Fantastic Four (USA) (20th Century Fox) (2005) **1/2Year: 2005iMDB
Director: Tim Story Cast: Ioan Gruffud, Jessica Alba, Chris Evans, Michael Chiklis, Julian McMahon
The moment I saw the first Fantastic Four trailer, I said to myself "Oh god, this is going to be sooo bad!". And while comic books adaptations have sprung to life with great success in the past few years, they're by no means an easy task, and those that managed to succeed so far have already impressed before: from Usual Suspects to X-Men, from Memento to Batman Begins. Director Tim Story goes from Barbershop to Fantastic Four and even though Barbershop was funny and smart in its own way, the only thing that it can lend to F4 is a non-stop doze of campy humor.
Additionally, the cast consists of mostly actors that became famous for their TV roles (Chiklis, McMahon, Alba) which had me think throughout the first 20 minutes of the movie that I am watching a special cross-over episode between The Shield, Nip Tuck and Dark Angel guest-starring Horatio Hornblower (Gruffud). Guess what? Chiklis also plays the tough guy, McMahon has scars sealed by surgical staples and Jessica Alba (who is of course, the reason for half of the box-office income this movie will have) kicks butt while being in love with a geek... Now that's stepping away from stereotypes!
However, when I'm done talking about all the inadvertent laughs, and cheesy special effects we are left with a superhero movie done in the "old" style, which doesn't take itself seriously and can be quite entertaining for what it is: a campy comic book adaptation. As far as I'm concerned (and I know I'll be bashed for this comparison) I put it almost in the same league as Spider-Man which personally I couldn't take any more seriously either.
Posted by TheCasualCritic on August 2, 2005 08:30 AM | TrackBack