Nitpick Free Fantastic 4

The Good: Decent effects, Good set-up, Most of the performances
The Bad: Plot/character progression
The Basics: Fantastic 4 gets a reboot that has been taking flack . . . which is largely undeserved until the film's latter portion.


When it comes to super hero films, the market has been pretty well saturated the last few years. With the monumental success of The Avengers (reviewed here!), it is understandable for studios to want to try to replicate the financial success of movies like that. But from a fan perspective, it is hard not to feel burned out. The plots have become formulaic, the characters have very minimal differences and in team scenarios, they tend to fall into "types" pretty fast. So, when a studio works to reinvigorate one of the fallen franchises, it is unsurprising that there would be some blowback.

In the case of Fantastic 4, the production and hype has been an uphill battle. Fantastic 4 is struggling to reboot the franchise that was killed by Fantastic Four (reviewed here!) and Fantastic Four: Rise Of The Silver Surfer (reviewed here!). Fox invested quite a bit of money in one of the most lucrative (at the time) comic book franchises with its attempt at Fantastic Four. That it was not the box office knockout Fox wanted was hard to swallow and given that they had invested money in the rights, it made a lot of sense (from a business perspective) to make Fantastic 4. So much has been said about Fantastic 4 and how it stacks up against the comic books and people's perceptions that I decided to make a bitch-free review of Fantastic 4. As someone who was not a reader of Fantastic Four, I felt that gave me the ability to write a pretty pure review of the film and I managed to avoid all spoilers and previews of the film.

Going in with low expectations, what instantly impressed me about Fantastic 4 was that there was a sense of philosophy to it. While others have devoted a lot of time kvetching about how Johnny and Sue Storm are adopted brother and sister in Fantastic 4, it is hard to take such whining seriously when the writers spend so much time on Dr. Franklin Storm (their adopted father) in the first part of the film. The writers covered their bases in establishing the Storm pater's commitment to science and the way he has recruited for his projects at the Baxter Foundation. Dr. Storm openly acknowledges that his generation made some big mistakes that have left the world ruined (say what you will about the Millennials, they weren't the ones who created the hole in the ozone layer or the immense wealth disparity that resulted from the destruction of the middle class!) and that it will take applied young minds working together to solve those problems. Thematically, there is a lot in common between Fantastic 4 and Iron Man (reviewed here!) and the result is not terrible.

Opening in Oyster Bay, New York 2007, Reed Richards does a report in elementary school explaining how he wants to create a usable teleporter. He properly meets Ben Grimm when he tries to steal a power converter from Grimm's family junkyard. Years later, Richards attempts the same experiment with his (and Grimm's) more refined teleporter. While it does not go very well, it is enough to get the attention of Dr. Franklin Storm of the Baxter Foundation. Storm recruits Reed to the Baxter Foundation to work on their teleportation project. There, Reed Richards is told by Sue Storm that Richards actually punched a hole into another dimension with his teleportation project and the Baxter Foundation is building up to a mission to that other dimension. With the help of Dr. Victor Von Doom (who started the project independent of Richards years before) and Johnny Storm (who is a mechanical genius), the Baxter Foundation successfully creates the interdimensional teleporter and sends a test monkey there and back again.

When the government gets involved in the project and wants to turn the teleporter over to NASA for a proper manned mission, Reed Richards gets drunk with Von Doom and suggests that they go before NASA can take over. Contacting Grimm, Richards, Johnny Storm and Victor Von Doom hijack the teleporter and go over into the alternate dimension. Disaster strikes in the other dimension when the team discovers a crater with an energy (or fluid, it's not entirely clear) that reacts to the presence of the human invaders. Victor Von Doom is lost there, but Sue manages to rescue the other three. Unfortunately, the team that returns is mutated and taken to Area 57 for examination by the military. Reed Richards is stretched, Johnny Storm is trapped in a state of being engulfed in flames, Grimm has turned into a giant rock-covered creature and Sue (who was splattered with matter from the other dimension) keeps flashing in and out of the visual spectrum. After a year of training, Grimm and the Storms have managed to use their powers to aid the military, while Richards has gone on the run. The military wants to figure out how to cure the four and weaponize their powers to benefit the military, while Reed just wants to help people, most notably his friends. When Richards is returned to the Baxter Foundation, they recover Von Doom - who is still alive - and his transformation convinces Richards that the alternate dimension must not be accessed by the military.

Right off the bat, what is easily the most impressive aspect of Fantastic 4 is the acting of Miles Teller. Teller plays Reed Richards and before this project, I had mostly seen Teller in roles where he played a redneck, like Footloose (reviewed here!). It's a pretty huge leap to go from a role like that to being one of the smartest characters in the Marvel Universe. While Teller is not given the diction needed to truly sell it (that's a writing problem, not an acting one!), he credibly plays the scientific and precise Reed Richards. In fact, his posture and bearing and the way he projects a sense of confidence, is entirely different in the role of Richards than anything he has been in before.

