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-------------------------------------------------------------- This story was printed from dtheatre.com, located at http://www.dtheatre.com/read.php?sid=2352. --------------------------------------------------------------
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FANTASTIC FOUR Script Review!!! By Wind(up)bird, (DT) April 22, 2004 9:17 AM PT |
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The only credited writer at the moment is Mark Frost. ?The main characters in this piece are: REED RICHARDS / MR. FANTASTIC (32) SUE STORM / THE INVISIBLE WOMAN (29) BEN GRIMM / THE THING (35) JOHNNY STORM / THE HUMAN TORCH (24) VICTOR VAN DAMN / DOCTOR DOOM (35) There are at least 5 character arcs in the script, one for each of the main characters. I won?t spoil them here but it was pretty well executed. In October of last year, my man Jean-Francois did a review of an earlier draft of the script on Filmjerk. This draft is almost COMPLETELY different than that which came before. For example, earlier drafts mentioned that The Human Torch only lights his hands, like they did with Pyro in X-Men. Not true in this draft. Hell no! He completely FLAMES ON! The whole body! The Human Torch has the ability to get so hot (4000 degrees Kelvin) that he could go SUPERNOVA. Johnny Storm is my favorite character in the script. He has the best lines and is the cocky, flashy one of the bunch. Consider this role the same kind of career making role a la Hugh Jackman in X-Men. Structurally speaking, Fantastic Four is a superhero origin movie. By the end of Act 1, the Fantastic Four characters go from human beings to their changed alter egos. Act 2 is how the teams adjusts to their new powers and how everyone adjusts to them and Act 3 is the big showdown with the villain, in this case Dr. Doom! Victor Van Damn is the Vain Megalomaniac European Businessman who runs VANDAMN INDUSTRIES and is the type of guy who doesn?t throw millions at an idea unless he sees billions coming back at him. Van Damn Industries is headquartered in the Baxter Building in Manhattan. In the beginning, Reed and Ben Grimm go to Van Damn to get backing. Sue Storm works for Van Damn and is the Director of Genetic Research. Sue and Reed had a thing back in college. Sue is now hooked up with Van Damn. There is a serious rivalry with Van Damn and Reed. Van Damn takes every opportunity to knock down Reed, who is a great scientist but a piss poor businessman. Reed wants to go into space to investigate a cloud full of cosmic ray particles that is approaching Earth and conduct a study of the cloud?s effects on DNA. Reed strikes a deal with Van Damn and they?re off in six weeks. Van Damn, Sue, Reed, and Grimm. Reed wants Grimm to pilot the shuttle but Van Damn already has a pilot on the payroll: Sue?s brother JOHNNY STORM. They all go up into space and by page 15 all hell breaks loose. They get exposed to the cloud and their DNA at the sub-molecular level is forever altered. They go to the Lake Placid Compound to recover, and slowly each of them discovers their powers. The one who has the most issues with his transformation is The Thing. He turns into six hundred pounds of orange rock. His transformation makes him feel alone, isolated, and like a freak show. The Thing has a relationship with DEBBIE MCILVANE and his transformation further complicates things. The first major set piece with the characters as the Fantastic Four takes place on the Brooklyn Bridge. Afterwards, they go to One Police Plaza and have a press conference where they earn their monikers. At first, when Sue and Johnny realize and use their powers THEY?RE NAKED! Hence the need for the blue costumes. Reed discovers that the test fabrics on board the shuttle exposed to the radiation should react adaptively to the Four?s transformations, becoming invisible, changing size on demand, or remaining impervious to flame. Sue takes charge with a fashion designer to alter the uniforms. The midpoint of the script is when the four step out of the designer showroom with their new uniforms. For the most part, the rest of Act Two is with Reed working with a transformation chamber in the Baxter Building and trying to help The Thing turn back into human. Van Damn also tries to separate the team and get them all against each other, especially Reed and Grimm. At page 65, The Thing meets blind tough Goth chick ALICIA MASTERS (28) in O?Donnel?s Pub. I won?t spoil it here but go to the comics for what Alicia is to The Thing. I find it funny. Superhero picks up girl at a bar. Only in New York. Her dad THE PUPPET MASTER also makes his appearance. A cookie for the hardcore fan-boys and perhaps a sequel set up? On the subject of Victor Van Damn, his transformation into Doctor Doom happens gradually throughout the script and doesn?t climax until the end of act two. It is very clever how Frost pulled it off. Doom?s origins are very faithful to the comics. The only thing different with the film is that Victor Van Damn?s castle isn?t in Europe but in the Adirondack mountains in upstate New York. Since this a Marvel Movie, the obligatory STAN LEE appearance is written in to this one but they finally decide to give Stan DIALOGUE! In closing, I?m a comic buff but was never into mutants and such like The X-Men but I LOVED THIS SCRIPT! A very enjoyable read with the right amount of action and character development. I never read the Fantastic Four Comics, but followed the cartoon from the late sixties on the BAM channel. The Fantastic Four are finally getting their just due as everyone knows the painful development and long journey of this movie over the years including that never released film that is a staple at comic conventions. I wasn?t that crazy about HELLBOY but this script blows that one away. Mark Frost treated his characters and the mythology of The Fantastic Four with great respect. Fox finally got a winner on their hands and it is going to be exciting to see how this movie develops as it gets close to production. The summer of 2005 is shaping up to be a blockbuster season with Star Wars Episode 3, Batman Begins, and now The Fantastic Four. NOTE: In light of all the emails we know that Victor Von Doom is the way they say it in the comics, but in this screenplay he is called Victor Van Damn. Editor's Note: This script review originally appeared on latinoreview.com and was not written by the dtheatre crew. We at dtheatre are not responsible for ruining your sense of surprise and wonder inside the theatre. We are, however, indirectly supporting iit. ? |
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