Just in case you forgot the background behind Marvel's comic book cadre of superheroes, The Fantastic Four, a group of astronauts are exposed to cosmic radiation, gaining powers that literally exaggerate their personalities.

 

An interesting connection between power and soon-to-be-hero, we admit, but what happens when you take Michael France, the writer of Hulk and The Punisher and put him to task on a movie adaptation of Fantastic Four? Well, you get much of the same disappointment these earlier films provided. The story lacks rhythm, taking too long to get going while blazing too quickly through the more interesting sequences, such as the actual cosmic radiation event.

 

We are not all Victor Von Doom here.  This film does win our award for best cameo appearance by Stan Lee in a Marvel movie. You'll spot him as a mailman, delivering bad news to the "Fantastics" inside their penthouse lair; the Baxter Building. If you're a fan of the comic, you'll recognize the character of Willie Lumpkin and appreciate this detail. If you aren't familiar with the comic book, it's a moment that doesn't really mean much which is a shame because this movie, like other superhero movies, caters a bit too much to its core group of fans.

 

Listening to the interviews of the people who made this flick, filmmakers and actors alike, they often bring up the phrase, "origin story." This is Hollywood speak for: we really have no story here but we did a good job of taking the back-story and selling it as a summer blockbuster so you can see how the actual story (that we'll eventually get to in the sequel) all got started.

 

There are decent tidbits here and there as the characters' powers are revealed. We especially liked the conflict and banter between Johnny Storm (played by Chris Evans, Cellular, Not Another Teen Movie) and Ben Grimm (played by Michel Chiklis, "The Shield", "The Commish"). In fact, Johnny and Ben steal the show much like they do in the comic book. Grimm reminds us that it's easy to suddenly feel out of place in this world. It's one of the few moments where the audience gets to make a connection with the characters.

 

Sometimes a comic book (or play or novel) works best in its original form. Tim Story (Barbershop), serving as Director of the movie version of Fantastic Four simply fails to translate the pieces of Stan Lee's 1960's comic book into a compelling movie.

 

To die-hard fans of Fantastic Four, you might be able to overlook this movie's shortcomings (as the case with Spiderman). A potent, relentless, multi-pronged marketing campaign helped launch this film out of the gate in stellar fashion before it gradually faded into the shadows. Unless we see an eventual sequel, "nuff said" for now.