Comic book superheroes are meant to be archetypal and iconic, that is, to stand as symbols for our deepest thoughts and desires. Superman embodies our dream of being immune to harm and more powerful than our foes. Batman allows us to explore the darkest recesses of our psyches and still assure ourselves that we are good. Spider-Man represents the ultimate adolescent, an almost-adult on the cusp of change in every imaginable way – mentally, physically, emotionally and even spiritually. The Fantastic Four was emblematic of the new American family – one brought together by forces not recognized by previous generations; a family in constant peril of separation, disintegration and the highest levels of dysfunction.
The first three heroes have been well portrayed in the movies. Superman I, Spider-Man 2 and Batman Begins nailed just what makes these heroes the icons they have become. Now there is a movie about the archetypal super family. It explores what makes a family, how the interaction between the parental figures sets the standard for the entire family’s health and well-being, and the gee-whiz wonder of having super powers.
The name of this movie is The Incredibles.
Unfortunately, the eponymous movie about the Fantastic Four does not explore any of these themes. Instead, it is bogged down in minute details and sacrifices everything, even story telling. The movie is called the Fantastic FOUR and yet at no time did I feel that we had four fantastic individuals or even one fantastic family.
Instead, we had Michael Chiklis in heavy latex darkly lamenting his fate as the ugly and brutish Thing. When the love of his life runs off in the middle of a Brooklyn Bridge crowd just as he’s saving an engine full of firefighters from plunging off the side, I felt not pity but amazement at the stupidity of the director. The unreality of a woman dumping a man in the middle of a heroic rescue before TV cameras – by leaving his engagement ring on the blacktop no less – outweighed the unreality of a man lifting a truck.
As a foil to the Thing we have the Human Torch who is so full of zippy, fun adventures that he seems to be in a different movie. So what if he catches on fire in the middle of an extreme skiing adventure? Instant hot tub for Torchy and the babe du jour. In addition, he’s pulling shaving cream pranks on the Thing – who we witness in a previous scene as being barely able to feed himself.
At least these two “children” have personalities. The parental figures, Mr. Fantastic aka Dr. Reed Richards and Susan Storm aka the Invisible Woman, aren’t much more than attractive forms for skin-tight body suits. We are told that Sue is a doctor of genetics, but she does little beyond play mother hen and defer to her genius boyfriend. She has the power to contain a supernova (a supernova!) with her invisible force field – and yet she can’t keep the bad guy from punching her in the face. The only emotion she stirred in the audience the night I saw it was nervous giggles – it seems that the woman could become invisible by bending light waves but somehow failed to make her clothing disappear. What should she do? Why strip in a crowded public street, of course!
Equaling her in bland fussiness is Reed. Rather than being a bold leader with an incisive mind as in the comics, this Reed is just a science geek who can’t seem to succeed at anything. He hems and haws, he dithers and dallies. Through most of the movie he acts like an extra from the research department who was standing in for the star during lighting rehearsals. And he had so little romantic chemistry with the lovely Sue, he couldn’t even make my 10-year-old son squirm at the “mushy stuff.”
The Fantastic Four should be about what holds a family together and what tears it apart. That was the essential theme in the original comic books that made them so compelling. And that is what made The Incredibles, well, incredible. By the end of The Incredibles, we were uplifted at the prospect of what a group of related individuals could accomplish through acceptance, teamwork and a mutual celebration of their individual abilities.
It’s a sad day when the homage to the icon does it better than the original.
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