Review by Vives Anunciacion
Bewitched
Directed by Nora Ephron
Written by Nora Eprhon, Delia Ephron
Starring Nicole Kidman, Will Ferrell
G/ 102 minutes
Columbia Pictures
Opens Aug 10
In Nora Ephron’s latest comedy, award-winning actress Nicole Kidman plays a friendly witch trying to live a normal mortal’s life until a very famous mortal tricks her into living every mortal’s fantasy life – as an actress in a famous TV show. Bewitched is an example of how all of Hollywood’s star power isn’t enough to conjure a spectacle.
Actor Jack Wyatt (Will Ferrel, recently in Wedding Crashers) is looking for a publicity blitz to revive his waning fame. When network executives decide to remake the classic TV sitcom Bewitched, Wyatt is cast as the show’s unassuming husband Darren. What the production doesn’t realize is that the person they cast as Darren’s wife Samantha (Kidman, playing the innocent Isabel Bigelow), is in fact a real witch.
At first, Bigelow is just excited being able to find work in a normal, mortal environment. Plus she’s getting a weird interest in Wyatt. Little does she know that Wyatt is using her charms for the show’s ratings. With a few hexes and some help from friends, Wyatt and Bigelow eventually realize that they have more than just an on-screen relationship going on.
Bewitched is Kidman’s first romantic comedy and it’s obvious that she had fun making the movie. If Kidman can play light and bubbly, well, she’s luminous all right. It’s her second time to play a witch, which she last played in 1998’s Practical Magic, opposite Sandra Bullock.
Why on earth Kidman was paired with Ferrel, who’s practically in every comedy these days, is a mystery. No amount of Hollywood magic can brew a believable chemistry between the actors, who, in fairness, both do a great job in their own roles. On screen though, they just don’t look appealing together.
There’s a few instances of pure fun and magic – Shirley MacLaine’s appearance as Endora, Michael Caine’s cool and suave Nigel Bigelow reminiscent of the original Alfie. Kidman wiggling her little nose. Great music.
Surprisingly, Bewitched’s biggest blunder is it’s writing – the dialogue is just lame and the set-ups amateurish, almost obligatory. What makes this surprising is because it’s written and directed by the makers of Sleepless in Seattle and You’ve Got Mail – by now celebrated epitomes of the romantic comedy genre. Bewitched simply hasn’t got enough story magic for its stars to work on, but it’s fun whenever Kidman and Ferrel aren’t together in a scene.
Sad but true.
Sunday, August 14, 2005
Pure imagination
Review by Vives Anunciacion
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Directed by Tim Burton
Written by John August
Based on the book by Roald Dahl
Starring Johnny Depp, Freddie Highmore
G/ 115minutes
Warner Brothers Pictures
Opens August 3
Director Tim Burton cooks up a visually delectable treat for the sweet-toothed that’s halfway between jaw-dropping and criminally insane. Don’t fear – we’ve come to know Burton’s movies to be like that all the time. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is a satisfying family tale about wishes coming true.
Based on the 1964 children’s book by Roald Dahl, the film opens with gigantic factory machines busily churning boxes and boxes of chocolate candy bars. The world’s largest factory of candy is opening its gates to the public for the first time in many years. But only five kids and their guardians will be allowed entrance by the factory’s very reclusive and unusual owner, Willy Wonka (Johnny Depp). Five Golden Tickets are to be found under the wrappers of Willy’s wonderful chocolate, and those who find them shall be granted a tour of the mysterious factory. One lucky kid will win a secret extra prize.
Each of the five kids who find the tickets (or four, technically speaking) ordinarily represent an aspect of child behavior. Augustus Gloop (Philip Wiegratz), the first kid to find a ticket, never seems to stop eating. Violet Beauregarde (Annasophia Robb) is the achievement addict who intends to include marathon gum-chewing to her treasure of records. Veruca Salt (Julia Winter) is Paris Hilton amplified, spoiled to infinity. Couch potato and gaming freak Mike Teavee (Jordan Fry) is also a technology geek. And the kid who finds the last ticket is poor little Charlie Bucket (Freddie Highmore), who’s so poor all his family eats is cabbage soup.
Together with their like-minded guardians, the kids are toured in the magical factory by Wonka himself. One by one, the true nature of the kids are revealed to Wonka, who seeks a worthy winner of his “surprize.” As each unworthy kid is excluded from the tour, tiny and strange Oompa Loompas (played by one actor, Deep Roy) sing and dance in spectacular fashion to explain why the meddlesome kid is being punished.
