Ben Grimm, AKA Thing, is the hardest member of the Fantastic Four to get right, which is saying something since the other three members can turn invisible, stretch, and catch on fire. But to be fair to the attempts seen thus far, Thing is also a big rock with eyes and a mouth; as a character, he’s a tall order to get right for comic aficionados, as well as mainstream moviegoers. That said, the four attempts at crafting a live-action Thing thusfar have varied greatly in their effectiveness. And now that the first trailer for Matt Shakman’s The Fantastic Four: First Steps has hit the internet, the question is begged just how the Shakman/Ebon Moss-Bachrach version stacks up against the three previous renditions.
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Given how Thing is a character that requires special effects to bring to life, one might assume that it’s a case of increasing returns. Yet that’s not how it panned out, as sometimes older practical effects can prove more convincing than newer CGI. Speaking of newer CGI…
4) The Trank Version
Josh Trank’s Fant4stic is notoriously one of the most broken superhero movie films out there. Its reputation is warranted, as not only does it fail all of its iconic characters, but it doesn’t even manage to function as a coherent film. Trank’s films makes Reed Richards, Sue and Johnny Storm, and Ben Grimm cookie-cutter versions of their comic book counterparts, with less development than the Tim Story movies.
The movie barrels through the transformation part of its narrative so quickly that the ultra-talented Jamie Bell barely even gets to make an impression as Ben Grimm before he’s turned into the clunky CGI monstrosity. It says a lot that the one impressive shot of him from the trailer (the jumping out of the plane scene) was cut from the final film. It’s equally telling that Trank and other powers that be behind the film chose to take a page out of the playbook of Godzilla (1998) and shroud Thing in darkness most of the time as if that would be enough to distract audiences from the shabbiness of the CGI.
3) The Corman Version
1994’s The Fantastic Four was made solely to allow German filmmaker Bernd Eichinger to continue to hold the rights to the IP – and it shows. It’s a goofy, cheap-looking, ugly movie that fits right in with executive producer Roger Corman’s other goofy, cheap-looking movies. And, yet, it’s still better than Trank’s.
For one, the 1994 version functions as a film, even if it’s not a particularly compelling version. Two, it actually manages to come fairly close to nailing Thing, at least given the limited budget at hand. With his protruding forehead, it seems those behind the film at least tried to get the Jack Kirby-reminiscent comics version of the character right, even if they never quite intended for him to be seen by any theatergoers. In fact, the body suit used for Thing is actually somewhat impressive (again, considering the budget), especially when it comes to the puppeteer-manipulated facial expressions.
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2) The Story Version
Until now Tim Story’s two Fantastic Four movies were as close as audiences got to full effective cinematic takes on the characters. In other words, the bar was set mighty low for The Fantastic Four: The First Steps. That said, there were a few aspects that worked well for both 2005’s Fantastic Four and 2007’s Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer.
Chief among those elements is Chris Evans as Johnny Storm and Michael Chiklis as The Thing. Of the three pre-MU projects, it was the only one where the actor’s version of Ben Grimm carried through to Thing after the transformation. That’s a compliment because it’s hard to like a giant rock man if he comes across as far more rock than man. Chiklis was able to imbue the character with touching humanity and the loyal nature that essentially sits at the heart of what makes Grimm/Thing an iconic presence in the Marvel source material. The writing and juvenile humor that surrounded the actor in the two movies may let him down, just as the bulky prosthetics suit holds back his ability to be expressive, but Chiklis makes it work.
1) The Shakman Version
The teaser trailer for It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia and Game of Thrones director Matt Shakman’s The Fantastic Four: First Steps has dropped, and it does not disappoint in debuting the film’s take on Thing, played by Ebon Moss-Bachrach (The Bear). For the second time, the character is portrayed via motion capture and CGI rather than prosthetics, but it’s a far cry from the special effects used to bring him to not-quite-life in Trank’s disaster.
Like the 1994 version, First Steps is clearly going for a comics-accurate rendition of the character. As Jack Kirby, who co-created the character, confirmed before his passing, Thing was based on both his personality and the structure of his face. It looks as though the fourth version of a cinematic Thing has managed to nail that, and it’s exciting to imagine him in action.
The Fantastic Four: First Steps hits theaters on July 25
