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Johnny Storm, the Human Torch Chris Evans flames out in "Fantastic Four," wondering what it would be like to shake hands with Aquaman. So you get in a spaceship, and you venture into orbit to research a mysterious star storm hurtling toward Earth. There's a theory it may involve properties of use to man. The spaceship is equipped with a shield to protect its passengers from harmful effects, but the storm arrives ahead of schedule and saturates everybody on board with unexplained but powerful energy that creates radical molecular changes in their return safety to Earth, only to discover that Reed Richards Ioan Gruffudd, the leader of the group, has a body that can take any form or stretch to unimaginable lengths. Call him Mr. Fantastic. Ben Grimm Michael Chiklis develops superhuman powers in a vast and bulky body that seems made of stone. Call him the Thing. Sue Storm Jessica Alba can become invisible at will and generate force fields that can contain propane explosions, in case you have a propane explosion that needs containing but want the option of being invisible. Call her Invisible Woman. And her brother Johnny Storm Chris Evans has a body that can burn at supernova temperatures. Call him the Human Torch. I almost forgot the villain, Victor Von Doom Julian McMahon, who becomes Dr. Doom and wants to use the properties of the star storm and the powers of the Fantastic Four for his own purposes. He eventually becomes this point in the review, are you growing a little restless? What am I gonna do, list names and actors and superpowers and nicknames forever? That's how the movie all setup and demonstration, and naming and discussing and demonstrating, and it never digests the complications of the Fantastic Four and gets on to telling a compelling story. Sure, there's a nice sequence where the Thing keeps a fire truck from falling off a bridge, but you see one fire truck saved from falling off a bridge, you've seen them Fantastic Four are, in short, underwhelming. The edges kind of blur between them and other superhero teams. That's understandable. How many people could pass a test right now on who the X-Men are and what their powers are? Or would want to? I wasn't watching "Fantastic Four" to study it, but to be entertained by it, but how could I be amazed by a movie that makes its own characters so indifferent about themselves?The Human Torch, to repeat, can burn at supernova temperatures! He can become so hot, indeed, that he could threaten the very existence of the Earth itself! This is absolutely stupendously amazing, wouldn't you agree? If you could burn at supernova temperatures, would you be able to stop talking about it? I know people who won't shut up about winning 50 bucks in the after Johnny Storm finds out he has become the Human Torch, he takes it pretty much in stride, showing off a little by setting his thumb on fire. Later he saves the Earth, while Invisible Woman simultaneously contains his supernova so he doesn't destroy it. That means Invisible Woman could maybe create a force field to contain the sun, which would be a big deal, but she's too distracted to explore the possibilities; she gets uptight because she will have to be naked to be invisible, because otherwise people could see her empty clothes; it is no consolation to her that invisible nudity is more of a metaphysical concept than a condition. Are these people complete idiots? The entire nature of their existence has radically changed, and they're about as excited as if they got a makeover on "Oprah." The exception is Ben Grimm, as the Thing, who gets depressed when he looks in the mirror. Unlike the others, who look normal except when actually exhibiting superpowers, he looks like - well, he looks like his suits would fit The Hulk, just as the Human Torch looks like The Flash, and the Invisible Woman reminds me of Storm in "X-Men."Is this the road company? Thing clomps around on his Size 18 boulders and feels like an outcast until he meets a blind woman named Alicia Kerry Washington who loves him, in part because she can't see him. But the Thing looks like Don Rickles crossed with Mt. Rushmore; he has a body that feels like a driveway and a face with crevices you could hide a toothbrush in. Alicia tenderly feels his face with her fingers, like blind people often do while falling in love in the movies, and I guess she likes what she feels. Maybe she's story involves Dr. Doom's plot to ... but perhaps we need not concern ourselves with the plot of the movie, since it is undermined at every moment by the unwieldy need to involve a screenful of characters, who, despite the most astonishing powers, have not been made exciting or even interesting. The X-Men are major league compared to the really good superhero movies, like "Superman," "SpiderMan 2" and "Batman Begins," leave "Fantastic Four" so far behind that the movie should almost be ashamed to show itself in the same theaters. Roger Ebert Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, he won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism. Now playing Film Credits Fantastic Four 2005 Rated PG-13 for sequences of intense action and some suggestive content 106 minutes Latest blog posts about 8 hours ago about 11 hours ago about 12 hours ago 1 day ago Comments

In the distant annals of movie history there was a film called Fantastic Four, which chronicled the superpowers of five scientists. Following an intergalactic expedition, the quintet found their DNA irreparably transformed. Suddenly, Dr Reed Richards could stretch his limbs to ludicrous lengths, his close friend Ben was mutated into a walking rock face, Sue Storm was able to turn herself invisible and her brother Johnny kept on changing into a flying fireball. That was all of ten years ago and now, in the age of the reboot, it doesn’t seem absurd to revisit the franchise Fantastic Four Rise of the Silver Surfer was released just eight years ago. Thanks to Batman Begins and its abundant successors, reboots have become the norm and are generally darker, more intelligent and less cheesy than their predecessors, while harking back to the origins of their source material. The 2005 Fantastic Four was certainly cheesy and OTT, allowing this latest reboot to be eminently superior. It marks the second directorial outing for Josh Trank, he who was responsible for probably the best found footage thriller,’ Chronicle 2012. Once again Trank has opted for talent over star power, thus staffing his fantasy with genuinely creditable actors Miles Teller, Michael B. Jordan, Kate Mara, Toby Kebbell, Reg E. Cathey. Starting his story in 2007 the year Rise of the Silver Surfer was released, the film shows Reed Richards as an über-nerd schoolboy whose IQ is way above that of his teachers. His school project is teleportation, which seems beyond the comprehension of his peers and professors, although today scientists are beginning to believe in its feasibility, particularly with the advances in graphene application. Of course, this is the fun bit, because bright children who know better are always good for a laugh, and as Reed morphs into the grown-up Miles Teller from Whiplash fame, he proves to a government-sponsored research institute that he might be on to something. And so the preternaturally youthful Teller, Mara, Jordan, Kebbell and Jamie Bell the latter, erstwhile Billy Elliot, now being 29, play with their quantum physics to engaging effect. All this is enormously entertaining, and even vaguely credible, until the second half of the film kicks in and the silliness begins. Just three weeks ago, the Marvel Comic Universe proved with Ant-Man that less could be more, but the new Fantastic Four is bit of a step back. The special effects aren’t even that special by today’s standards and some of the teleportation stuff is more Dr Who than Interstellar. Still, Josh Trank’s universe is not about the CGI, it’s about the ideas, and with a terrific score from Philip Glass and Marco Beltrami, and the actors involved, it holds its own in a very crowded Marvel CAMERON-WILSONCast Miles Teller, Michael B. Jordan, Kate Mara, Jamie Bell, Toby Kebbell, Reg E. Cathey, Tim Blake Nelson, Dan Castellaneta, Chet Josh Trank, Pro Simon Kinberg, Matthew Vaughn, Hutch Parker, Robert Kulzer and Gregory Goodman, Screenplay Jeremy Slater, Simon Kinberg and Josh Trank, Ph Matthew Jensen, Pro Des Chris Seagers, Ed Elliot Greenberg and Stephen Rivkin, Music Marco Beltrami and Philip Glass, Costumes George L. Entertainment/20th Century Fox/Constantin Film/Marv Films/Kinberg Genre/Robert Kulzer Productions/Hutch Parker Entertainment/TSG Entertainment-20th Century mins. USA/UK/Germany. 2015. Rel 6 August 2015. Cert. 12A.

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