The Fantastic Four

—Overview
—Photos
—About this Film

Arrogance versus humility. Evil versus good. Dr. Doom versus the Fantastic Four. These are the polar opposites played out in The Fantastic Four, the latest Marvel comic to surface in the 21st century on the silver screen. Many of the characters from the preceding films actually made their first appearances in Fantastic Four comic, the first of Marvel’s creations. Here, the movie version exceeded my expectations, and serves the spring board for what Marvel hopes will be a movie dynasty like Spider-Man has become.

Victor Von Doom (Julian McMahon) wants people to feel small and inadequate around him, and the back story presented shows us that he and Dr. Reed Richards (Ioan Gruffud) has clashed with his one-time schoolmate. When Richards and his side-kick, Ben Grimm (Michael Chiklis) propose to join in exploring a solar wind storm with creative powers, Doom sees a money-making possibility and the group, including Sue and Johnny Storm (Jessica Alba and Chris Evans), encounter their fateful change from ‘ordinary’ into fantastic. Each actor perfectly displays the characterization of their individual hero as laid out in the comics, and rather than caricaturing them in the short time on film, their presentation of their gifts augments their inner selves.

The underlying tension previously felt between Richards and Doom is ratcheted up, as Doom refused to abort the mission and now seeks to use the accident for his own gain. Doom’s egomaniac behavior increases with his paranoia (akin to the Green Goblin’s behavior in Spider-man), as he emotionally and physically begins to behave less and less like a man (he thinks of himself as a god.) On the flipside, Richards blames himself but Grimm/The Thing, says that it was a freak of nature, and Richards becomes focused on finding a ‘cure.’ The creative powers of the storm drew out the inner gifts of these five individuals and forced them to explore the possibilities. From the time of the storm on, the movie plays with the opportunities, exploring how they could be used for selfish gain or turned outward for the better of others.

The strains of ostracism and acceptance that become more and more apparent in the X-Men movies also run in the movie. Grimm’s wife rejects him, but a blind woman becomes his close friend. The police want to arrest Grimm and the others on the bridge, but the crowd applauds their effort. The comics themselves made many critiques of the human spirit and the movies continue their efforts. This spirit always seems to first be afraid of new ‘gifts’ or ‘talents’ received through adolescence or accident (see Peter Parker in Spider-Man) but grows to view the opportunity as positive. Johnny is portrayed as the hotheaded one (he’s the Human Torch!) but he voices that maybe they were given the powers for a reason, for a higher calling. Richards and Sue become the movement to focus that doing good for others, rather than self.

The two most explicit religious reference come in the bar scene where The Thing meets Alicia, the blind woman, and later when Sue confronts Doom. The Thing says that ‘if there is a god, he hates me’ and she replies, ‘she’s not into that. Bein’ different ain’t so bad sometimes.’ Ben Grimm grew up Jewish (check out the Fantastic Four: Remembrance of the Past) but his understanding of his present state conflicts with his understanding of Yahweh’s love. Alicia’s response comes at god from a different angle, but more so, her blindness allows her to see The Thing’s hurt and to love him without being afraid. Doom asks Sue if fate turned them into gods so that they could reject the gifts, and she says, ‘You always thought you were a god.’ At which point, Ben returns from the ‘dead’ as The Thing to prove that love trumps evil one more time.

This love outside of normal circumstances, appearance or expectation drives Richards into the machine he built to provide the cure, and drives Ben Grimm back into it. The beauty of the Fantastic Four is that it depicts friends as family, and family as tighter than arguments or trouble, bigger than expectations or struggles, and stronger than greed or evil. The depth that we get to know the Fantastic Four is purely foundational because the movie must introduce us to five key players, and even X-Men couldn’t do that. We’re watching the foundation being laid here, and it makes for a good prologue, not necessarily a stand-alone movie like Spider-Man 2 or Batman Begins. But the strength of the movie is that four stand as one against Doom, and the evil he represents. The Fantastic Four isn’t the greatest movie ever made, but it still serves the purpose of ‘the super hero movie,’ to prove that good always wins in the end, sometimes you just have to wait a minute.

—Overview
—Photos
—About this Film
—Spiritual Connections

Review by Kevin Miller
Review by Maurice Broaddus