Fantastic Four (2005) Film Review: A Fantastically Average Mid-2000's Superhero Flick

The mid-2000's was the revival of the superhero genre with various studios picking up tons of movie licenses for various characters. With Fox launching the modern superhero film with "X-Men", they would try to throw their hat in the ring with another group of comic-book characters with the Fantastic Four. While it was a moderate hit and even spawned a sequel, it has become notorious as not only of the worst superhero films of that decade, but continuing the idea that the famous comic group can never get a good movie of their own. The story has Reed Richards and his friend, Ben Grimm, reluctantly work with Victor Von Doom, a brilliant yet arrogant physicist who owns his own private company and who is currently dating Susan Storm, Reed's ex. As they go to space in order to study a wave of cosmic energy, they get caught off-guard by the sudden arrival of said wave and everyone, including Storm's brother, Johnny, get caught in. The five all start to change and get powers of their own, with Doom hiding his abilities while slowly becoming insane from his ruined reputation. The latter, after saving people from a massive accident, get named as the titular group of heroes as tensions between the four start to get uncontrollable while trying to get back to normal, from Johnny's hot-headed and attention-craving attitude to Ben's unnatural new appearance as a rock monster. The story is by far the biggest mixed-bag aspect of the film as it has both solid and poor choices. The best part of the story is really Ben's arc as he has to deal with a lot of unwanted attention and his wife leaving him due to his bizarre looks. I also like the idea of the team not being eager to be a superhero team, aside from Johnny. It makes perfect sense for the others to not act like celebrities and soak up the attention as they are not only attempting to reverse the effects, but trying to stay true to themselves. The real issue with the story is mainly relaying on Doom's portrayal, which we will get into. I think the story itself would have been more acceptable by many if the tone of the movie wasn't so over-the-top. I won't lie, I didn't mind the tone at all since it was really trying to keep up with the success of "Spider-Man" and Fox didn't want to just make the movie as serious as "X-Men". However, the movie doesn't have as much drama or seriousness as the "Spider-Man" films and mostly behaves like a Saturday morning cartoon, aside from a very graphic death scene where Doom blasts a guy's chest to expose his insides. While not a bad thing as a whole, it does alienate modern audiences who want a more grounded, serious or balanced take of the source material rather than the more lighthearted take. It doesn't help that there's not really a ton of laughs in the film, although there are a couple of good jokes.

Much like the story, the characters and casting offers mixed results. Ioan Gruffudd plays Reed Richards/Mr. Fantastic, a brilliant, but timid scientist who has the ability to stretch his body like rubber, while also trying to win back his ex. Gruffudd does a pretty good job as Reed akin to Toby Maguire's Peter Parker and looks mostly like the character, aside from the grey hair streak being much smaller. Chris Evans plays Johnny Storm/Human Torch, a womanizing playboy who is eager to use his powers of pyrokinesis and flight. While some people find the character to be annoying and terrible, Evans is having a ball as the character and the dynamic does actually work off the characters and story premise, so he's not pointless at all despite what people claim. The best character in the movie by far is Micheal Chiklis's Ben Grimm/The Thing, a rough yet gullible man who transforms into a hideous rock monster with immense strength. Not only was Chiklis perfectly cast as the character and clearly puts on the best performance of the film due to his extended role, but his dedication to wearing the heavy amounts of make-up and putting on a rough voice makes him the standout performance. There are some issues as his arc could have been a bit more expanded upon, but it's very good for the most part. Despite these solid characters and actors, there are two that really sink the film down. First, there's Jessica Alba as Susan Storm, Reed's former lover who she clearly still has feelings for, while possessing the powers of invisibility and force field projection. While Alba clearly looks the part, she doesn't act as well as she looks. You don't really get the intelligent side of the character or what makes her so special to Reed and Doom outside of her looks. Speaking of Doom, the villain is by far the weakest element of the film. While Julian McMahon is doing the best and his manipulation of the Thing is a very genius move, the real issue is that the character is not only generic, but nothing like the source material. Instead of a tyrannical leader that rules a fictional country with science and magic, we have a CEO of a private company who becomes insane once his reputation is ruined. Instead of science and magic, he gets the powers of electrical and magnetic manipulation while his body becomes metallic in the process. Instead of having very deep motivations and reasons for his evilness, he just wants to get back at Reed and the others even though he could have just acted like a hero himself. It's a terrible shame as they could have even made this portrayal work fine if they elaborated more on his background of Latveria and how he had to earn his company from having been born with nothing back home. While there are some side characters such as Grimm's wife, Ned Cecil and Alicia Masters, they only appear in a scene or two, making them simple background characters that just add to the character's journey rather than being developed characters. So, aside from a bland female lead and terrible villain portrayal, the three male leads are honestly pretty good and can just barely outweigh the two awful characters.

