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Fantastic Four

A serviceable superhero movie, not on par with Spider-Man or X-Men, but above Daredevil and Hulk.

• Structure/Plot

Act One flowed nicely, but there was a flaw with the bridge sequence. This series of events established the Four, but their heroics were dampened by: A) it made no sense for The Thing to go to such a public place and B) even though he saved the suicide man, it was his presence that created the pile-up.

The real problem started with Act Two. It made sense for them to hunker down in Reed’s home, but too much time was spent on this. Act Two is the time for the conflict to build, not slow down. And while the flick was correct in using this time to develop the situation with Doom, it lacked a greater threat by him. All he wanted was revenge on the Four and, though understandable because of their role in him losing the company, it was not enough meat for the movie…it was too self-contained, fighting over grievances. The vengeance should’ve been an obstacle to a larger goal of his, or as part of a plot to prevent the Four from doing something.

Aside from the above, the movie was too thin and quick in other places.

- While Ben’s story of isolation was the best drama in the movie, we needed a scene of him and his wife together before the accident. The photograph of her and Ben’s dialogue were not enough.

- The Four became famous mostly off-screen and because of the one, bridge incident. The logos, nicknames…this got downright silly when Torch showed a prototype of the Thing doll and said the “marketing people” made it. All this should’ve happened after another rescue operation- unbeknownst to them connected to Doom- where they felt forced to break the confines of Reed’s place in order to divert a disaster.

- After Doom helps The Thing reverse the process and return to Benhood, more time was needed before Ben decided to again be The Thing. As Ben, he could’ve gone to Doom’s place to try and save Reed and then realize only The Thing could help.

Trailer for the low-budget 1994 version!

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