Fantastic Four

20th Century Fox presents

Starring: Ioan Gruffudd, Jessica Alba, Michael Chiklis, Chris Evans, Julian McMahon

Directed by: Tim Story

Rating: ***

Plot: Two scientists, two pilots and one billionaire go up into a space ship to study cosmic rays. A freak accident happens and the cosmic rays hit the ship too early, mutating all five aboard. Later they each find out they all have fantastic powers. Reed Richards aka Mr. Fantastic (Ioan Gruffudd) can stretch his body out in any shape he wants. Susan Storm aka The Invisible Woman (Jessica Alba) well to no surprise she can turn invisible and make force fields. Johnny Storm, Sue's brother aka The Human Torch can burst into flames by saying "Flame On", which in some places could easily get you a boy friend, anyway we also have Ben Grimm aka The Thing (Michael Chiklis) he gets the shit end of the stick, because he becomes a rock monster with super strength but a not so pretty face. Victor Von Doom aka Dr. Doom (Julian McMahon) gets metal skin and the ability to suck in and shoot out electricity. He of course being a rich ass hole who owns a company looses his mind and tries to kill Reed Richards and his "family". Not so fantastic stuff ensues.

Acting: Actually this in the one place where the movie has a fresh breath of air. This section will also be the reason rated this movie higher than expected. I have to say I love the cast all around, yes even Jessica Alba who is the weakest of the group. Somehow Alba's great body and looks make me believe she really isn't a biologist, that's not a rip on biologists its just she doesn't look at all like a scientist or a mother she looks more like a fashion model. Still she tries her best and makes the role work for her. Ioan Gruffudd played Reed Richards the only way I think he could have been played and actually I liked his character the most of all. He takes command when he has to but does not try and make himself stand out from the group. Michael Chiklis is the man, if you ever watch a show on FX called the Shield you will know why. He is Ben Grimm, it is that simple and he makes the movie what it is, without Chiklis I believe this movie would have fallen apart and died. Chris Evans who I can only remember from the movie Cellular has almost way too much fun with his character Johnny Storm, he is cocky and over the top and Evans eats it up. His dialogue suffers from being very stupid but he somehow makes it work. Julian McMahon to me was perfect casting as Doom. Dr. Doom is my favorite comic book character there was something about him. Many people complain about Doom in this movie but that is not McMahon's fault. It looks like he had a great time playing Doom and that is all that matters, every time he was on screen things got better. This what some would call a B movie cast I thought pulled in A movie work, they almost save this movie, almost is the key word.

Directing/Writing: I say half of this movie is director Tim Story's fault and the half is the screen writers. This movie is sloppy, boring and way too corn ball to be an Fantastic Four movie. Tim Story was simply a bad choice for director, not ragging on him but he is better at comedies, not action comedies and for sure not comic book movies. His lack of vision makes this movie very stale and underwhelming, not all of this is his fault though. The screen play has a lack of action before the last ten minutes we get one action sequence which is very badly written. Not until the end does Dr. Doom become Doom and fight the Fantastic Four but before you blink you're watching the end credits. The movie spends way too much time dealing with small character problems, for example The Thing doing daily stuff, one scene was necessary but we get like five scenes of him trying to do regular stuff. The beginning has a moment where the team goes into outer space and gets hit with cosmic rays. This scene is slow and pathetic, the graphics look like something from a Sci-fi channel movie not a 150 million dollar studio tent pole picture. Now not all of this is bad Chiklis and Evans play well off each other and there are some very cute moments. One of those being the Thing's wife tosses her ring at him once she sees the creature he has become. The Thing tries to pick up the ring but his fingers are too big, Reed comes in and helps him pick it up, that's very touching but the feeling doesn't last. The movie altogether is way too choppy, many scenes from the trailers were cut to make me think there is a better version of this movie out there. Now I must say the last fight scene is fun but way too short with Doom not really doing all that much before he is defeated. Frankly I feel the major failure in this movie is Doom. He is a simple carbon copy of the Green Goblin from Spider-man, his evil plan is nothing more than defeating Reed Richards, you would think a guy who is made of metal and shoot electricity could do a lot better. They ruined for me a great character by not having Dr. Doom as the leader of Latveria or any Doom bots but I guess I have to take what I get. If a second film is made Story and the screen writer need to be dropped to make a more epic and solid picture.

Overall: The ending is the best part of the movie which in a way sets up a second film. We Dr. Doom's body being carried on a ship to Latveria. This is slightly exciting but the movie as a whole is pretty pathetic and boring to watch. Kids may enjoy it more than Batman Begins because of its light hearted beat and kids might connect this movie as the live version of The Increadibles but no matter how good this movie does at the box office, it still is one of the weakest comic book movies to come out since The Phantom, does anybody remember that movie? No. Well never mind.