re:mote voices

Title: Fantastic Four
Cast: Ioan Gruffudd, Jessica Alba, Chris Evans, Michael Chiklis, Julian McMahon, Hamish Linklater, Kerry Washington
Director: Tim Story

Reed Richards is a brilliant scientist, he has discovered that a cosmic event is imminent, one that mirrors the one he believes is responsible for the creation of life. He is keen to get into space and study this, but his business is crumbling and his ex-room mate, the successful Victor von Doom, seems to be his last chance. Victor agrees to help Reed out, bring along Reed's ex-girlfriend the genetic scientist Sue Storm and her pilot brother Johnny Storm, reducing Reed's pilot Ben Grimm to back up. The five go into space, preparing to observe the event safely from behind strong shields. However, the event hits early, and the group are bombarded with cosmic rays.

Back on Earth the accident has been bad for Doom's business and he is furious. To make matters worse, something has happened to each of the people on board the space station. Reed, Ben, Sue and Johnny have all developed strange abilities, which have turned them into celebrity super heroes. Doom doesn't shame the same bond that the others do, blaming the Fantastic Four, as they have been branded by the media, for all his problems. The result is a destructive show down.

The Fantastic Four is one of Marvel Comics longest running and most classic comic books. After a troubled production history, which includes a previous version being completed only to be shelved and never see the light of day, the Fantastic Four joins an increasing list of material from the comic company to hit the big screen over the last few years. While their big rival DC seems content to stick with only Superman and Batman (and of course the recent Catwoman spin off), Marvel are keen to exploit every opportunity.

Fantastic Four is probably most comparable to the Spiderman films, in that they are light hearted and easy going, suitable for the whole family. Though comparisons to the X-Men are also valid, since to date the X-Men films are the only real example of a super-hero team film. While Spiderman focuses on the secret identity and the vigilante notoriety the Fantastic Four follows the flip side, the public persona of the celebrity super hero, being mobbed in the street and appearing in TV interviews. A similar contrast can be made to the X-Men, an underground organisation of mutants that are deemed to be dangerous to the public.

Effects wise Fantastic Four is pretty impressive. The manifestations of powers like Mr. Fantastic stretching ability and the Human Torches flame ability being the most evident example of this. With the Fantastic Four we have one of the least blatantly CGI effects films. Both Spiderman and X-Men films were let down at points by reliance on CGI that just looked too fake.

The casting of the parts is decent, the actors performing in a way that almost makes them caricatures. Exaggerating the obvious character traits as much as possible in order to define their comic book derived material. With that the Fantastic Four is comic book material, the characters don't really have much depth past the obvious and neither does the plot. But it does what it is supposed to do - the Fantastic Four is a big glossy film, which recreates a sense of comic book wonder.