklis and Evans noted above. In short, it is surprising that this second rate comic book superhero adaptation would be the film to pull Hollywood out of its long box office slump. To me, it indicates that audiences just want to have fun and see family films such as the surprise hits, “The Pacifier” and “Fantastic Four.” Enough with dark, brooding films like “Dark Water,” “White Noise,” “Mind Hunters,” “High Tension,” “Darkness,” “Cursed” and others of that ilk. Now, if Hollywood could just come up with better family films this year like last year's “Shrek 2” or “The Incredibles,” it might make some really serious money. This film rates a C.

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Copyright © 2005 Robert Roten. All rights reserved.
Reproduced with the permission of the copyright holder.

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