Fantastic Four

UK Release Date. 22 July 2005
Certification. PG
Running Time. 1 hour 46 mins
Director. Tim Story
Cast. Jessica Alba, Michael Chiklis, Chris Evans, Ioan Gruffudd, Hamish Linklater, Julian McMahon, Kerry Washington.
Rating. 9%

Review.

Marvel Comics original superhero assemblage first appeared in The Fantastic Four #1, published in November 1961 [albeit The Human Torch appeared in a Marvel Comics precursor, Timely Publications #1, first published in October 1939]. Since then, there have been a number of unsuccessful attempts to transfer The Fantastic Four to the large screen. In advance of this summer’s adaptation directed by Matt Shakman, I revisited Tim Story’s pre-Marvel Cinematic Universe Fantastic Four.

Story’s adaptation is a resounding failure. The film suffers from too many common aspects of the early 2000s era, namely ropey CGI effects and an awkward undercurrent of indecision, specifically the level of self-seriousness versus camp.

The plot is basic and rudimentary. Reeds Richards (Ioan Gruffudd), Susan Storm (Jessica Storm), Johnny Storm (Chris Evan’s) and Ben Grimm (Michael Chiklis) collide with some comic book style radiation in space, which transforms them into Mister Fantastic, The Invisible Woman, The Human Torch and The Thing, respectively. Thus, The Fantastic Four are born. The underwhelming plot is compounded by a lack of focus and the decision to gloss over the consequences of gaining superpowers and instead lurching straight into insipid action sequences.  

There is minimal fiery familial passion, and Gruffudd’s Mister Fantastic and Alba’s Invisible Woman are devoid of any romantic magnetism. Worse still, an appalling Julian McMahon portrays the evil, megalomaniacal scientist Victor Von Doom as wholly inconsequential.

That’s Fantastic Four’s biggest problem: not the unexplained deviations from the original source material, but simply how dreary and bland the film is. Emotionally, visually and cinematically, everything about the film is flat.