In the fourth collaboration between Burton and Depp since Edward Scissorhands in 1990 (the others being Ed Wood and Sleepy Hollow), the uncanny pair once again profuse wonders onscreen. It’s the second adaptation of the magical tale of Charlie and Willy Wonka, this time more faithful to Dahl’s captivating children’s tale about a simple kid who not only wins a fantastic trip, but the hearts of everyone around him as well.
What clearly stands out from this version is Alex McDowell’s spellbinding design of Willy Wonka’s amazing factory and Charlie’s creaky home. I bowled over in the TV room scene, laughing my heart out to the Stanley Kubrick reference. Composer Danny Elfman trashes specific musical themes and goes all-out in playing with the Oompa Loompa numbers. This interpretation has an updated, edgier appeal compared to the sugary songs in the 1971 movie.
Freddie Highmore is simply a picture of utter cuteness, there’s no question to his likeability as Charlie. Depp on the other hand, like his character, is an enigma – either his was another great performance, or a misinterpretation of the character. Nevertheless I prefer his version of Wonka than Gene Wilder’s, whose version scared me as a kid.
There’s a sense of the inevitable that takes away some of the magic that should stay until the movie’s end, but it can’t be taken away as it is the structure of the narrative. Overall, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is a visual marvel and an absolute fun to watch. But the emotions don’t stay with the story, one forgets to care about Willy’s intentions unless he’s interacting with Charlie. Kinda like a multi-flavored candy that’s unsure of itself, this one intends to be sweet all throughout, but sours in a few places in the middle.
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Directed by Tim Burton
Written by John August
Based on the book by Roald Dahl
Starring Johnny Depp, Freddie Highmore
G/ 115minutes
Warner Brothers Pictures
Opens August 3
Director Tim Burton cooks up a visually delectable treat for the sweet-toothed that’s halfway between jaw-dropping and criminally insane. Don’t fear – we’ve come to know Burton’s movies to be like that all the time. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is a satisfying family tale about wishes coming true.
Based on the 1964 children’s book by Roald Dahl, the film opens with gigantic factory machines busily churning boxes and boxes of chocolate candy bars. The world’s largest factory of candy is opening its gates to the public for the first time in many years. But only five kids and their guardians will be allowed entrance by the factory’s very reclusive and unusual owner, Willy Wonka (Johnny Depp). Five Golden Tickets are to be found under the wrappers of Willy’s wonderful chocolate, and those who find them shall be granted a tour of the mysterious factory. One lucky kid will win a secret extra prize.
Each of the five kids who find the tickets (or four, technically speaking) ordinarily represent an aspect of child behavior. Augustus Gloop (Philip Wiegratz), the first kid to find a ticket, never seems to stop eating. Violet Beauregarde (Annasophia Robb) is the achievement addict who intends to include marathon gum-chewing to her treasure of records. Veruca Salt (Julia Winter) is Paris Hilton amplified, spoiled to infinity. Couch potato and gaming freak Mike Teavee (Jordan Fry) is also a technology geek. And the kid who finds the last ticket is poor little Charlie Bucket (Freddie Highmore), who’s so poor all his family eats is cabbage soup.
Together with their like-minded guardians, the kids are toured in the magical factory by Wonka himself. One by one, the true nature of the kids are revealed to Wonka, who seeks a worthy winner of his “surprize.” As each unworthy kid is excluded from the tour, tiny and strange Oompa Loompas (played by one actor, Deep Roy) sing and dance in spectacular fashion to explain why the meddlesome kid is being punished.
In the fourth collaboration between Burton and Depp since Edward Scissorhands in 1990 (the others being Ed Wood and Sleepy Hollow), the uncanny pair once again profuse wonders onscreen. It’s the second adaptation of the magical tale of Charlie and Willy Wonka, this time more faithful to Dahl’s captivating children’s tale about a simple kid who not only wins a fantastic trip, but the hearts of everyone around him as well.
What clearly stands out from this version is Alex McDowell’s spellbinding design of Willy Wonka’s amazing factory and Charlie’s creaky home. I bowled over in the TV room scene, laughing my heart out to the Stanley Kubrick reference. Composer Danny Elfman trashes specific musical themes and goes all-out in playing with the Oompa Loompa numbers. This interpretation has an updated, edgier appeal compared to the sugary songs in the 1971 movie.