If you recall my review of the 2019 "Shaft", I said how Tim Story is a solid director for the most part, aside from the bland direction in the action sequences. This is mostly applied, though the action here is better than the aforementioned film. The production and set design is very good from Reed's lab in the Baxter Building to Doom's private rehabilitation centre. The costume designs are basic, though creative story-wise. Doom however could have at least looked more comic-accurate aside from the mask. The cinematography by Oliver Wood is good for the most part with the action scenes being the highlight and the scenes having the colour and lighting pop out. However, Story's decision to include the snowboarding and X-Games scene with Johnny feels ripped out of a music video from a lame rock band as it not only feels pandering to the era, but feels out of place in the genre. I understand that it's appropriate for the character, but it does add to the reason why people dislike Johnny to begin with. The visual effects is where things get interesting, both for the bad and good. The make-up for Doom and the Thing is very good, with the Thing being the highlight. There are some people who think the extensive make-up makes the character either more goofy or unrealistic, but I felt that the character looks, for the lack of a better word, fantastic, especially since they could have just made the character CGI. Speaking of which, that's where the movie gets quite a bit of slack. Although the fire effects and transformation of the Human Torch look very good given the film's budget, there are some pretty awkward effects that are debatably even dated during the film's initial release. The space station, cosmic wave, Invisible Woman's force field projections, and infamously, Mr. Fantastic's plastic-looking effects are not really good. You can debate that they did the best they could with the effects given the budget and the characters that were being adapted, but considering that the Human Torch and the Thing look great the way they do, it does add to the idea that they could have tried harder with the effects. John Ottman is well-known for his famous "X-Men" theme that debuted in "X2", so you'd think that he would create a very memorable score for another family of superheroes. However, fans of his would be extremely disappointed. It's not bad by any means, but it's pretty generic, especially for Ottman's work. Lastly, there's the action to talk about, or the lack thereof. Outside of some brief scuffles between the members and the cosmic storm sequence, there's only two real action scenes. There's the incident on the bridge where the four reveal their abilities to the public while saving people. Whether or not they caused more damage or not, I actually like this set-piece as it makes sense for the group to help save people rather than stop a crime or something. However, the climatic battle with Dr. Doom is where things get really underwhelming. Although there's some good cinematography, It's quite clear that they reached the extent of their budget during this scene and although there are plenty of effects, the fight itself is way too short with Doom getting beaten up by the Thing and the group immediately coming up with a plan to beat Doom rather quickly. This battle actually makes the final battle in the 2015 film more like an epic showdown as it at least lasted longer than this. So, yeah, Story does a decent job directing, but really should stay away from action movies as they're really underwhelming under his direction.

"Fantastic Four" is an odd movie to say the least. Despite its universal hate, there's actually quite a bit that stands out from the film. The story about the characters being reluctant to be superhero celebrities is honestly a pretty good one for this particular team, the three male leads are both well-casted and acted to have a likeable personality, the production design is pretty good, the cinematography by Wood is solid, the make-up effects are really good and ambitious on the Thing, and the Thing is by far the best part of the film, both by Chiklis's performance, design, and how he is used throughout the story. Despite all of this good though, there's an equal amount of bad. The tone can be pretty hard to enjoy for how campy it is, the jokes aren't really funny outside of a few exceptions, Alba is poorly miscast as Sue Storm, Doom is by far the biggest injustice of the film due to how much they altered his character from the comics, some CGI effects are very dated, Ottman has one of the most underwhelming scores in his career considering his work on the X-Men films, and the lack of action that leads to one of the quickest and forgettable climaxes. It's by far a mixed bag and your enjoyment is really dependant on patience and tolerance for film in general. It's perhaps the best of the films based on the Marvel group, but that's not a huge achievement to begin with.

Verdict: 5/10. A straight-up mediocre superhero film. If you're hoping to find an action-packed, laugh-fuelled adventure, this is not the film for you.