Marvel May - Fantastic 4 (2005)

          Hey guys, Chuck here. Well, it's about time to discuss Marvel's first family during Marvel May, as we take a look at the 2005 film Fantastic 4 starring Ioan Gruffudd, Jessica Alba, Chris Evans, Michael Chiklis, Kerry Washington, and Julian McMahon. 

          So, we start of with Reed Richards and Ben Grimm going to a meeting with Victor Von Doom, where Reed presents his theory that exposure to a high-energy cosmic storm led to early development of life on Earth, and a similar cloud will pass by Earth's orbit in a matter of days. Reed's former girlfriend, and currently Victor's head of genetic research, Susan Storm walks in, and Victor and Reed agree on a deal for the mission, which will take place aboard Victor's space station. In the elevator, Reed requests Ben to pilot the mission into space, but Sue reveals that another pilot has been selected in her younger brother, Johnny. 

         Ben is initially reluctant to take orders from Johnny due to his reputation, having washed out of NASA over a situation involving two models and a wrecked flight simulator. However, Reed, Ben, Sue, Johnny, and Victor all suit up and head to the space station, where Ben and Reed set up a batch of flowers for use as samples of the cosmic storm. Meanwhile, Victor attempts to propose to Sue, but is interrupted when Reed reveals that the storm will hit within minutes. Reed and Johnny work to get Ben back inside, but he's struck by the storm. Victor locks down the shields in the control room, but a malfunction causes Reed, Johnny, and Sue to be affected by the storm. 

          Some time later, Ben wakes up back on Earth with Johnny looking over him. Apparently, days have passed, and they're all under quarantine in one of Victor's facilities in the Alps. Over time, Reed, Sue, Ben, and Johnny are shown to have been genetically altered by the storm, with Reed being able to stretch to incredible lengths, Sue being able to turn invisible, and Johnny being able to burst into flames. Ben, meanwhile has been turned into a rock creature, and is unable to revert back to human form. Ben returns to New York, where he shows his new form to his fiancee Debbie, but she is utterly terrified and flees from him, later ending their engagement. Later on, Ben sits on the Brooklyn Bridge, where he saves a jumper, but causes a massive pileup, leading to a disaster that Johnny, Reed, and Sue all help in resolving. The onlookers hail the four as heroes, with even the press getting in on it by dubbing them "The Fantastic Four." 

         Reed, Sue, Ben, and Johnny then set up shop in Reed's home in the Baxter Building, where he tests everyone's abilities. Victor, meanwhile, is undergoing a transformation of his own, with his skin slowly becoming organic metal. Victor is also shown to have increased strength and the ability to release bursts of electrical energy from his hands. 

         After weeks of tests, Reed then decides the best way to reverse the transformations is to build a machine to recreate the cosmic storm, which could make them normal again. Johnny, however, isn't too keen on giving up his powers, and goes to a local motocross event, showcasing how he altered the suits that were worn during the mission to space, adding gloves, boots, and the emblem of the number four. Johnny even goes to give the four codenames: Sue is the Invisible Woman (although he says "Invisible Girl"), Reed is Mister Fantastic, Johnny is the Human Torch, and Ben is the Thing. Reed, Sue, and Ben go to confront Johnny, and Ben starts a fight with Johnny.

         At his favorite bar, Ben goes for a drink, and he meets and forms a connection with a blind woman by the name of Alicia Masters, who tries to convince him that different isn't a bad thing. Victor then goes to meet with Ben, pushing a wedge between Ben and Reed, who meanwhile has been rebuilding his relationship with Sue. After a fight, Ben leaves, followed by Johnny. Reed then tests the machine on himself, but is doesn't work, with Reed realizing that more power is needed to control the storm. Overhearing this via surveillance video, Victor has Ben brought back to the Baxter Building, where he offers to fix Ben. While Ben is in the machine, Victor opens the storm containment unit, shoving his arm inside to increase the power of the machine, restoring Ben back to normal. It's then revealed that Victor used the machine to gain more power for himself, and takes down Ben pretty easily. Reed shows up, and Victor attacks him. 

        Returning to the Von Doom building, Victor dons a mask to cover the major scarring on his face, and uses a hyper coolant to freeze Reed in place, and then shoots a heat seeking missile at Johnny, who has returned to the Baxter Building. A chase ensues, and Johnny barely survives the missile. Sue goes to free Reed, and ends up in a fight with Victor. Ben, having used the machine to become The Thing again, arrives, frees Reed, and ends up in a fight with Victor, which spills into the streets below. Reed, Sue, and Johnny all arrive, and the now united Fantastic Four takes down Victor with some difficulty, but end up turning him completely into metal, and then solidify him with a stream of water. 

         A celebration on a boat takes place, with Ben accepting himself as is, Johnny hitting on a few gorgeous women, and Reed proposing to Sue, who accepts. On a cargo ship bound for Latveria, the now solidified Victor causes some interference with the electronics of one of the crew members, inferring that Victor is still alive. 

      Okay, so this movie felt very cartoonish by comparison to earlier Marvel movies. The jokes certainly felt more silly and less like what would be considered for a comic book movie. However, one complaint from audiences that the Fantastic Four don't do a lot of superhero work is silly, because the Fantastic Four, in the comics, primarily deal with cosmic threats against Earth, and typically don't deal with the street level superhero work of heroes like Spider-Man and Daredevil. 

           Now as for the Four themselves, each of them do well in their roles. Ioan Gruffudd and Jessica Alba did really well as Reed and Sue, while Chris Evans was decent, albeit occasionally insufferable, as Johnny. Easily the best of the four was Michael Chiklis as Ben. Julian McMahon was a serviceable villain as Victor aka Doctor Doom. As for the rest of the cast, including Kerry Washington as Alicia Masters, they all did okay. 

       Sadly, the visual effects don't hold up as well any longer, and definitely feel dated by today's standards. On top of that, the story was just serviceable at best. Director Tim Story did a decent job with this movie overall. However, when your movie is called Fantastic 4, the fans expect and deserve better than decent, we expect and deserve something FANTASTIC. It's quite literally in the title. This is where I'm hoping that Marvel Studios can really make things right with their upcoming Fantastic Four movie. 

       Overall, I gotta give Fantastic 4 a rating of 3.75/5. Anyway, that'll do it for me today. Join me on Wednesday as we look at the last passable Fantastic Four movie with 2007's Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer as Marvel May continues.