Giving a Piece of the Rock

Rating: 6/10 (19 December 2005)

Taking its place in the parade of comic book super heroes turned big budget movie, The Fantastic Four was a comic book waiting to be filmed. It had all the right ingredients: interesting characters that had undergone some kind of change giving them super powers, an evil associate that turns completely on those once considered his friends, romance between characters, dazzling, perhaps over-used CGI effects, lots of destruction, humorous super hero when more than one super hero is used at one time, and the list goes on. While it just doesn't have the heart and tenacity of either of the two Spiderman movies or the visual splendor or acting range of the other super hero ensemble X-Men series, The Fantastic Four is a pretty good film that delivers entertainment if nothing else. It should appease the die-hard Fantastic Four fans with its characterizations being very closely done with the comics in mind and the story following much of the comics as well. Ioan Gruffudd plays Reed Richards and brings stability, believability, and presence to what many think is a somewhat thankless role as Mr. Fantastic "Stretch." Gruffudd's stable force helps counteract some of the other acting ranges. Jessica Alba plays Sue Storm. She is pretty to be sure - and probably the weakest of the quartet in terms of acting ability. It seems to be really hurting her huh? Yeah, right! She's blonde, she's curvy, and she can really fill out a skin-tight super hero outfit. Johnny Storm is played by the youthful and enthusiastic Chris Evans. His performance is the lighter side of the four and funny. The scene where is is playing with a doll of the Thing was amusing. And that brings us to the best of the four, Michael Chiklis as Ben Grimm, the heart and soul of this film. Chiklis gives a lot to this performance and his characterization makes this movie more than just a super hero movie loaded with special effects - which it is but has a bit more to it as well. I really liked the special effects they used with the Thing where director Tim Story(what a great last name for a director!)decided to go with a costume for Grimm rather than make him totally CGI like used in The Hulk. In that film, the Hulk was impersonal and not believable; here, the Thing is very believable and Chiklis is able to act in the suit and show a whole range of emotions. If this process had been used in Ang Lee's mega-disaster, maybe it would have been somewhat decent. OK, I know I am STRETCHING things now. Anyway, The Fantastic Four is a formula super hero movie but an enjoyable one and should spawn many a sequel. And once again, let's give the most credit for this film, Spiderman, the X-Men, and so on where it is due - Thank You so very much Stan Lee!