'Fantastic?' Not quite, but Marvel film satisfies true fans

Rating: 6/10 (6 July 2005)

While some critics have called 20th Century-Fox's newest action summer flick, "Fantastic Four," "'Spiderman' times four," I prefer to describe it as "Spiderman" *divided* by four, since it takes that Marvel Comic and slices it up, dividing not only the drama, but the action and interest, as well. Rabid fans of the graphic novel may love it, but the casual movie fan will watch, react on a very low level, leave the theatre and think about where to grab a bite to eat. It doesn't stick around very long, friends. That's not to say it is a bad film, it isn't. Just compared to the recent "Batman Begins," "Sin City" the "X-Men" pictures and the above-mentioned webslinger flicks, it doesn't really hold up. It does follow that last movie's modus operandi (as well as Marvel's 2003 dud, "The Hulk"), however. People conduct scientific experiment; experiment goes horribly wrong; people become infected with some kind of radioactivity; instead of dying of cancer, they gain super strength, speed or some other kind of amazing super power. In this one, nerdy scientist Reed Richards (Ioan Gruffudd, "Blackhawk Down," "King Arthur") is working  you guessed it  on an experiment to eliminate diseases. To do this he must travel into space with colleagues Susan Storm (Jessica Alba, "Sin City," "Dark Angel" TV series), Ben Grimm (Michael Chiklis, "The Three Stooges," an Emmy Award winner for "The Shield" TV series) and hotshot, arrogant pilot, Susan's little brother, Johnny Storm (Chris Evans, "The Perfect Score," "Cellular") . He is also joined on the mission by corporate maverick, Victor Von Doom (Julian McMahon, television series "Charmed" and "Nip-And-Tuck")  think of an evil Richard Branson  who paid for this whole enterprise. Of course, the shuttle floats through a radiation cloud and all aboard are affected by it. Richards becomes as flexible as a rebind; Susan has the power to become invisible and create a force field of some kind, while her brother becomes a human flying torch; and Grimm turns into a rock-like thing. The four return to earth, but bicker among themselves before finally teaming up and taking on Van Doom, who is slowly turning into a titanium covered, electromagnetic powerhouse. I'm really not quite sure why Von Doom is ticked off at the quartet, but he might be jealous of Reed's wooing of Susan, who knows? He does get a chance to emulate Christopher Walken in "Spiderman," as the company owner who gets to wipe out his board of directors, though, before going after the four heroes. The most interesting performance here is by Evans, who seems to react the most realistically to his sudden advent of super powerdom. He brags about it on the national news, gladly wallows in the attention and adulation of fans, and even shows off at a motocross event  something most of us would most likely do if we were in the same situation. As for the others, their low-key performances almost put one in a stupor. I recommend this film, but not very highly.