Not-so-super heroes

Those bemoaning the 2005 box-office results across Europe have only to take a look at blockbusters such as this to understand, partly at least, why the figures have failed to match up to the same six months in 2004. Fantastic Four is a mess.

It's much less garishly colourful than the pre-Marvel comic upon which it is otherwise reasonably faithfully based.

There are, of course, a lot of expensive special effects littered around the story of inventor-scientist Reed Richards and his friends who spearhead a trip to outer space, get zapped by a cosmic storm which alters their DNA and gives them special powers to thwart the evil plans of their nemesis, Dr Doom.

The acting is more wooden than a B-movie, and the screenplay and direction lack any distinction.

Mild fun is to be had from watching Ioan Gruffudd's Reed Richards suddenly able to stretch his body into any shape as Mr Fantastic, Jessica Alba's Sue Storm becoming the Invisible Woman, and Chris Evans as pilot Johnny Storm transforming himself into The Human Torch. But the joy is short-lived when it is impossible to identify with any of them.

Michael Chiklis does better as Ben Grimm, the astronaut who becomes the superhumanly tough The Thing. Even covered with prosthetics, he manages to express a bit more than the rest. It's a feat that Julian McMahon can't trump as Dr Doom, possibly the most tepid villain we've seen in recent comic-book adaptations.

Let us, instead, wallow in the special effects, such as the rescue on Brooklyn Bridge, where Mr Fantastic stretches his body half the length of the edifice to save a fireman from the water while The Thing holds the fire-engine firm to stop it falling over the edge. Plenty of crash, bang, wallop - but it just isn't enough.

Fantastic Four
Cert: PG