Fantastic Four

Marvel's pioneering Silver Age heroes, the Fantastic Four, have had an interesting run at the movies. Their first movie was made in 1994 just so a studio (New Horizon) could hold onto the rights a little longer and was never intended to be released. Their latest movie, Fantastic Four, was made just so a studio (20th Century Fox) could hold onto the rights a little longer and was intended to be released. That's why I'm reviewing it.

High-School prodigy Reed Richards (Miles Teller) has a home-made inter-dimensional transporter. That's good enough for Franklin Storm (Reg E. Cathey), director of the Baxter Foundation, a government think-tank of prodigies. Storm recruits Reed to help the foundation complete a larger scale transporter. Also on board are Storm's kids, Johnny (Michael B. Jordan) and Susan (Kate Mara) and Anti-Social genius Victor von Doom (Toby Kebbell).

The guys decide to become the first human inter-dimensional astronauts. So they, along with Reed's buddy Ben Grimm (Jamie Bell), commandeer the transporter for a trip to "Planet Zero". Like all great sci-fi experiments, the trip goes awry and they all get super-powers. (And so does Sue.)

So the Government recruits Johnny, Sue and Ben as living weapons while Reed turns fugitive. And Doom, who I neglected to mention was stranded on Planet Zero, becomes the bad guy when he's finally found.

And I just summarized practically the entire film...

The story is stretched out quite thin. It's around the half-way point of its 100 minutes when the fateful trip to Planet Zero gets underway. Not much happens before then or after. When Doom finally reappears, his reason for evil is that he got brought back to Earth and, reminded of how much he hates it, wants it destroyed. That's a little extreme, don't you think? That bit happens in the last half-hour.

I wouldn't be complaining much if the characters weren't dour. Our main heroes lacked much chemistry; except for Reed and Ben together, they acted like distant work colleagues. It's like they were keeping the audience away at arm's length. It was hard to stay invested in their world saving.

The film's best moments are when director Josh Trank turns the film into a sci-fi horror movie. Trank treats the Fantastic Four (and Doom) as victims of body horror ala The Fly. The revelation of their conditions, especially Reed's elasticity, is a stunning sight. The film's depiction of Doom has already made his comic book fans gag, but his laboratory rampage was a shocking sight. While the story and characters were a letdown, these scenes show that the crew weren't lacking in finesse.

But still, a sci-fi horror film wasn't the best approach for a film called the Fantastic Four. See it only if you want to see what the fuss is about. Or not at all. Either one's fine.