Some superheroes aren't so fantastic after all

Fantastic Four (2005)
20th Century Fox presents a Tim Story film, starring Jessica Alba and Michael Chiklis. Written by Michael France and Mark Frost. Based on characters by Jack Kirby and Stan Lee. 106m. PG-13 for sequences of intense action and some suggestive content.

2 stars

It’d be hard for anyone, let alone a group of ordinary astronauts, to live up to the implied expectations of a moniker like the “Fantastic Four.”

The quartet’s dirty little secret is that their superpowers aren’t actually that astounding. What’s always intrigued me, instead, is how those powers begin to expose the true nature of the person blessed - or cursed – with them.

After a miserable failure which practically bankrupted him, Reed Richards (Ioan Gruffudd) has to grouse for funding at the ankles of Dr. Victor Von Doom (Julian McMahon). He seeks funding for a space mission that could alter the way scientists understand human DNA. The vain Von Doom is happy to oblige, but only if he is allowed to fill out the crew with galpal Sue Storm (Jessica Alba) and her daredevil brother, Johnny (Chris Evans).

Richards’ request is like Einstein begging Hawking, with both being outfitted with Bill Gates-like capital, for assistance on a career-defining scientific discovery. I think Von Doom is secretly pleased, then, when Richards’ calculations go awry and the five - including Richards’ solider, Ben Grimm (Michael Chiklis) – are subjected to some sort of interstellar radiation.

The exposure outfits all five with superpowers, which are slowly revealed to the characters at the same time they are to the audience. Richards has the ability to contort his body like an out-of-control Stretch Armstrong. Sue Storm can turn invisible, but also employ self-containing force fields. Johnny Storm is combustible, turning into a ball of flame at the snap of a finger. Ben is the only one who undergoes a significant appearance change; his body mass quadruples and he becomes a rock monster.

Von Doom is furnished with a new origin story for his super-ability; he develops significant deposits of metal (think Wolverine in “X-Men”) underneath his epidermal layers, causing him to have a potentially indestructible armor. He isolates himself from the other four, consumed by the notion - now more than ever - that Richards has undermined him and intentionally destroyed his empire.

And while there is an ultimate stand-off between Von Doom and his new arch-nemesis, there’s also a very pointed suggestion that this is merely the beginning of the “Fantastic Four” on the silver screen. In fact, this film seems like a deliberately-paced introduction to the protagonists and their newly discovered abilities. It’s like a circus, where we see all the thrills, but never learn of the motivations of the performers.

In fact, there’s much disagreement between the four about their ultimate role. As a scientist who realizes the grave consequences of his superpowers, Richards works to construct a machine that will revert the quartet to their original states. But Johnny embraces his role as The Human Torch, seeing the exposure as a blessing that comes laden with fame and fortune.

Since he was permanently disfigured, Ben sees his evolution into The Thing as a curse which temporarily negates his abilities to interact unimpeded in the real world. We’re not really given a insight into how Sue is handling the transition, which is probably fine. I was already having a difficult enough time believing Jessica Alba was a genetic scientist, let alone accepting that she had a complete thought in her mind.

Just three weeks after “Batman Begins,” “Fantastic Four” adroitly demonstrates the schism that exists now in comic-book adaptations. “Batman Begins” opted to take a hard look at a character’s origin and motivations. It asked audiences to look inside themselves and find similarities; how would we have acted if we had set the wheels in motion that effectively killed our parents? Would we seek revenge, or opt for justice? Or would we ignore the frantic call of a citizenry in peril, opting to wallow in our own prescribed pain?

“Fantastic Four” doesn’t care much about what makes its characters tick. It wants to have very public displays of prowess, like an incident at the Brooklyn Bridge where all four are given the opportunity to strut their stuff. Its shot selection and emphasis on special effects over storytelling suggests that it’s here to entertain, not to provoke or inspire. Films that use digital magic as a crutch are sometimes enjoyed, but hardly ever remembered.

“Batman Begins” is littered with special effect shots, but they are used to create a mood or drive home a point. They accentuate the storytelling, not overwhelm it.

It will be interesting to see if audiences still support both factions of comic book adaptations in the coming years. I’d humbly suggest that as long as there is a movie about one of the indispensable icons - Spider-Man, Superman, Batman or the X-Men - there will probably be opportunity for the less impressive superheroes.