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Ben has a Thing about the return of Victor Von Doom

But Sue doesn't point that out. Instead, she says only that building General Hagar's doohickey was the right thing to do. Fair enough—but it was wrong to deceive her, right? No, Sue doesn't mention that either. Instead, she's preoccupied with the feasibility of raising children in their high-profile hugger-mugger lives. Doesn't either of these newlyweds-to-be care a whit about, oh, their relationship?

Perhaps this is what is most fundamentally wrong with the Fantastic Four franchise: None of these allegedly "fantastic" heroes has any gravitas, any actual heroic weight or depth of character. There's nothing particularly noble, compelling or even interesting about them. Far from inspiring admiration, they don't rise even to the level of thinking, acting and relating like grown-ups.

Take Reed, who is supposed to be the team leader. He may be "one of the greatest minds of the 21st century"—as he himself crisply informs General Hagar in a rare assertive moment. But he's a lightweight in, well, just about every other category imaginable. Sure, you might be able to count on him in a pinch to come up with a bright idea for a "tachyon pulse," say. But he's woefully lacking in the qualities we look for in leaders. Vision, decisiveness, charisma, integrity, brio—you name it, Reed hasn't got it.

It's about to be 'Flame Out' for Johnny as he encounters the SS

Incidentally, in that same assertive speech, Reed also boasts that he's "engaged to the hottest woman on the planet." Yet as a husband-to-be, Reed comes off no better than as team leader, lacking such qualities as honesty, responsibility and commitment. (Even so, Reed's uncharacteristic display of bravado moves Sue to whisper to him, "I'm so hot for you right now.")

Even on his own intellectual turf, Reed lacks the bearing of a heavyweight. Struggling to come up with the answer that will save the world, Reed brushes off Sue's soothing efforts to encourage him, whining petulantly, "No, it won't be all right! The whole world is counting on me! What if I fail?" Where is Edna Mode when you need her to slap some sense into a super? "What are you talking about? Pull yourself together! Fight! Win!"

The Thing, alas, has lost the vestigial tragic poignancy he had in the first film, and is now a purely lightweight comic figure and a foil for the obnoxious Torch. "Just how do you and Alicia … ?" the Torch muses suggestively to an outraged Ben. "I don't want to wake up one morning and hear she was killed in a rockslide." Oh, that's classy.

Even General Hagar, an antagonist and a patsy, finally gets so fed up with their petty bickering that he exclaims in disgust, "What the hell is wrong with you people?" Now there's a line that rings true.

Talk About It

1. When the Silver Surfer tells Sue that he "has no choice" about serving Galactus, she replies that "There's always a choice." What does this mean? Is there always a choice? Why do people sometimes say that they "have no choice"? Is this really true? How can we exercise choice even under such circumstances?
   
2. What do you think of the Silver Surfer's original agreement with Galactus to become his herald in exchange for the sparing of his homeworld? Was this a heroic choice or an evil one? What about his final act? Why do you think this act occurs when it does, and not before?
   
3. General Hagar implies that because the Silver Surfer is not human, he has no human rights and therefore can be tortured. If there is life on other planets, would it have rights? Do animals have rights? If so, how are they different from human rights? How might we ascertain what rights to accord alien beings if we encountered them?

The Family Corner

Fantastic Four is rated PG for sequences of action violence, some mild language and innuendo. The stylized comic-book action violence includes a sci-fi killing in which a man's body is partially shattered like a statue. Some scantily clad women dance provocatively in a party sequence, and there are various references to "hot" women, a woman telling a man how "hot" she is for him, and oblique but crude speculative references to the Thing's sexual relationship with his girlfriend. There are also references to torture and a sequence of implied torture of a prisoner. Language includes a number of crude expressions and at least one misuse of God's name.

Photos © Copyright 20th Century Fox

© Steven D. Greydanus subject to licensing agreement with Christianity Today International. All rights reserved. Click for reprint information.

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