The rest of the performances in Fantastic 4 are largely the subject of good casting. Kate Mara picks up the mantle of Sue Storm and her experience on House Of Cards (season one is reviewed here!) makes her casting ideal. Mara has the ability to emote well opposite blank screens (on House Of Cards, it was smartphones, here is it monitors and bluescreens) and that ability to control her face and eyes. That helps her characterize Sue as a cerebral character whose real ability is pattern recognition.

Similarly, Reg E. Cathey's role as Dr. Franklin Storm allows Fantastic 4 to have a level of instant credibility. Cathey finds the right balance between emotionally realized and paternal and intellectually curious. The rest of the cast is adequate, but not exceptional. Tim Blake Nelson does not have the screen presence as the suit who starts using the Baxter project for the military to be completely credible. Jamie Bell, Michael B. Jordan and Toby Kebbell are not Andy Serkis and director Josh Trank is not using them the way Peter Jackson used Serkis and special effects. While Trank does an excellent job of not overwhelming Miles Teller with special effects (for the most part), Bell, Jordan and Kebbell are eventually overwritten entirely by the CG needed to embody their characters.

Ultimately, the problems that arise in Fantastic 4 come almost exclusively from conformity to the established material (which is ironic given that most people's issues are with how the film diverges from it). In making Fantastic 4, the writers and director are trapped with their perception that Sue, Johnny, Ben and Reed have to end up as the heroes, opposite Von Doom as the villain. As a result, they create an unfortunately typical super hero film that unites the four against Von Doom to save the Earth.

But, the problem is that that dialectic does not at all fit the story being told. Fantastic 4 has a very natural progression up until the moment Victor Von Doom is "rescued" from the alternate dimension (where he has been living contendedly enough over the year since the accident). At that point, Von Doom begins a ridiculous attack on Earth that is utterly uncharacteristic. The writers are stuck trying to make Von Doom conform an the result is as inorganic as the Romulan villains in Star Trek: Nemesis (reviewed here!) and Star Trek (reviewed here!). In Star Trek: Nemesis, Shinzon is tortured for years by Romulans and allies himself with the Remans . . . so it is entirely inorganic for the character to have a beef against the Federation (the writers concocted a ridiculous reason to have him go after Picard) as opposed to attack Romulus. Similarly, in Star Trek, Nero is tortured by Klingons for decades and had the desire only to save his homeworld, so the fact that he doesn't lay waste to the Klingon Empire and save Romulus, as opposed to going off on a half-assed mission of revenge against Spock plays as just stupid (the writers of the Star Trek franchise have, apparently, forgotten how to make a compelling film where the heroes come to the aid of another group of people who are not human). To bring the point around, the writers of Fantastic 4 get trapped with a similar problem based on how they began the movie.

Fantastic 4 has a completely sensible ending based on where and how the story begins. It is that after Reed Richards is betrayed by Sue and Ben and returned to the Baxter Foundation, Richards either destroys the interdimensional device (which cuts Von Doom out entirely) or he is compelled to help rebuild the machine, the military sends its team over and recovers Von Doom and Reed Richards and Victor Von Doom work together to return Von Doom to the alternate dimension and then destroy the device. Instead, Victor Von Doom in Fantastic 4 begins a half-assed attack on Earth from his adopted planet in the alternate dimension. This makes no real sense as Von Doom just wants to be left alone and get away from the Earth that humans have ruined. Reed Richards and Victor Von Doom actually have the same goal and with about thirty seconds worth of conversation could have worked together to achieve that goal.

The problem, of course, is that would fundamentally redefine the Fantastic Four. It's the three on two and it's a harder story to resolve than the two geniuses working together to stop the military and protect an alien planet. The three writers on Fantastic 4 seriously could not figure out a way to make that work?! But, in truth, that's the only real problem with Fantastic 4. It's going along doing its own thing surprisingly well when all of a sudden, it takes a nonsense turn toward the conventional to be like virtually every other super hero film and that's when the film just falls apart.

While it never becomes truly as terrible as the prior two outings, though the need to fit in the line "It's clobberin' time!" comes close, Fantastic 4 is mostly just guilty of not living up to its potential. It is set up as a complicated and surprisingly smart and aware story that degenerates into the obvious conceits of the genre instead of telling its own, unique, story.

For other films currently in theaters, please check out my reviews of:
Dragon Blade
Jenny's Wedding
Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation
Ant-Man
Lila & Eve
Minions
No Way Jose
Terminator Genisys
Inside Out
Jurassic World

5.5/10

For other movie reviews, please check out my Film Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2015 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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The Dawn Of The Superhero And Supervillain: Chronicle Is Surprisingly Good!

The Good: Acting, Character development, Special effects
The Bad: Pacing issues, Plot is predictable.
The Basics: Chronicle lived up to my expectations as an intriguing superhero origin story, despite the annoying narrative technique.