Freddie Highmore is simply a picture of utter cuteness, there’s no question to his likeability as Charlie. Depp on the other hand, like his character, is an enigma – either his was another great performance, or a misinterpretation of the character. Nevertheless I prefer his version of Wonka than Gene Wilder’s, whose version scared me as a kid.
There’s a sense of the inevitable that takes away some of the magic that should stay until the movie’s end, but it can’t be taken away as it is the structure of the narrative. Overall, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is a visual marvel and an absolute fun to watch. But the emotions don’t stay with the story, one forgets to care about Willy’s intentions unless he’s interacting with Charlie. Kinda like a multi-flavored candy that’s unsure of itself, this one intends to be sweet all throughout, but sours in a few places in the middle.
Attack of the clones
Review by Vives Anunciacion
The Island
Directed by Michael Bay
Written by Caspian Tredwell-Owen
Starring Ewan McGregor, Scarlett Johansson
PG 13/ 127 minutes
Warner Brothers/ Dreamworks Pictures
In this futuristic action-thriller, director Michael Bay fires his usual arsenal of spectacular stunts and flamboyant camerawork to tell a surprisingly engaging story about human survival. It seems that for the first time, Mr. Bay understands the word Emotion.
In the mid-21st century, humans live in a controlled-environment facility that protects them from a polluted world. The high-tech antiseptic facility supervises each person’s daily living on a 24-hour basis. Every person wears the same uniform every day, distinguishing the inhabitants from the personnel. Everything is controlled, resources are shared, all is healthy.
Large video screens scattered around the walls of the facility display community bulletins and programs. A community bulletin announces the winner of the day’s Lottery, which gives one or two inhabitants the rare chance to relocate to and repopulate the last uncontaminated natural environment in the planet, modestly called The Island.
One of the inhabitants, an individualist by the name of Lincoln Six Echo (Ewan McGregor), discovers the true nature of the facility’s operations. He takes his close friend and most recent lottery winner Jordan Two Delta (Scarlett Johansson) and escapes from the facility. The two are relentlessly pursued and hunted – but for a more sinister reason: the inhabitants of the underground facility are biological clones, “products” serving as medical spare parts and “insurance policies” of earth’s rich and famous.
Director Michael Bay attempts to take himself seriously, reducing the amount of signature Bay action for more plot points and narrative screen time in The Island. About a full hour is fleshed out to explain the workings of the containment facility, unconventional in Bay terms and boring for Hollywood’s blockbuster attention span.
But it seems Bay was making his own sci-fi masterpiece, mixing elements of Michael Anderson’s Logan’s Run and George Lucas’ THX 1138 about humans (not necessarily clones) on the run from a crazed utopian society. One scene involving “spiders” is reminiscent of Minority Report, while a few CGI scenes are remarkably stunning. McGregor is interesting as a confused being deprived of soul and humanity. Johansson looks stunning yet gives a perfunctory performance to a narrowly written character.
Bay reinforces the notion that he is one of America’s best action directors especially with the spectacular action sequence involving large metal dumbbells rolling off the freeway during a high-speed chase. But as I have said, Bay attempts to put more than just action to this two-hour plus movie.
There’s the age-old rumination about the morality of cloning humans, especially now that it is seen as technologically possible. The Island may not be the most original concept on the subject of cloning, but it does present a humanizing aspect to the debate. The time will come when clones will exist with other humans, but by then none of the ills the present society (like poverty and racial slur) should be alive.
The Island
Directed by Michael Bay
Written by Caspian Tredwell-Owen
Starring Ewan McGregor, Scarlett Johansson
PG 13/ 127 minutes
Warner Brothers/ Dreamworks Pictures
In this futuristic action-thriller, director Michael Bay fires his usual arsenal of spectacular stunts and flamboyant camerawork to tell a surprisingly engaging story about human survival. It seems that for the first time, Mr. Bay understands the word Emotion.
In the mid-21st century, humans live in a controlled-environment facility that protects them from a polluted world. The high-tech antiseptic facility supervises each person’s daily living on a 24-hour basis. Every person wears the same uniform every day, distinguishing the inhabitants from the personnel. Everything is controlled, resources are shared, all is healthy.
