Flawed but Lots of Fun

Rating: 7/10 (9 July 2005)

After reading so many negative reviews and finding so many positive ones unconvincing, I went to see "Fantastic Four" expecting to see a real load of garbage. What I got instead was a good time very much in keeping with the tone of the comic. I also discovered that a lot of the criticisms being made about the movie betray a surprising inability for viewers to suspend disbelief or to follow film narrative.
What this film does right is worth mentioning first. Despite widespread complaints, the only problem with Jessica Alba's presence and performance was that her blue contact lenses were completely ineffective. She accurately captured exasperation at the men around her, as well as maternal warmth when necessary. No, she isn't going to win an Oscar for this film, but she did just fine. The character of Johnny Storm was also handled well, with a suitable amount of the current "entitled generation's" attitude infused into his classic character to make him seem a young man of the times. His tendency to be rash, to show off, and to chase girls was nicely captured, and he provided a lot of the movie's fun with his antics. Michael Chiklis's Ben Grimm/Thing was the best of the bunch, just as has been widely reported, and he managed to convey the character's humanity from inside all those prosthetics, which is no easy feat.
The special effects for all three of these characters was good, especially the two men. The Human Torch was beautiful and exciting to watch and the Thing, except for his neck, really seemed to be composed of rocky orange plates.
The action in some cases came straight from the pages of the comic book, and in every case was fun to watch. Each character comes to use his or her powers with increasing confidence and skill as the film progresses, making the finale, when they naturally make use of them as a team and become greater than the sum of its parts due to both familial unity and the leadership of Mr. Fantastic. Although some of the details have been changed, this really is the Fantastic Four we have come to know and love from the comics.
The storytelling is not terrifically clever, though the exposition is handled efficiently. If there is a sequel, I would like to see more energetic direction and a smarter script. However, the jokes were appropriate and very much in character, and the relationships (except that between team members and Doom) are well developed and faithful in spirit to the comic.
Now some complaints. Poor Ioan Gryffud. He should have had the chance to loop a few lines where he became excited and lapsed into his Welsh accent. Also, the CGI when using his powers was lazily done, and often not in the least bit realistic. I thought he should come across as more of a distracted genius than he did, but since that always caused problems for me in buying his relationship with Sue, perhaps it was a wise choice by the filmmakers. Julian MacMahon, except for his strangely fake-looking eyebrows, is visually perfect to play Victor von Doom, but plays the character so naturally that he never comes across as frighteningly evil, just as hopelessly self-involved. On the one hand, this is more believable than the grandiose, pontificating and speech-reciting Latverian autocrat we all know and love, but once the mask is on, there is no creation of a new persona with a duly intimidating voice and familiar delusions of world conquest. It's just the same guy, only now in a mask. And yes, the mask DOES look cool, so no worries there! The other women's roles in the film were thin and pretty silly, I'm afraid, and there does seem to be a missing scene between Alicia and the Thing that gets them from point A to point B (not such a problem if you assume time passes between the climax and the coda), but overall things ran smoothly.
If you like comic book movies, or the Fantastic Four, go see this, but don't go with high expectations. You will be entertained if you let the child in you watch it, but if you think you'll get the fine direction of the X-men films, the relatable characters of the Spider-Man films, or the atmospheric darkness of Batman Begins, you'll be disappointed. Just go to have fun, and you will get what you came for.