It takes a lot these days for me to get excited about a superhero film. I am one who is not wowed by spectacle and superhero origin stories are usually so formulaic that it is hard to keep me engaged. It is even more difficult for me to get excited about a movie that involves Cloverfield-style camera techniques. Last year, X-Men: First Class (reviewed here!) pleasantly surprised me. When I saw Chronicle previews, it reminded me somewhat of Cloverfield (reviewed here!). Fortunately for me, Chronicle lived up to my expectations and actually managed to pleasantly surprise me.

Chronicle is an archetypal supervillain story and despite the annoying narrative technique that illustrates the entire film using handheld cameras. Fortunately, writer Max Landis and director Josh Trank are smart enough to include more than one camera to make the cuts between various angles make sense. Chronicle is frequently difficult, but many of the moments that would be the most horrific are muted by the fact that the camera simply does not explicitly capture them. Thus, sensitive viewers reasonably cringe knowing that the cameraman gets smacked full in the fact, but we - fortunately - do not see it actually happen. In that way, Chronicle manages to stay PG-13 and be unsettling without being unpleasant.

Andrew Detmer is a Senior in high school, a virgin, who is entirely unpopular. He lives near Seattle and his mother is suffering, bedridden while his alcoholic father is abusive. Andrew's only friend is his cousin, Matt, who gives him rides to school. Andrew is interested in capturing everything around him on his new video camera and that only encourages those around him to treat him even worse. One night at a party, Andrew is approached by Steve Montgomery, a fellow Senior who wants Andrew to come video something strange he and Matt found. The trio descends into a hole in the ground and encounter a glowing crystal formation that reacts to the three boys.

Weeks later, the three boys video their limited use of powers they have begun to develop. They all have basic telekinesis and this amazes and surprises them. Over the course of the next few weeks, they work to develop their new "muscles" and practice using their thoughts to move objects, including themselves as they experiment with flying. When a belligerent driver annoys them, Andrew nearly kills the driver by flinging his truck off the road and into a nearby pond. Matt pushes for them to develop rules and Andrew begrudgingly accepts the rules. But while Steve and Matt abide by their agreement, Andrew continues to develop his powers in private, which forces a showdown.

Chronicle is a very, very slow film, but while the pacing issues bothered me at first, the more I liked it as the movie went on. Chronicle develops with a strong sense of realism and the movie lives up to its title. This is the story, a permanent record of a journey and the development of the story actually happens in as close to a realistic fashion as it could happen. Part of the strength of the movie for me was the fact that the film did not attempt to explain everything. Instead, limited as the protagonists are by their experiences and educations - as well as adults who chase them away from the site of their initial "infection" - they become preoccupied with the effects of their exposure instead of trying to define the cause of what happened to them. Chronicle works well, despite having a very slow build-up.

Chronicle works as well because the movie is so character-driven. Andrew is frequently abused by Richard, his father. The sudden change in his physiology does not negate the prior seventeen years of his life. As a result, Andrew remains distrustful of those around him and he takes a long time to warm up to Steven. Late in the film, when he and Matt have a conflict, he is able to credibly observe that they only really hang out since their exposure. Despite the direction Andrew goes in as the abuse continues even after he develops his telekinetic powers, he remains essentially human for most of Chronicle. The film is especially smart in that Andrew's development is slow and considered, realistic.

Also cool is how Andrew is not the only realistic character in Chronicle. While I usually rail against the romantic subplots, Chronicle makes decent use of the inclusion of Casey, a classmate of Matt, Steve and Andrew's. When Matt tries to get closer to Casey after his exposure, she rejects him. I liked that detail; she doesn't simply start liking him or believing in his changed personality just because he suddenly starts coming around. In a similar fashion, Max Landis keeps Richard smart. Richard might be an abusive jerk, but he demands something in Chronicle that I've not seen in any other, similar, film. Late in the movie, Richard demands to know how Andrew is getting to school. He has observed that Andrew has a more expensive camera and that Matt no longer comes to pick him up and he calls his son on it. Rather cleverly, the viewer knows that Andrew is flying himself to school, but both Landis and Trank are smart enough to not make this explicit.

While there is no post-credits scene, Chronicle leaves the viewer with a sound effect sequence that will leave engaged viewers debating for some time, though at least part of the final scene is clear simply by the inclusion of the sound effects. Chronicle may be slow and somewhat predictable, but it is smart about how it develops and that makes it worth watching.

It is also worth noting that Chronicle may use a limited narrative technique, but it is not a small movie. In fact, this is one of the movies I have seen lately where it is very easy to recommend seeing it on the big screen. Chronicle uses decent special effects, but it tends to use the full canvas of the theater screen. That means that even with a decent HDTV, this movie is much less likely to look good on a small screen. More than 3-D films, Chronicle uses the medium well and the sense of perspective of the people flying among the skyscrapers is likely to be lost later on. Go see Chronicle on the big screen!

For other science fiction films, please check out my reviews of:
Avengers
Skyline
Unbreakable

7/10

For other card reviews, please be sure to visit my index page on the subject by clicking here!

© 2012 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.

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