Review of Fantastic Four (2005) by Harry W — 29 Aug 2015

Based on the iconic Marvel Superhero squad comic series that I never had a chance to read, Fantastic Four sounded like a fun chance to get a sense of what.

Writers Michael France and Mark Frost know that audiences want the action to take off as soon as possible and not get caught up in spending so much time attempting to characterize four separate superheroes. Instead, the characterizations are balanced better across the film so that it happens between story building. But despite a decent plot structure, there is no plot worth structuring. The story in The Fantastic Four ultimately ends up falling far short of the value for money spent on actually producing the feature.

The fact that the screenplay oscillates between an abundance of melodrama and lifeless cheesy humour embeds an odd tone in the film. I'm not sure if viewers are meant to take the film seriously or not because all the melodramatic subplots that are handed to each character conflict with the cheesy lighthearted nature of the unfunny jokes. The only success in the humour comes from the fact that it's utterly ridiculous nature is so incompetent that audiences may find themselves laughing at the fact that anyone thought this was a good idea. The film is heavy on cliche when attempting to be about characterization and slack on originality when trying to be funny. And as well as that, there is not enough visual effects in the film to disguise this. There's one scene where The Thing punches Doctor Doom and proclaims "Damn, I've been waiting to do that". In actual fact, it's the audience that has been waiting. Waiting through a film full of poor screenwriting and little action for something to actually happen for once. As much as I enjoyed some of the visual effects sequences, there was too little of them to constitute the film's attempts to be a succesful summer blockbuster. Even though the film has four superheroes to boot, most of the time the powers of the characters are used in an attempt to create overblown slapstick instead of being put into climactic sequences of action. I don't understand how you can get such a large budget and then do so little with it, but Tim Story found a way.

Despite maintaining a budget of $100 million, much of Fantastic Four looks really cheap by today's standards. The use of green screen is abundantly clear every time, and Mr. Fantastic's extending limbs stretch the credibility of the them very thin. But as it is, The Thing is just not believable enough to look at either because the prosthetic effects look too colourful and shiny to be of the rough rock material that composes The Thing's actual physical structure. In essence, it feels too campy to be legitimate, decreasing the credibility of the story even further. Some moments are effective, but it is the less than convincing ones that really stand out more.

But of course, it is the lacklustre script that stands out the most. And as a result, the attempts for the cast members to be genuinely dramatic are so cheap that they prove almost laughable, clearly being far from fantastic.

Ioan Gruffudd leads The Fantastic Four, and I cannot help but wonder why. Despite headlining a $100 million film, his name is less memorable than his performance. The superhero he plays is named Mr. Fantastic, but you wouldn't figure that out based on his performance as he is a charisma free zone. Rarely ever thrown into the action, Ioan Gruffudd instead spends the whole time dragging the film down with his intent on trying to build the paper-thin characterization of Reed Richards into anything more than the poorly constructed waste of time that he is. He is not an action hero, and the only time he actually hits anyone is the viewer who suffers from being repeatedly struck with the notion that the man is not a good actor. Ioan Gruffydd's shortage of charisma goes hand in hand with the terrible screenplay in Fantastic Four, doing the furthest thing from justice for the iconic Marvel hero.

As Michael Chiklis is a heavyset bald man, he is the ideal casting decision for Ben Grimm from a physical perspective. But the Golden Globe-winning actor deserves a better character than a Krofft Brothers creation dressed like Humphrey Bogart. In a character so misguided in writing that it hits viewers harder than he hits Doctor Doom at the end of the film, Michael Chiklis is put into an unconvincing costume and told to do anything except for actually fight. There is no clobbering, just a lot of talking. But it doesn't make the slightest bit of sense. The characterization of The Thing as a hardboiled detective from a noir feature doesn't fit the context of the film whatsoever. I mean, younger audiences aren't likely to understand the joke and older audiences won't find it funny. In actual fact, people of all ages should be questioning why he isn't crushing everyone. I know I was, and so when Michael Chiklis attempts to mix Tom Waits and Joe Pesci together to characterize The Thing, it is practically laughable. But almost nothing in the film is funny, so that's why I put emphasis on the word "practically". Michael Chiklis is stuck with the most poorly characterized role in the film and delivers a performance worthy of the standard of writing he is stuck with.

Jessica Alba was a popular actress in her heyday and on the face of so many magazines. However, 10 years later when her heyday is passed it is made abundantly clear just how limited as an actress she always was. Her casting is clearly determined on the basis of one scene in which she has to remove her clothing before turning invisible before briefly returning to normal so that everyone can embrace the sight of her in her underwear. As appealing as it is, it is a momentary glimpse in a much longer performance which is far from satisfactory. Ultimately she is as convincing as a scientist as Denise Richards in The World is Not Enough, and even less believable as a superhero. When she pretends to create force fields with her hands, the artificiality lies in the fact that she cannot focus enough tension into herself to make it seem like she genuinely has powers of any sort. The fact that she plays The Invisible Woman is ironic as her casting value rests on her appearance, so when she turns invisible it disappears along with any reason she should have been cast. And when she doesn't have an invisible face, it is abundantly clear how few facial expressions she is capable of making aside from the dank stare that one would make upon seeing someone and trying to remember if they had met them before. It's a face of confusion, but it's more confusing why she was cast in the first place. Jessica Alba proves the true extent of her limitations in Fantastic Four.

Chris Evans is the only actor who makes an effort to have fun with his role instead of getting dragged down by the tedious melodrama of the screenplay. And as a result, his natural energetic charisma takes over and shows him lighting up the screen whenever he is on it. It's impossible to take the goofy nature of the film seriously as a viewer, and Chris Evans seems to recognize that and so he just puts all his spirit into capturing the kind of larger than life character who would join Bill and Ted for an excellent adventure. Chris Evans just bounces off the melodrama thrown at him every moment in Fantastic Four and converts it into one joke after another, and when he is given the chance to fly across the sky on fire he does it with a sense that he is truly embracing his superpowers convincingly. He is the only thing about the film which is funny for legitimate purposes and not strictly due to the stupidity of the script. Chris Evans proves his worth as a superhero in Fantastic Four, and considering his reputation currently stands for portraying The Avengers leader Captain America, the fact that he also played The Human Torch just makes his legacy all the more enjoyable.

But despite the charismatic efforts of Chris Evans, Fantastic Four is the furthest thing from the misleading adjective in the film's title as it is packed with thin melodramatic attempts to characterize its titular superhero team that come into conflict with an abundance of unfunny humour yet a shortage of action to distract from it all.