A good comic book adaptation

Rating: 8/10 (28 February 2006)

Having been a fan and collector of comics for over 20 years this movie was something of a bugbear for me.
Would it be as dire and disappointing as Daredevil, as superb as Spiderman, as cack-handed as Captain America or as pitiful as The Phantom? Well, the answer is, it's pretty good. Whilst by no means a character study with the depth and emotion and lavish attention to detail of a Kubrick masterpiece it is a well-made, fairly restrained comic-book adaptation that brings the characters to life well (Michael Chiklis gets right under the rocky skin of Ben Grimm) and explores the usual 'superhero origins' with skill whilst remaining clear of getting bogged down in too many details.
The actual scripting is typical comic-book dialogue, which is always going to be slightly cheesy and full of one-liners, but isn't as bad as an Arnold Schwarzenegger film, the special effects are suitably impressive, and the cinematography suits the action genre well.
Now for the bad things. Ioan Gruffud as Reed Richards is really badly cast. His Reed Richards is awkward and geeky and science-obsessed before his transformation, but afterwards (at least according to the comic books) became a much more 'heroic' figure, with a more typically macho outlook. Unfortunately this doesn't translate well in the film and he appears to remain as limp as he ever was. Also, the final scrap with Vic V. D. is confusing and short and the end of the film comes so abruptly that I was genuinely surprised that it had finished.
All in all, more right with it than wrong, and one of the better comic book films. Up there with X-Men 1 and Spiderman.
Can't wait to see Superman now!