The Fantastic Four franchise was slaughtered by the 2005 and 2007 films, but Reed Richard's acts of genius kept us somewhat engaged. The unlikely team were endowed with their powers due to exposure to a cosmic storm, and in an attempt to cure Ben Grimm (AKA The Thing) of his rock-like condition, Reed attempts to simulate the storm in his laboratory.The second noteworthy event concerns the tachyon pulse designed to separate the Silver Surfer from his board. The Silver Surfer was wreaking havoc on the planet by preparing Earth to be devoured by Galactus, so Mr Fantastic's intervention prevented further damage to that which occurred in London during the beginning of the film. Each of these were quite clearly feats of genius, manipulating science to new levels in order to advance the plot of each film. There were few reasons to enjoy these films; they were childish and fundamentally failed to engage with the audience the way successful franchises did. It was not dark enough to compete with Batman Begins, which came out in the same year. The film has aged horrendously due to the over-reliance on CGI, but in both films Reed Richards performed some pretty incredible feats of genius. These are the parts that are memorable, even if it is due to the plot, not the way in which the scenes were filmed.
A 21 year old History graduate looking for someone to listen to his ramblings. Lover of comic books, movies and all other superhero related things. Published in The Independent, always looking for interesting things to write about...Follow me on Twitter at @samclements1993, and check out my blog: http://samuelclements.wordpress.com/
