Close Encounters of the 4th Kind

It’s important to note that the Fantastic 4 superhero team created by writer-editor Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby in the early 1960s helped Marvel Comics transition from the small time publishing shop it once was to the incredibly lucrative conglomerate that it currently is. Lee likened his four heroes to a misfit family that bickers and argues until it’s time to band together and save the world from the various evil forces that attempt to destroy it. And the Fantastic 4 were supposed to be fearless and flawed and dare I say....human. If a team out of a comic book was ever intended to be both fun and nuanced within the confines of cinema, then surely it should have been this one. And yet the latest attempt at a live-action Fantastic 4 film as already been met with horrendous reviews along with heated stories of director Josh Trank (“Chronicle”) and Fox Studio heads at odds with one another over the final bruised and battered product.

I would like to say that the new “Fantastic 4” is by no means the abomination many are claiming it to be. It’s almost a good movie in fact and that is perhaps why it’s so frustrating at times to watch. Like old episodes of the Twilight Zone, where character trumped effects, the film starts with promise. Reed Richards (Miles Teller “Whiplash”) is a boy genius and social pariah who assembles a teleporting machine where items and potentially people can transfer from one realm of the universe into another. Richard’s tweaked demonstration of this technology years later at a high school science fair lands him a scholarship position at a top secret government lab run by Dr Franklin Storm ( Reg E Cathey of “House of Cards”). There he meets lab colleagues Sue and Johnny Storm (Kate Mara “House of Cards” and Michael B. Jordan “Fruitvale Station”) as well as misanthropic Victor Von Doom (Toby Kebbell “RocknRolla”). Together this brainy group of misfits constructs a space shuttle that can venture into different dimensions of space and time. And the game group of more indie oriented actors at work here keeps these initial proceedings afloat even when the pace drags. Teller and Mara have a nice easy chemistry; flirting amidst keyboards and tech jargon. Jordan has a sparky delinquent charm as the authority adverse Johnny and Kebbell brings an appropriate passive aggressive intensity to Doom. It’s also welcome to see Jamie Bell (“Billy Elliot”) sporadically pop up as Reed’s flinty childhood running buddy Ben Grimm, although sadly he isn’t given much to do.

And after an unsanctioned space voyage takes our leads into another realm and onto “Planet Zero” and they encounter their powers for the first time afterwards the film takes on an especially unusual Cronenbergian edge. Seeing Teller’s Richards with arms and legs outstretched to the max on a surgical table overseen by shady government scientists is more akin to a horror film than a superhero flick. He feels more like a lab rat being toyed with and his reactions range from befuddlement to rage as he’s being observed through a looking glass by a conflicted Dr Storm. It’s an inspired moment of dark majesty in a film that could have used more as it progressed. But then the wonder starts to fade and what logic the film did have goes out the window completely.

Cut to a year later and Richards is an escaped fugitive moping about in Central America as Sue and Johnny, developing their invisibility and body flaming/flying powers respectively, are confined as military assets under program supervisor Dr Allen (Tim Blake Nelson “O Brother Where Art Thou”) as is Bell’s enemy tank throwing The Thing. Similar to say the raptors in “Jurassic World” this supernatural ensemble is intended to be weaponized and not soon after Dr Allen announces said shameless plot device broody Dr Doom emerges from a trip back to earth to take down the entire planet. Because you know....he doesn’t like people very much.

What is also problematic is that the big action finale pitting the reunited 4 against Doom all takes place on “Planet Zero” instead of earth where the stakes would have been much higher. It culminates into a shoddy effects driven sequence that feels more tacked on than necessary and at that point it’s no more than freaks against freak doing battle with little to no consequence. Siding with the 4 here should be a no brainer because they like each other and can now function as a team. Or at least that’s the intention. In the end though, “Fantastic 4” is too thoughtful in part to be completely written off yet too disjointed a film to wholly recommend. Maybe if Fox had interfered less and Trank directed more this movie would have been completely fantastic.