Fantastic Four

Comics have had a good run recently on the big screen. Spider-Man 2 was well received (even if I didn’t really appreciate it as much as most), Batman Begins was an incredible cinema experience, and Sin City was the ultimate in live action comics. So, it’s about time that we had a pathetic and inane comic book adaptation.

Fantastic Four confirms the suspicions of the average non comic book reader: they’re nothing more than kids picture books… super powers, silly suits and sexy women. Here we have five victims of an explosion that leaves them not dead, but each with extraordinary (and unique) abilities. Never mind the usual Marvel trick of creating superheroes with a committee in mind, all of these powers have been seen before in some shape or form. (In fact Stan Lee must have been kicking himself when The Incredibles beat his co-creation to the big screen, which arguably stole all the powers for its own heroes.) Forget the human subplots that writers have managed to weave into the extraordinary tales of recent years – there are no debates on the concept of power or how it should be used, no treatises on the nature of fear – this is pure and unrefined escapism.

This film has one of the most uninspired beginnings for a super hero narrative. X-Men has a classic first scene, and even the terribly dull Hulk had a great opening sequence. Fantastic Four has a bunch of guys (all who look like they should be in a shaving commercial) talking about science that (a: we can’t really understand, b: even if we could is completely preposterous, and c: we don’t really care about).

The acting here is about as good as one can expect from such a bare bones script – all five characters do their comic book best. The humour, although never complex, is one of the strong points, and Chris Evans in particular does a great job of getting as many laughs as possible out of some weak humour. The special effects are, um… effective, although there’s nothing particularly thrilling about them.

The majority of the audience enjoyed this film, although it must be pointed out that many of them were under 12. To be honest I didn’t hate Fantastic Four – it’s essentially a kid’s version of X-Men. If you step outside your critical sphere this film has enough of a Hoopla Factor to keep you going – just.

But feel free to wait for DVD.