Thornhill at the Movies

\When you raise the bar really high, future examples in the genre have to meet or exceed that standard to become memorable. Hitchcock raised the bar so high, even he had trouble meeting the public's expectations of his films late in his career. With the phenomenal success of "Spiderman 2" and "X-2", and the critical success of "Batman Begins", we now realize what a `superhero' film can be. They can be dark, filled with believable characters, have interesting and intelligent stories. They can be excellent examples of filmmaking.

"Fantastic Four" isn't any of these things. It has some fun moments, but overall, why bother? There are far better examples out there.

Reed Richards (Ioan Gruffudd) and Ben Grimm (Michael Chiklis, TV's "The Shield") visit Victor Von Doom (Julian McMahon, TV's "Nip/ Tuck") at his headquarters. This is a last ditch effort for Reed and Ben to get the funding they need for their studies. Von Doom agrees to let them travel to his space station provided they take Susan Storm (Jessica Alba), Von Doom's current and Richard's ex-girlfriend with them. Susan announces that her brother, Johnny (Chris Evans, "Cellular") will be the captain, to the chagrin of Ben, his former Air Force commander. Faster than you can say "space station", the five of them arrive. (Yes, Victor has traveled along as well). Almost immediately, the solar storm they traveled to study hits the space stations, zapping them all with it's radioactive waves. Upon their return to Earth, they realize their bodies are changing; Richards, Mr. Fantastic, can stretch his body into any shape, Susan, Invisble Woman, can become invisible at will, Johnny, the Human Torch, can set his body on fire and Ben's, The Thing, body becomes solid stone and he gains incredible strength. Thus, the Fantastic Four are born.

"Four", directed by Tim Story ("Barbershop", "Taxi") has the same tongue-in-cheek attitude that used to be the standard for superhero films. Johnny becomes a publicity hound after they perform their first heroic act as a group. A fireman tells them "You better get out there and talk to the reporters." He then asks "Who's the leader here?" Johnny responds "I am". Fireman: "No, really." and he looks at Richards. Think "Superman", but not as good. It isn't as good, because nothing is taken very seriously in this film. And there are huge plot holes.

Because the serious side of the story is so light, the film is unbalanced. The filmmakers almost seem unconcerned with exposition. One minute, the five of them... First of all, why would Von Doom, the head of a major corporation travel to the space station with them? I don't know. Not explained. As the five of them arrive at the station, the solar storm hits and they seem to be in great danger. Then they are waking up, on Earth, under observation, at Von Doom's facility. How did they end up back on Earth? No explanation is sought or even attempted by anyone. Later, Reed admits that he doesn't understand why the storm affected them, yet he is able to make a machine to counteract the effects. Still later, Ben climbs into the machine, alone, and manages to operate it, when the controls are outside. Because of these holes in the logic and story, the film fails to entirely create a believable universe.

There are also many recent examples of using special effects to enhance the story ("Batman Begins" and "War Of The Worlds"). "Four" has an inherent problem. Three of the four characters could only be created by special effects, and the effects are kind of cheesy. There is simply no other way to show someone stretching their limbs underneath a door, or becoming invisible, or setting themselves on fire. In the case of the Human Torch, the character is completely animated as Chris Evan's features are transformed into flames. These effects are never entirely believable.

"Fantastic Four" is simply an exercise in bringing a comic book to life. Unfortunately, it never transcends above this. It never makes the film worthy of paying full price at a theater. Or even a bargain matinee.

Three Stars