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Review by Vives Anunciacion

Fantastic Four
Directed by Tim Story
Written by Michael France, Mark Frost
Based on the Marvel characters created by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby
Starring Ioan Gruffudd, Julian McMahon, Chris Evans, Jessica Alba, Michael Chiklis
G/ 105 minutes
Twentieth Century Fox/ Marvel Enterprises
Opens July 6

The first family of superheroes gets a big-screen debut, asserting themselves as the original Fab Four - but not without a few makeovers here and there to make the screen transformation worthy.

Based on the characters of the longest-running comic book series that first appeared in 1961, Fantastic Four presents the origins of the classic team as well as their arch-nemesis Doctor Doom in a family-oriented, breezy narrative full of laughable punch lines and serviceable effects.

A violent cosmic storm accidentally exposes a group of scientists to cosmic radiation. Multi-talented scientist Reed Richards (Ian Gruffudd, Lancelot in last year’s King Arthur) is in a space station together with industrialist Victor Von Doom (Nip Tuck’s Julian McMahon) for genetic research when a violent storm exposes the entire space crew to radiation. By some twist of cosmic fate, the crew survives miraculously – only to discover that their own bodies have mutated days after their return to earth.

Richards finds out he can stretch and change the shape of his body at will. His best friend astronaut Ben Grimm (Michael Chiklis of The Shield) is physically transformed into a rock-like creature. Geneticist Sue Storm (Dark Angel’s Jessica Alba) can make herself invisible and project force fields. Her brother, the space station’s pilot, Johnny Storm (Chris Evans, of Cellular and Not Another Teen Movie), literally comes on fire. At first these new abilities confuse the four, until a series of events force them into becoming a team of superheroes.

But they’re not the only ones whose genetic structure is changed. Von Doom is changed into an electrically charged metallic being. Blaming Richards for his mutation and the failure of their experiment, he uses his indestructible abilities to feed on his lust for power and revenge.

Unlike many superhero movies, Fantastic Four doesn’t take itself too seriously but manages to fulfill the least of expectations for this classic team. Compared to the somber, realistic Batman Begins and the conflict drama of X-Men, Fantastic Four is a lighthearted family movie aimed for kids and adventurous adults.

Unlike other superheroes, the Fantastic Four is the only team of superheroes whose private identities are known to the public. The strength of the Fantastic Four story comes from the very human relationships between these extraordinary individuals who are instantaneously transformed into heroes by an adoring and sometimes overwhelming public. The comic books have successfully built their reputation on this underlying relationship, and the movie sufficiently does so at the least.

F4 creators Stan Lee and Jack Kirby present the powers of each member as a reflection of their individual characters. Reed Richards, who becomes the elastic Mr. Fantastic is multi-talented and adaptable, but also impermanent. That’s why he has relationship problems with his ex-girlfriend Susan Storm, who struggles with asserting herself as a woman. Frequently ignored, she becomes Invisible Girl. Her immature, adventurous brother Johnny is so hot-headed he becomes the Human Torch. And Ben Grimm, Reed’s steadfast best friend, hides a vulnerable emotional core underneath a solid façade, it’s no wonder he became The Thing. Another family of superheroes, The Incredibles, follows this characterization closely.

These inter-relationships permeate throughout the narrow, uneventful storyline of Fantastic Four, but at least it’s sustained. Never mind the corny action scenes and the cheap effects – the movie was said to be made on a tight budget.

Von Doom has a knack of appearing wherever he needs to go, without the aid of superpowers. While characterization is sufficiently given screen time for each member’s back story, only one gets full treatment. The lame narrative and plot inconsistencies were difficult to bear with if not for Johnny Storm’s goofy antics and snappy punch lines, which provide comic lift to the relationship problems of the four. Chris Evans steals the show entirely, as he fits Johnny Storm’s attention-grabbing character to a T. If not for the Torch, this movie is almost 4-gettable.

As Johnny Storm emblazoned the sky with the Fantastic Four logo, I asked myself why so many superheroes are based in New York (Superman’s “Metropolis”, Batman’s “Gotham”, Spider Man, X-Men, The Avengers, Daredevil, The Punisher, etc.) The world watched Live8 last Saturday, while I watched Fantastic Four. If there were superheroes in our time, it seems we need them more in Africa than anywhere else.