A movie with substance...

Rating: 9/10 (11 July 2005)

Entering the theater, I was rather apprehensive. The movie had been given bad reviews, and I was already rather upset by what, to me, seemed a radical change in the character of the villain, Dr. Doom. But after giving the movie the fair chance that it deserved, I discovered that it truly was excellent, and while it wasn't faithful to the source in the details, the movie was faithful to what I feel is its essence.
What many people need to understand, first and foremost, is that this is very clearly an origin movie, meaning that, in order to truly do justice to over forty-years worth of incredible stories, the saga of the Fantastic Four, as translated into film format, must, by necessity, encompass several movies. This first installment in the movie translation of the comic is exactly what it needs to be: the story of how the Fantastic Four came to be, how they coped with suddenly being blessedand, in certain cases, cursedwith these wondrous powers, and why the arch villain bears such a deep-seated, unquenchable grudge against the team. Because there are so many main characters involved (unlike, say, Spiderman or Batman, in which the entire focus is on one person), this means that a lot of the action experienced in movies such as Spidey and Bats is going to get cut out in favor ofgasp! dare I say it!character development. While this may make the movie seem "slow" and "boring" for some people who seem to crave constant action and glittering special effects, think how much more awful it would have been if the Fantastic Four went something like this: four people are on a space shuttle, they get "zapped by cosmic rays," discover how cool they're powers are, and proceed to engage in meaningless battle for the rest of the movie against some guy who decides to call himself Dr. Doom. Sorry folks, but if I'm going to pay $16 to see a movie, I demand substance and story, not meaningless violence and eye-candy, especially when said movie is based on the legendary Fantastic Four.
As for the changes they made to Dr. Doom Well, while I still believe they could have handled it a little differently, I can see why they did what they did. Again, because substance and story is so important, but there's so little time to cover everything, they chose to combine Dr. Doom's "face de-forming" laboratory accident (which, I believe, he blames Reed for in the comic) with the accident that led to the transformation of the Fantastic Four. (I suppose they just couldn't justify Dr. Doom suffering from injury by the cosmic rays while remaining otherwise untouched.) As to other details pertaining to Dr. Doom: since the first movie is meant to focus on the team rather than the villain, we only get hints of just who Victor Von Doom really is, with the promise, at the end of the movie, of a fuller and deeper exploration into the Lord of Latveria in a later sequel. So, all-in-all, I'm okay with how Doom was handled.
In the end, I would recommend simply giving the movie the chance it deserves before passing judgment. As for my own judgment: it could have been a perfect ten if they had left Dr. Doom alone.
P.S.
While I've pretty much said my piece, I realized I ought to comment on the rest of the movie before I wrap this essay up. So: Personally, I was rather surprised that the movie actually bothered to give a reason for these four people to be out in space in the first place (in the comic, they were just there), and that Sue Storm managed to actually be just a touch more than just wall-paper mooning over Reed and his huge brain than she originally was in the comic (but only just a touch). I was impressed by the development of the relationship between Johnny and Ben, for it was absolutely perfect. (If you've read the comic, you'll understand, if you haven't, I recommend doing so.) I was shocked by the introduction of Alicia in the first movie (I didn't expect her to appear until the sequel), but considering how much depth they put into the development of Ben, I understood it, for Alicia, in both the comic and the movie, provides the emotional stability that Ben needs to cope with his change. Would he have been so willing to remain the Thing if he didn't know that there was someone who cared for him, and not his physical appearance?
Okay, now I'm done!