Starting in 1998, comic book movies started to transform. No longer were they looked down upon, but Hollywood started to see that there were good stories just waiting to be told on the silver screen that took place in those illustrated panels. And once "Blade" became a big hit at the box office, studios rushed out to find as many comic book properties as they could. Producer Bernd Eichinger, mainly responsible for the atrocious "Fantastic Four" unreleased movie in 1994, decided that since he still had the rights to those characters, he wanted to attempt another F4 film. One that this time actually WOULD see the light of day. One that had a much bigger budget, elaborate set pieces, and a more detailed story. In 2005, we were given "Fantastic Four".
The story is your basic origin story, with some differences. This time out, Dr. Reed Richards convinces Victor Von Doom, former classmate and CEO of Von Doom Industries, to allow him and his crew access to Victor's personal space station. Because every CEO has their own personal space station, right? Anyway, back on topic. Reed believes evolution is tied to cosmic clouds of energy, and one is due to pass over Earth. Together with his best friend Ben Grimm, his chief genetics researcher AND ex-girlfriend Sue Storm, and her daredevil-yet-dimwitted brother Johnny, they venture up to interact with the cloud. Oh, and Victor comes along as well.
The story is your basic origin story, with some differences. This time out, Dr. Reed Richards convinces Victor Von Doom, former classmate and CEO of Von Doom Industries, to allow him and his crew access to Victor's personal space station. Because every CEO has their own personal space station, right? Anyway, back on topic. Reed believes evolution is tied to cosmic clouds of energy, and one is due to pass over Earth. Together with his best friend Ben Grimm, his chief genetics researcher AND ex-girlfriend Sue Storm, and her daredevil-yet-dimwitted brother Johnny, they venture up to interact with the cloud. Oh, and Victor comes along as well.
The usual hijinx happen, something goes wrong, and everyone on the ship is doused with cosmic energy rays from the cloud. Victor's face is also scarred after an exploding consol. Back home, they realize they are developing powers. Reed can stretch his body to weirdly absurd lengths, Sue can become invisible, Johnny can fly and set his entire body on fire, and Ben transformed into an orange stone creature. Doom loses his company, blames Reed, and vows to have his revenge. All while mutating himself, to which he finally dons a costume hiding his façade.
Ben loses his girlfriend, leaves the team, Reed tries to figure out how they all got powers, Ben comes back, argues with Johnny, the team comes together, battles and defeats Doctor Doom. Your run-of-the-mill superhero movie.
And see, to me, that's where the movie lost me. There just wasn't anything special. Nothing to stand out. It was almost as if they decided to film in a paint-by-numbers format. Everything happened exactly the way I thought it would. some of the casting choices left me feeling uneasy too. First off, Julian McMahon may have been a big cable TV star at the time, but he is NO Doctor Doom. Seriously, his voice coming from behind that mask was less creepy in a brooding villain way, and more creepy in a dude in the porn stash at the back of the video store kind of way. He wasn't even that intimidating. He was just...there. Ioan Gruffudd's Reed Richards felt like he was trying too hard. Like every question was almost too much of a challenge for him, and in the comics, Richards is one of the 10 smartest men on the entire planet! And of course, we were graced with Jessica Alba portraying Sue Storm. I just never felt like she "got" exactly who Sue Storm is, or the relationship between Sue and Reed. A lot of fans gripe over the fact that she's Latina, and in the comics Sue Storm was white. But I really didn't mind that at all.
The two saving graces as it pertains to casting choices were Chris Evans and Michael Chiklis as Johnny Storm/Human Torch and Ben Grimm/The Thing. Chiklis gave a pretty damn decent performance of what I always envisioned The Thing to be. He was gruff and angry over his recent misfortune, yet kind when it came to helping out his newest lady Alicia, who as it turns out, just happens to be a blind artist. And Evens portrayed the playboy daredevil to almost near-perfection. Of course, comic book movies have always seemed to suit Chris Evans pretty well. If they hadn't, then we would have seen a completely different Captain America.
And see, to me, that's where the movie lost me. There just wasn't anything special. Nothing to stand out. It was almost as if they decided to film in a paint-by-numbers format. Everything happened exactly the way I thought it would. some of the casting choices left me feeling uneasy too. First off, Julian McMahon may have been a big cable TV star at the time, but he is NO Doctor Doom. Seriously, his voice coming from behind that mask was less creepy in a brooding villain way, and more creepy in a dude in the porn stash at the back of the video store kind of way. He wasn't even that intimidating. He was just...there. Ioan Gruffudd's Reed Richards felt like he was trying too hard. Like every question was almost too much of a challenge for him, and in the comics, Richards is one of the 10 smartest men on the entire planet! And of course, we were graced with Jessica Alba portraying Sue Storm. I just never felt like she "got" exactly who Sue Storm is, or the relationship between Sue and Reed. A lot of fans gripe over the fact that she's Latina, and in the comics Sue Storm was white. But I really didn't mind that at all.
The two saving graces as it pertains to casting choices were Chris Evans and Michael Chiklis as Johnny Storm/Human Torch and Ben Grimm/The Thing. Chiklis gave a pretty damn decent performance of what I always envisioned The Thing to be. He was gruff and angry over his recent misfortune, yet kind when it came to helping out his newest lady Alicia, who as it turns out, just happens to be a blind artist. And Evens portrayed the playboy daredevil to almost near-perfection. Of course, comic book movies have always seemed to suit Chris Evans pretty well. If they hadn't, then we would have seen a completely different Captain America.
The costumes were a lot better this time around. The Thing was pretty spot on, and while it did look a tiny bit off, it was still INCREDIBLY better than the 1994 version. The other 3's suits were pretty decent. The effects were much better as well. Johnny actually being able to fly around AND set his entire body on fire was very needed. And even though the wrong actor played the part, the look of Doctor Doom was really well done.
This film came out during the years when we got other comic book cinema opuses as "Daredevil", the first 2 "X-Men" films, and the two "Blade" sequels. Still, with all its misgivings, it still managed to rake in the dough, and plans for the inevitable sequel went into effect. And soon, we shall talk about that sequel. Oh yes, you knew this was the endgame when we first started. You knew it was going to come to this, so be prepared...
This film came out during the years when we got other comic book cinema opuses as "Daredevil", the first 2 "X-Men" films, and the two "Blade" sequels. Still, with all its misgivings, it still managed to rake in the dough, and plans for the inevitable sequel went into effect. And soon, we shall talk about that sequel. Oh yes, you knew this was the endgame when we first started. You knew it was going to come to this, so be prepared...