The Fabulous 4. Review on The Fantastic Four Movie

Fantastic Four was a cartoon that I vividly recall watching as a kid nearly two decades ago. I was pleasantly surprised that any movie moghul would come forward to make a movie of this superheroes caper. On second thought, I shouldn't raise an eyebrow because every other Hollywood entertainment released is based on a popular comic character - Batman, Spiderman, Superman, Richie Rich, Scooby Doo, what-have-you...

Superhero tales (comics or movies) have that inexplicable quality to arouse the child in us, adults and grannies. Can this magic be explained? They make us live our fantasy of stopping evil and washing the dark forces down a manhole. We become the most powerful beings on earth who can lift our foes by the tiny finger and flick them beyond the Milky Way :)

The Movie (Plot)

Reed Richards (Ioan Gruffudd) is a bankrupt but brilliant scientist who, with friend Ben Grimm (Michael Chiklis), approaches former schoolmate and current billionaire businessman Victor Von Doom (Julian McMahon) with a request. Hoping to study some approaching cosmic radiation that he believes may have sparked life on Earth in its only other pass by our planet, Reed not only asks for financial aid, but he also requests the use of Doom's space station. Always wanting to see Reed fail in a spectacular fashion, Victor agrees.

Joining them is Victor's director of genetic research and current girlfriend Sue Storm (Jessica Alba) who once had a relationship with Reed, as well as her adventurous and brash playboy brother Johnny (Chris Evans) who will pilot their mission. Unbeknownst to them, however, the cosmic storm is arriving sooner than Reed calculated, exposing the entire crew to high doses of radiation that fundamentally alters their DNA.

Back on Earth, they soon learn exactly how. Reed suddenly has the ability to stretch, bend and flatten his body like rubber, while Sue can turn invisible and create powerful force-fields around her or others. Johnny can cause any part of his body to catch on fire without any harm to him, while Ben has been turned into a monstrous figure who appears to be comprised entirely of rock. As he's the only one who can't will his super power into action, his new appearance causes his wife to leave him, but he's later consoled by a kind blind woman, Alicia Masters (Kerry Washington) who doesn't care how he looks.

As Reed tries to come up with a solution for their new abilities, the opportunistic Johnny seizes the moment to grab the limelight. After they end up preventing a catastrophe on a bridge high above the river, the press deems them the Fantastic Four and Johnny revels in the publicity. Yet, little do they realize that Doom was also affected and can now control electricity, a power that's slowly turning his skin into some sort of organic metal. With Reed racing to recreate the space storm with hopes that he can revert himself and his friends, the group must deal with the megalomaniacal Doom who's progressively becoming more dangerous and sees the group as the only thing between him and world domination.(source: screenit.com)

Phew!

Hmmm...me thinks

Especially children will love this movie. I believe, like many others, that it is better than it's comic counterpart (no mean feat).

The comedy will entertain people of all ages. The special effects and action are spell-binding.

Some paisa-vasool moments ~

• the catastrophe and the rescues at the bridge

  
  




• Hilarious one-liners and dialogues

  
  




• Light-hearted pranks by Johnny on Ben.

  
  




• Jessica Alba, Jessica Alba, Jessica Alba :)

  
  




• Fantastic Four's final encounter with Doom (watch out for the heat-seeking missile attack on Johnny)

  
  

Performances are first-rate. Julian McMahon as the cold-blooded Doom gives a stellar performance. Jessica Alba is gorgeous, leaving the male audience frustrated! Kerry Washington as the blind Alicia is endearing.

Interesting Trivia

• Fantastic Four creator (and Marvel editor-in-chief) Stan Lee has a cameo in the movie as Willy Lumpkin, the Four's mailman.

  
  




• It has been stated by Stan Lee that the powers of Fantastic Four are based on the four elements: Mr. Fantastic's (Reed) stretching ability is based (loosely) on the malleability of water, the Invisible Woman's (Sue) power is based on invisibility of air, the Thing's (Ben) rocky appearance is based on earth, and the Human Torch's (Johnny) is obviously based on fire.

  
  




• George Clooney and Brendan Fraser were considered for the part of Reed Richards.

  
  

My Dream Wish

If I get the powers of Fantastic Four for a day ~

• power of Mr.Fantastic - stretch my heart to the whims and fancy of my love...

  
  




• power of Invisible Woman - be invisible and visit the girls' locker room...

  
  




• power of The Thing - pulverise every terrorist into an ambiguous pulp and feed to the pigs...

  
  




• power of the Human Torch - torch the houses of my boss and smart aleck colleagues into oblivion...

  
  

and

• power of Doom - electrocute the gall bladder of MS members who forget to RRC my reviews...