Entertaining comic book fare...but not much more

Rating: 6/10 (6 December 2005)

I've never been a fan of comic books (never really read one, to be honest); but I do like a good comic book film. The recent ones have mostly been very good - Spider-Man 2 and Batman Begins both being great examples of how well comics can translate to the big screen. Fantastic Four has a reputation for being one of the better comic books - given that it's central quartet are reminiscent of a family structure, and how you get four characters instead of the usual one; but despite all that, this movie just isn't as great as I've come to expect this sort of film to be. Probably the main reason for this is that the film puts the focus almost completely on entertainment value, and so it lacks that dark, foreboding element that has made the likes of Batman and Spider-Man such a joy. Not that comic book films need to be dark - quite the opposite, but we never get a look inside the characters either. The Thing is the one who receives the best handling, but aside from a decent expose of how his affliction affects his personal life, we don't get much of his actual character either.
The plot follows a crew of five astronauts who find themselves in the centre of a radiation cloud during a botched mission, and upon return to Earth, find that the radiation has altered their DNA. Four of the five decide to use their power for good, while the fifth goes the other way. The Fantastic Four comprises of The Human Torch; with fire as his power, The Invisible Girl (goes without saying), the rubbery Mr Fantastic and the unfortunate member of the gang - the monstrous 'Thing', who gains great strength to compliment his ugly form. On the whole, I would say that the cast is too young. Michael Chiklis is well cast as The Thing, but Mr Fantastic, for example, could have done with an older actor, who would have brought out his leadership qualities better. The villain, Victor Von Doom is the biggest casting mistake. Julian McMahon, the actor in said role, does look sufficiently menacing - but an older man would have made a far more convincing villain. I noticed that Tim Robbins was considered for the role - I would like to have seen that. The fact that all five of the lead roles have gone to young men and a woman just stinks of a ploy to get more teenagers into the cinema. Anyway, this film is entertaining enough; and I certainly don't dislike it - but unlike some of the better comic book films; entertainment is all Fantastic Four is.