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July 12, 2005
RUTHERFORD ON FILM: 'Fantastic Four': Slow Start Nearly Sinks Flick
by Tony Rutherford
Huntington News Network Columnist
Huntington, WV (HNN) ---Reed Richards, Sue Storm, Johnny Storm, Ben Grimm and Victor von Doom plan on spending a few days in space to harness an emerging energy field. "What's the worst that could happen?"
As most comic book fanatics know, those words spawn four superheroes and a super villain. In fact, anyone who reads or once read Marvel or D.C. comics realizes that "origin" stories often represent subdued adventures, as the stage is set for the evolution of the new heroes.
Marvel's big-screen "Fantastic Four" falls into that category. The production sputters along while setting up all the conflicts within the relationships. During that interim only an awesome Brooklyn Bridge pile up serves as a harbinger of the battles that follow. Stan Lee and Jack Kirby's 'trademark' that separated their brand from other comics (Superman, Batman) were adding glimpses into the troubled human lives of those endowed with extraordinary power. Of course, the graphic novel episode itself devoted several pages to their moping, their shattered romances, and their psychological adjustments before they soared forth to save the city or world from a new threat.
Translation: The movie spends too much time getting the characters introduced, their flaws exposed, their powers tested, and a rivalry lighted.
The Fantastic Four flick, like the main characters, struggles with finding a comfortable identity. The conversion of their DNA to radiation charged particles sends Richards to the lab, intent on finding a way to restore their normalcy after Ben loses his fiancé when she sees him as The Thing. Von Doom who will become the group's nemesis revels once too often admiring himself in a mirror before changing to a Darth Vader-like blob of metal. The Torch, well, he's happy to show off his fiery abilities for fame, fortune and girls 'round his arm.
Decidedly a mixed bag, "Fantastic Four" has adult conflicts in a cartoon-esque presentation. Fans cheered, but to merit sequels those unfamiliar with the Four have to exit with a good thumbs up. Perhaps, "Batman Begins" spoiled me. Maybe, "Four" needed less talk and more action. Or, could it be that computer generated New York City backgrounds inhabited by fantasy characters has gotten too routine.
Still, something's amiss. I just can't put my finger on it, and it's more than continuity blunders such as with Invisible Girl's on again, off again, left behind clothing. Pay close attention to the Brooklyn Bridge scenario, you'll discover that Mr. F gathers her clothing from the street. While still in her underwear and bare footed, she inadvertently resumes visibility. In a following scene, Mr. F again picks up her non-invisible clothing. But in each case, he did not pick up her shoes / boots, yet during the re-appearance away from her vanishing point, she has them on.
One side of my brain wants to admit that the complexities of the group's origin predetermined a slow, yet mostly vital, first half. Another side of my cranium asks, 'hey, why didn't they have this problem with the X Men?'
Finally, yes, finally, the team bonds, The Things yells, "it's clobberin' time," and effects magicians unleash knocking foundation blasts and vaulting fireballs.
Why, I ask, did the 'suits' select relatively neophyte director Tim ("Barbershop") Story for "FF?" Story with his hysterical ethic comedic roots would have been cool for a campy flick or a semi-serious action thriller. However, "The Fantastic Four" plays serious with just a few wise-cracks and relationship hurdles.
The director struggles with finding the right blend of action, comic relief, and character development. Story handles credibly the relationship between the scientific, geeky workaholic Mr. Fantastic (Ioan Gruffudd) and the teasing, broken-hearted Storm (Jessica Alba) . The 'games' and chess moves in seeking to re-spark their two year old romance has you feeling their anxiousness, love and pain. Story doesn't do too badly with Storm's maverick bro, the Torch (Chris Evans) as a spontaneous, risk-taker with a teen attitude.
However, since "FF," along with Spiderman, started the Marvel revolution, they were one of the most sophisticated of Stan Lee and Jack Kirby's creations. They deserved a better on-screen adaptation, rather than slipping somewhere between "Batman Forever" and the disastrous "Batman and Robin." For the sequel, please, please, hire an action director!!
