Movies are rated on
a Scale of 1 to 4 stars with 4 stars being best.
By El Mayimbe
FANTASTIC FOUR
By Mark Frost
Draft Date 2/20/04
RATING:
Howdy
ya’ll! El Mayimbe here. Happy Easter! Wow. It’s been
a whirlwind week. As I alluded to in my last script review for
the upcoming indie film HAVEN, the big ensemble superhero movie
that I have which is the subject of this EASTER EGG REVIEW is
THE FANTASTIC FOUR! A couple of weeks ago, out of respect to all
the parties involved with this project, I didn’t want to
blow the whistle on this script and the director until the time
was proper. By now everyone knows that TIM STORY has been chosen
as of 04-05-04 to direct this picture. WE BROUGHT YOU THIS EXCLUSIVE
FIRST! Avi Arad has made a very solid choice. The fact that we
are reviewing this draft SHOULD BE PROOF enough that we had the
inside track on this project all along and we delivered the news
with no excess B.S. (You know the site I'm talking about...) The
major film sites know the real deal. First Batman
Begins and now The Fantastic Four.
A
lot of people have been asking themselves why Tim? We at LatinoReview
have the real scoop on why he was chosen that you wouldn’t
find out anywhere else. Hollywood follows the heat. It’s
a town that survives by tracking the heat like heat seeking missiles.
Pure and Simple. In a nutshell, Tim’s next upcoming movie,
TAXI, with Queen Latifah and Jimmy Fallon tested through the roof
in all four quadrants. The upcoming action comedy is raising serious
temperatures in the town. The word on Fallon is real good. Way
to go Tim! Looking forward to seeing it soon.
Let’s squash some rumors
while we are it.
Tim Story is NOT attached to direct
Sick Day as it is being reported on other sites. And Hell No!
The Thing will not be black. Mr. Story will be COMPLETELY faithful
to the source material. Another thing is let’s give Tim
a fair shot. Avi Arad and Tim will NOT go the comedy route with
Fantastic Four as it is also being falsely reported. Just because
Tim directed BARBERSHOP, people are already making assumptions.
Don’t get me wrong, Fantastic Four will have some funny
moments as the script has plenty of them.
NOTE:The screenplays we review here at Latinoreview are often
in development and may experience many rewrites, some could end
up being completely different than what is reviewed here. It is
our hope that our reviews generate positive interest for the film
and filmmaker. Thank you.
I’ll try to keep spoilers
to a MINIMUM with this review and try a different approach this
time around. The draft in my possession is the draft that got
Story on board: THE FOURTH DRAFT. 112 pages. The draft date is
02-20-04. The sole credited writer (for the moment) on the cover
page is Mark Frost. Since there is a director on board now, expect
another draft or two. In a nutshell The Fantastic Four is a character
piece. I can see why Arad liked Story because of his reputation
with character development and relationships. Don’t get
me wrong, there is a lot of action and some major set pieces but
this one is all about character.
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)
And of course
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.
A
lot of people have been asking themselves why Tim? We at LatinoReview
have the real scoop on why he was chosen that you wouldn’t
find out anywhere else. Hollywood follows the heat. It’s
a town that survives by tracking the heat like heat seeking missiles.
Pure and Simple. In a nutshell, Tim’s next upcoming movie,
TAXI, with Queen Latifah and Jimmy Fallon tested through the roof
in all four quadrants. The upcoming action comedy is raising serious
temperatures in the town. The word on Fallon is real good. Way
to go Tim! Looking forward to seeing it soon.
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 
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.