Fantastic 4 me =)

Rating: 10/10 (13 July 2005)

Watching trailers and judging from the cast (Jessica Alba: attractive female actress - meaning testosterone filled audiences), I knew the movie to be corny, shallow and uninteresting. Don't get me wrong though! I liked this movie. I thought it was good.
And why well, I'll tell you why. It is not necessary to beat deep meaning into a comic-book adaptation (they tried that in both the Spidey and Batty movies--- I guess they succeeded to an extent but that's besides the point); and the director/ script-writer/ whoever's-responsible clearly advocates this fact. He blatantly guides the movie in the style of a comic; one particularly interesting part is that when the four are blasted by the solar flare (or whatever it is) and the actors partially freeze in mid-motion, while displaying little bits of their powers. Immediately, we are reminded of a comic book. Not only because of the freezing aspect; everything: for example, the way that the characters are then defined clearly: we know who the heroes are and what they can do etc.
Also, straight from the beginning, in the scene where Reed and Ben faces corporate big-timer Victor- even a person who has never heard of the fantastic four will not hesitate in pointing out who the good guys and the villain are. Just like a comic book. The director establishes a distance between the characters; both physically, through distance on set, and through the dialogue. Through Reed and Viktor's conversation for example, the two characters are shown to be old friends but separated due to diverging ambition. Reed, in his proposal to study space phenomena- is clearly one who stretches for knowledge, and Viktor, the corporate giant- who listens and accepts the proposal- is one who absorbs power. There are neither any dark, elusive histories behind the characters nor profound character psychology. Instinctively, we fall in with the one who stretches; the worker; not the greedy businessman. Add that to the manners that the actors assume - Gruffudd maintains an almost diffident manner, while McMahon is all airs - and there is no doubt as to who the hero and villain are. It's all there in black and white - comic-book style. (I mean you can't get any more obvious in portraying character than having Chris Evans enter the scene on a motorcycle).
The movie is also very action-packed. Not exciting in the way War of the Worlds is, or mentally exhausting like in the plot-flaming Batman Begins. No, it's just plain action, and because of that, one can almost watch the movie like it is a comic book. Notice how when you read a comic book, you often skip the boxes with too many words and go directly to the action? In this movie, it's the same. It is clear how the director deliberately reduces the padding upon the movie; there is no explanation for example, as to how the characters manage their trip back to earth after their station was blasted, and how Ben manages to turn back into the thing when there was supposedly not enough power to run the machine. Not much time is even spent upon the romance of Reed and Sue.
And all that action allows the special effects- directing - guy to do a little bit of showing off. I personally thought the special effects were great. I know lame comment - 'great' - but I really don't know what else I can say. How real can you make a stretching guy look? Or a person bursting into flames and still alive and talking it's all relative. But I feel that in this day and age, a movie with anything but the best effects will not make it to the big screen.
The movie, in summary, has been engineered with a strong comic-book accent; simple, black and white, intellectually relaxing, everything cool: it's basically a great movie for chillin'. And to enforce that comic-book accent, there is a simple message associated with the movie: the hero is portrayed as a person as well; the problems that the Fantastic 4 deal with are human; Reed and Sue have their love issues; Ben, his inability to fit in, and John, his attitude. They are human and because of that, we all too can be heroes. How's that for a nice message. Furthermore, it is the people who define who the heroes are; not only the person's abilities; we can see this in the emphasis that is placed upon the way the characters attain their hero-dubs - 'the fantastic four'; 'the thing'; 'Mr. fantastic' and so on  the names are all given BY the people. And hence, Viktor is wrong in his argument that power makes a 'God'. And another point conveyed is moderation. Too much greed makes you a villain; too much thought gives you problems with your love life; too much feeling and you make mistakes (Reed's test of the turn-you-back-to-normal machine).
I think that the movie delivers what it promises. I feel that much is certain. I personally enjoyed it, but that's only because I paid 7 bucks for the movie, and will lie to myself if necessary to make myself think it was great =). No but really, I thought it was a great movie.