"Come on! Am I the only one who thinks this is cool?"

Rating: 7/10 (20 July 2005)

Truer words will never come out of a movie character's mouth this year than the sentiments expressed by Johnny Storm about his newfound abilities. This flick got a bum rap from critics, whom I can only guess have plain forgotten how to have fun at the movies. As a longtime FF fan and Marvel fan in general, I was beginning to despair that Marvel only knew how to make good superhero movies when their subjects contained some variation of the word "Man" in their names (Spider-Man, X-Men), and the internet buzz wasn't promising any relief from that worry. Thankfully, I was proved wrong. FANTASTIC FOUR isn't a great film by any stretch (pun intended) of the imagination, but it isn't bad, either. It's a fun popcorn romp, but don't check your brain at the door; you'll need it a few times to get some of the more subtle moments in this surprisingly nuanced picture.
You've read the synopsis a hundred times in a hundred reviews, so I won't repeat it here. Suffice it to say the movie works best when it focuses on what makes the FF comics work best: The interaction between the main characters, particularly our "Fantastic Four", as the press dubs them (the movie makes the interesting point that superheroes in today's world would be the rock stars, reality TV personalities, sports superstars, etc., crystalizing in a scene where Sue runs away pursued by fans when she stops at a newsstand and stares at her likeness on every magazine and newspaper). Reed and Sue's dysfunctional romance, Sue and Johnny's sibling spats, Reed and Victor's ongoing scientific (and personal) oneupmanship battle, Johnny and Ben's chest-puffery, Reed and Ben's longtime loyal friendship strained by guilt and frustration--it's all here, and more. Tim Story showed in BARBERSHOP that he could do personal interaction with the best of them, and while his ability to stage action shots is a little haphazard in this movie, the personal scenes shine brighter than Johnny Storm's supernova-capable inner torch.
The acting is uniformly good, with Jessica Alba as Sue Storm being the only weak link (and she's not bad, just not as good as the others). Chris Evans as Johnny Storm is the film's comic relief, a role he plays with relish; by the end of the movie, you're laughing every time he's on-screen. Michael Chiklis as Ben Grimm manages to gather the perfect blend of anger, humor, gentleness, and pathos; you really feel for Ben's situation by the end of the movie, particularly when he has to make a hard choice near the end whether to save his friends or reclaim his humanity. Ioan Gruffudd has taken a lot of flack in some reviews for his less-showy portrayal of Reed Richards, but Reed as a character is less showy than his counterparts, and Gruffudd perfectly captures the intensity of Reed's exacting, almost paralyzing intellect that blends with a genuine sense of distress about his miscalculation of the cosmic storm's intensity that got them all into this mess. The interaction between Reed and Ben is especially well-done; in many ways, Reed and Ben are both in similar situations--their bodies have turned into something they don't quite understand and can't always control (Sue awakens Reed after he falls asleep at his desk and discovers his face has molded into the shape of his computer keyboard), and the scene where the two of them get into a fight over a not-yet-complete reverse mutation machine (Ben: "Look at me!" Reed: "I AM looking at you! That's why I can't make a mistake with this!") is right up there with some of the great character interactions in the SPIDER-MAN and X-MEN movies.
As for Victor Von Doom, well, Julian McMahon isn't bad, but he isn't good either. I'd have preferred Doom to be a little more menacing, but when he finally takes the turn and embraces his own destiny, it's fun to watch. McMahon's sly, silky evil turn as Doom doesn't quite measure up to the better Marvel villains of recent movies (Bryan Cox in X2, Alfred Molina in SPIDER-MAN 2), but there are moments where he's genuinely scary, and that's just enough to keep the audience interested as the tension builds toward a really good (if a bit short) final showdown between the Fantastic Four and Dr. Doom worthy of the comics.
The ending strongly suggests a sequel is coming, and the movie certainly deserves it. It's not perfect, but it's a darn good start to what will likely one day join the ranks of Marvel's great superhero movies.