Large video screens scattered around the walls of the facility display community bulletins and programs. A community bulletin announces the winner of the day’s Lottery, which gives one or two inhabitants the rare chance to relocate to and repopulate the last uncontaminated natural environment in the planet, modestly called The Island.
One of the inhabitants, an individualist by the name of Lincoln Six Echo (Ewan McGregor), discovers the true nature of the facility’s operations. He takes his close friend and most recent lottery winner Jordan Two Delta (Scarlett Johansson) and escapes from the facility. The two are relentlessly pursued and hunted – but for a more sinister reason: the inhabitants of the underground facility are biological clones, “products” serving as medical spare parts and “insurance policies” of earth’s rich and famous.
Director Michael Bay attempts to take himself seriously, reducing the amount of signature Bay action for more plot points and narrative screen time in The Island. About a full hour is fleshed out to explain the workings of the containment facility, unconventional in Bay terms and boring for Hollywood’s blockbuster attention span.
But it seems Bay was making his own sci-fi masterpiece, mixing elements of Michael Anderson’s Logan’s Run and George Lucas’ THX 1138 about humans (not necessarily clones) on the run from a crazed utopian society. One scene involving “spiders” is reminiscent of Minority Report, while a few CGI scenes are remarkably stunning. McGregor is interesting as a confused being deprived of soul and humanity. Johansson looks stunning yet gives a perfunctory performance to a narrowly written character.
Bay reinforces the notion that he is one of America’s best action directors especially with the spectacular action sequence involving large metal dumbbells rolling off the freeway during a high-speed chase. But as I have said, Bay attempts to put more than just action to this two-hour plus movie.
There’s the age-old rumination about the morality of cloning humans, especially now that it is seen as technologically possible. The Island may not be the most original concept on the subject of cloning, but it does present a humanizing aspect to the debate. The time will come when clones will exist with other humans, but by then none of the ills the present society (like poverty and racial slur) should be alive.
Magnificent
Review by Vives Anunciacion
Ang Pagdadalaga ni Maximo Oliveros
Directed by Aureus Solito
Written and Produced by Michiko Yamamoto and Raymond Lee
Starring Nathan Lopez, JR Valentin, Soliman Cruz
ufo Pictures
Gawad Balanghai (Cinemalaya) Best Production Design
Special Jury Prize Best Picture
Special Citation for Performance
With a title like that, who can ignore it? Ang Pagdadalaga ni Maximo Oliveros, more than its intriguing title, is at its core a rare and powerful coming-of-age narrative unequalled in recent years.
Pre-teen Maximo Oliveros, or Maxi (unforgettably played by Nathan Lopez), gaily devotes his time to his family of small-time criminals. He mends their clothes, cooks their meals and cleans the small shanty like the young housewife without the husband. He doesn’t go to school, in his off time, he watches pirated movies in a tiny “rental” under the stairs.
The Oliveroses is a typical, tightly knit Pinoy family, except that they are all men. Maxi’s doting father, Paco (played by veteran theater actor Sol Cruz) is a trader of stolen cell phones. His brother Boy (Neil Ryan Sese) does the stealing, and Bogs (Ping Medina, son of actor Pen) is a jueteng booker. Pretty much everything in the neighborhood has the color of crime. That would change as soon as Victor arrives.
Victor (JR Valentin), the handsome young policeman, personifies the ideal side, maybe even the contradiction of, Maxi’s family and neighborhood. He develops a friendship with Maxi, a kind of positive influence or role model for the impressionable kids of the slums. Maxi develops for Victor feelings that are more than just friendship (as the title makes obvious), which the family understandably rejects. Maxi is learning the meaning of love and devotion the hard way.
From the writers of Magnifico and Anak, Ang Pagdadalaga ni Maximo Oliveros is a heartbreaking tale of first love and the bloodlines that bind the common family firmly. “Maxi” prevails as an honest representation of the Pinoy nucleus, whose primary motive is to stay together under any circumstance. This is as real as narrative fiction can get.
The entire Oliveros household is an inspiring sight of tenderness and loyalty. Acting is top-notch across the board, with Sol Cruz, Ping Medina and Nathan Lopez as Maxi are visions in nuanced acting. Their performances are simply magical, at the end of the day, the Oliveroses are no different from your own household, and yet they still carry that small edge away from normality.
