Scientist Reed Richards (Gruffudd) persuades his arrogant former classmate, Victor von Doom (McMahon), to fund his experiments with cosmic energy. On von Doom’s space station, the crew – including astronaut Ben Grimm (Chiklis), researcher Sue Storm (Alba) and pilot Johnny Storm (Evans) – are exposed to a mysterious cosmic storm that bestows super powers upon them. As they cope with their transformations, von Doom vows his revenge.
- Based on characters created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby for Marvel Comics..
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Before Chris Evans was Captain America: The First Avenger, he played a different superhero, Johnny Storm, in Fox’s Fantastic Four (not to be confused with that crappy remake Fantastic Four (2015)). It’d been years since I’d watched this, and, with Fantastic Four: First Steps about to redo this “family,” it seemed like a good time to revisit it. Would it be worth checking out, or is there a reason it’s now getting a 2nd remake?
In Fantastic Four, the roles are given to a mixture of actors. Before this, Ioan Gruffudd, who plays Reed Richards (aka Mr. Fantastic), may have been slightly recognizable (but not by name) to most viewers. And, thanks to his rather awkward performance, remains so to this day. Jessica Alba, who got panned for her portrayal of Sue Storm, isn’t as bad as everyone said, but rather tries to match Gruffudd in terms of awkwardness. Michael Chiklis, known for his breakout performance on The Shield (TV), isn’t bad as The Thing, and Chris Evans, as Johnny Storm, steals every scene he’s in with ease. As the bad guy, Julian McMahon isn’t quite as good as he was in Charmed (TV), and actually gives off less of a sinister vibe as Dr. Doom.
Unfortunately, the biggest thing that hampers every actor, to some extent or another, is the dialogue in Fantastic Four. Cheesy and feeling like it’s just been slapped together, the dialogue is a detractor to every sequence. While some actors (like Evans) manage to make their roles fun anyway, Gruffudd and Alba suffer greatly because of it. While the film had a pretty big production budget, the dialogue sounds more suited to a cheap B-movie, rather than a summer blockbuster.
The storyline pretty much follows the comics,with the 4 heroes obtaining their powers during a space flight accident. It is still fun to watch them start to experiment with their newfound “gifts,” especially concerning Evans. Then, the bad guy shows up to threaten them, and they have to team up to stop him Decent sounding, but there are some things that will put viewers off, even putting aside the bad dialogue.
The scenes where they are discovering their powers are probably the best sequences in Fantastic Four. Unfortunately, the creation of their foe leaves a lot to be desired. At first, it progresses on nicely, with the villain getting slowly more evil and powerful, but then it seems as if a lot of his journey was left on the cutting room floor, as he suddenly leaps ahead, and suddenly wants to kill the good guys, just because, apparently (since the real motive was mostly forgettable). It makes for an abrupt cut off of those scenes that have been developing the character to suddenly appearing for the final revenge scenario.
The special effects definitely are showing some signs of aging in Fantastic Four. While they aren’t much less visually appealing (so far), they just seem to be slightly off-kilter. It’s nothing the viewer can put their finger on exactly. It’s just more of a vibe, a slightly comic-like look that maybe they were going for, but still seems slightly off.
All in all, while Fantastic Four isn’t as atrocious as Fantastic Four (2015) by a long shot, it actually feels a bit unfinished. The cast is a mixed bag, the dialog is atrocious, and several of the special effects – while still visually impressive – just seem off. That combines to make this one okay, but a far cry from fantastic.
