Fantastic 4

C+

Fantastic 4 the movie is just like Fantastic 4 the Saturday morning cartoon. There's the interesting but superficial plot, the cardboard characters, the superpowers, the one-liners and the generic action sequences - all aimed at viewers no older than 16 years old. The end of the superhero-hype is imminent. I see this with a tinge of disappointment and sadness for potential superhero movies that will go against the grain and blow us away (like Batman Begins), but Fantastic 4 isn't helping.

The story is universally known. A group of astronauts in a spaceship are struck by some cosmic radiation and they soon learn that they possess super powers. The lead scientist, Dr Reed Richards (Ioan Gruffudd), later branded Mr Fantastic, finds his limbs to elastic and stretcable. His ex-girlfriend, Sue Storm (Jessica Alba), becomes the Invisible Woman. His partner and best-friend, Ben Grimm (Michael Chiklis), was exposed to an overdose of radiation and turned into rock, The Thing. Sue's brother, Johnny (Chris Evans), could generate fire, becoming The Human Torch. Richard's scientific and romantic rival, Victor Von Doom (Julian McMahon), also on the ship, turned into metal and can manipulate electricity and became Dr Doom, the Fantastic 4's nemesis.

The movie follows their accident on the spaceship and the learning of their powers back on Earth and how they deal with their newly acquired powers (the most significant being Ben Grimm's self-loathing that he has become a monster). The Fantastic 4 are the only superheroes brought to screen so far that do not have double identities. After performing some rescues on the Brooklyn Bridge, they became instant celebrities; and this is the only thing about the movie that is fresh. The only other enjoyable part of Fantastic 4 is Chiklis and Evans. One is tough but likeable, the other is immature but likeable. Their banters at each other are hilarious and their chemistry real - which is more than I can say for the script and the other actors. Ioan Gudruff is like putty (and at one point he really was), showing nothing that exerts any amount of force on screen. I love Jessica Alba, I really do, but she hasn't done a role that shows any acting ability. While McMahon may look the part (to perfection, I must say) with his beastly diabolical looks, he is nowhere scary enough to be a villain, much less Doctor Doom.

The special effects are great, but nothing above the standards that are today's norm. Not a single action sequence in this movie raised a pulse, not that there were many of them. Exposition-laden, the script was lacklustre. There was even a cheap shot (very very cheap!) to show Jessica Alba stripped (which was still pretty cool). Nevertheless, it was a mostly enjoyable movie, and with most of the introductory plots out of the way, Fantastic 4 2, if there'll be that, has the potential to be a slam-bang pure popcorn entertainment that I'm still eagerly waiting for out of a superhero flick.
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