This is no teeny-bopper story, nor is this a stereotyped drama of a gay son in a macho household. There are no hysterics, no clichéd romance. Only sincere feelings between a boy and his family and a new thing called love. Kudos to the clearly-defined characters of Yamamoto, the intelligent interpretation of all the actors and the skillful handling of director Aureus Solito. The slums of Sampaloc, Manila add texture and credence to the story (hence the award for production design).
This is a rare achievement even if done by veteran filmmakers, but more so because it is made by new and young filmmakers. Without a doubt, “Maxi” is by any measure the best Filipino film in at least five years, and stands as the true beacon for the resurgence Filipino motion pictures and the next golden age of independent filmmaking.
The organizers of Cinemalaya, namely the Cultural Center of the Philippines, Dream Broadcasting and Philippine MultiMedia Systems Inc., the Film Development Council of the Philippines and the UP Film Institute should all be commended for successfully staging a competition and festival which by now, based on the attendance of the general public and by the luminaries of Filipino film, have stirred the local motion picture industry, commercial and independent, to life.
Now on to making more great Pinoy films.
Ang Pagdadalaga ni Maximo Oliveros
Directed by Aureus Solito
Written and Produced by Michiko Yamamoto and Raymond Lee
Starring Nathan Lopez, JR Valentin, Soliman Cruz
ufo Pictures
Gawad Balanghai (Cinemalaya) Best Production Design
Special Jury Prize Best Picture
Special Citation for Performance
With a title like that, who can ignore it? Ang Pagdadalaga ni Maximo Oliveros, more than its intriguing title, is at its core a rare and powerful coming-of-age narrative unequalled in recent years.
Pre-teen Maximo Oliveros, or Maxi (unforgettably played by Nathan Lopez), gaily devotes his time to his family of small-time criminals. He mends their clothes, cooks their meals and cleans the small shanty like the young housewife without the husband. He doesn’t go to school, in his off time, he watches pirated movies in a tiny “rental” under the stairs.
The Oliveroses is a typical, tightly knit Pinoy family, except that they are all men. Maxi’s doting father, Paco (played by veteran theater actor Sol Cruz) is a trader of stolen cell phones. His brother Boy (Neil Ryan Sese) does the stealing, and Bogs (Ping Medina, son of actor Pen) is a jueteng booker. Pretty much everything in the neighborhood has the color of crime. That would change as soon as Victor arrives.
Victor (JR Valentin), the handsome young policeman, personifies the ideal side, maybe even the contradiction of, Maxi’s family and neighborhood. He develops a friendship with Maxi, a kind of positive influence or role model for the impressionable kids of the slums. Maxi develops for Victor feelings that are more than just friendship (as the title makes obvious), which the family understandably rejects. Maxi is learning the meaning of love and devotion the hard way.
From the writers of Magnifico and Anak, Ang Pagdadalaga ni Maximo Oliveros is a heartbreaking tale of first love and the bloodlines that bind the common family firmly. “Maxi” prevails as an honest representation of the Pinoy nucleus, whose primary motive is to stay together under any circumstance. This is as real as narrative fiction can get.
The entire Oliveros household is an inspiring sight of tenderness and loyalty. Acting is top-notch across the board, with Sol Cruz, Ping Medina and Nathan Lopez as Maxi are visions in nuanced acting. Their performances are simply magical, at the end of the day, the Oliveroses are no different from your own household, and yet they still carry that small edge away from normality.
This is no teeny-bopper story, nor is this a stereotyped drama of a gay son in a macho household. There are no hysterics, no clichéd romance. Only sincere feelings between a boy and his family and a new thing called love. Kudos to the clearly-defined characters of Yamamoto, the intelligent interpretation of all the actors and the skillful handling of director Aureus Solito. The slums of Sampaloc, Manila add texture and credence to the story (hence the award for production design).
This is a rare achievement even if done by veteran filmmakers, but more so because it is made by new and young filmmakers. Without a doubt, “Maxi” is by any measure the best Filipino film in at least five years, and stands as the true beacon for the resurgence Filipino motion pictures and the next golden age of independent filmmaking.
The organizers of Cinemalaya, namely the Cultural Center of the Philippines, Dream Broadcasting and Philippine MultiMedia Systems Inc., the Film Development Council of the Philippines and the UP Film Institute should all be commended for successfully staging a competition and festival which by now, based on the attendance of the general public and by the luminaries of Filipino film, have stirred the local motion picture industry, commercial and independent, to life.
Now on to making more great Pinoy films.
Fore!
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.
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.
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