Customer Reviews

Fantastic Four (Full Screen Edition)

5 star:		(145)
4 star:		(135)
3 star:		(103)
2 star:		(83)
1 star:		(44)

 

 

I'll be honest...this movie doesn't need an "extended cut" version...sure it's a fine movie, but most of you already have an acceptable version of it, and an extra 20 minutes of footage is fine, but to most of us, not quite enough to justify buying an entire other DVD version of it...
So WHY am I reviewing this version of the DVD as a 5-star "MUST BUY" version? SOLELY because the "extras" DVD has a feature reflecting and honoring JACK "KING" KIRBY, the man/legend who co-created the entire Marvel universe (among other superheroes), with Stan Lee, but got almost NONE of the credit (or money) that Stan did...
KIRBY was a creative FORCE for both Marvel and DC comics over his lifetime career, and not only was he the world's greatest comic book creator and artist, but an amazingly warm, wonderful person, family man, and treated his fans as if they were close friends...never in the world was a man more deserving of a documentary than Kirby was, and while it should've been included in the original release, this feature alone is WELL worth watching and well worth as well the cost of buying this DVD...you will NOT be disappointed by watching the KIRBY documentary...he WELL deserves this honor, and it's VERY interesting for comic fans and non comic fans alike...

First off, I am amused by all the people who try to dissect this film saying how thin the plot is, how cheesy the characters are, and how bad the special effects are. Its based on a comic book people! Not to mention a comic that is over 40 years old! I challenge anyone to read the '60s comics and say that they're NOT the cheesiest thing they've ever read. This comic was as generic as generic can be. Just look at the names of the characters: Mr. Fantastic, The Invisible Woman, The Human Torch, The Thing, Dr. Doom. Not very creative.

Not very creative, but very fun. It captured the imagination of people back then and after 40 YEARS it has turned these characters into beloved icons. That's where I think people are being unfair to this movie. They're expecting all 40 years of character development into 1 hr. and 45 minutes worth of film. It's a beginning, an origin. We see how these characters know each other, how they attain their powers, and how they choose to deal with them at a very early stage. Do we see the intensity of their relationships, the bonds that unite them so strongly? Not so much. But they've just come together. They've just formed the team. They need time. Which is, again, what 40 years of comics give them that 1 movie can't.

I've always looked at The Fantastic Four as cheesy or goofy. From their names to their powers (Reed's stretching for example) to the situations they're put into. And yet, its still fun. From The Thing and Torch's banter, Reed and Sue as husband and wife, and the overall family atmosphere between all four of them.

So to me, this film lives up to all of that. Unlike recent comic book films (Batman, Spider-man, X-men, Hulk), it doens't take itself too seriously. It reminds us that comic books are fun and so is this movie. I've heard people say that this film doesn't live up to the "iconic" characters that are The Fantastic Four. Well, I say it took years for these characters to become "iconic" and that if you read the first 10 issues or so of the comic book, nobody would be praising it these days. So just let the movie be itself and entertain people, which I believe it does very well.

Fantastic Four, despite the negative buzz surrounding the shoot for months, turned out to be an entertaining movie, albeit one that serves primarily as the backstory for sequels to come. Like most backstory movies it moves slowly, but the action and finale bode well for future films.

Special effects were not as amazing as we have come to expect from CGI, but Invisible Girl's powers and the Human Torch CGI came off extremely well. Purists have also taken issue with many aspects of the film such as Dr.Doom's origins, Jessica Alba playing Sue Storm, the Thing played in costume rather than CGI, but these don't seem that bad onscreen. I felt that the actors as a whole were quite good, especially Chris Evans who made the perfect Johnny Storm, and Michael Chilkis as Ben Grimm/Thing. Doing the Thing as a costume brought a realness to the character that CGI wouldn't be able to. As for the romance, Iann Gryffud seemed way too old to be a suitable paramour for Jessica Alba, who potrayed Sue Storm as a young knockout, and the chemistry between the two didn't quite feel right. Julian McMahon did a fine job with Dr. Doom as it was written, and has the evil glare down pat.

This movie has its flaws, and purists will find many. The script took some liberties with the Fantastic Four backstory, and is not as true to the comic as Spiderman or X-Men were. But for me, this was a movie I walked out of the theater and I didn't feel cheated out of my money like I did with so many others this summer. Rent it first before buying, to make sure that it entertains you enough to spring for the DVD.

After a succession of dark and/or self-important comic book adaptations, such as batman, sin city, spiderman and the like, fantastic four makes a very refreshing change. It is very bright, lots of colour, and a fun, light-hearted tone, with a plethora of puns and gags which will have you giggling and groaning at the same time.
It also makes a refreshing change to see them (eventually) embracing their powers as gifts, and using them and not being shy about remaining anonymous, as most other superheroes will do. This perhaps makes the four seem more human - the public know exactly who they really are. Anyway, this also gives a touch of grounding in realism - guys that looked like that, with powers like that - we'd know all about them surely? It's not like a pair of glasses each would make them Joe (or Josephine) regular, a la Clark Kent (how did Lois buy that for so many years anyway?)

But I digress. Ioan Gruffudd manages a competent if rather textbook American accent, and Jessica Alba fulfils her assigned role by being as hot as ever (though why are female scientists always knockouts? They never were in my school!). The stars of the piece though are Michael Chiklis' heartfelt portrayal of the thing, and Julian McMahon camping it up superbly as the villain. Chris Evans (no, not that one!) rounds out the heroic quartet as the arrogant guy who takes full advantage of his fame, cut straight from the template.

The special effects are superb (although that comes almost as standard nowadays), and all of our heroes get chance to fully show off their powers, even if some of them have been amplified from the original comics.

One criticism of the film is that although running at 1 hour 45 minutes the story was too short in itself, and that most of the film seemed to be all about setting up a series of sequels - as if this was merely the first chapter of the full film. Be that as it may, as a franchise launcher, it has certainly whetted the appetite. A sequel will be eagerly anticipated, and will be expected to improve on its predecessor.

When the comic book movie craze officially hit with the release of blockbusters such as, "Spiderman", "X-Men", and their hugely successful sequels, many comic book fans were left wondering when will Marvel's first superhero team, the Fantastic 4, make it to the big screen. Since at the time DC Comics had not released "Batman Begins", Marvel Comics was the only comics' distributor releasing movies, so of course their characters were the primary focus of fans. Many began to worry with the poor performance (in movie critic's minds, that is) of "Hulk", "Daredevil", and "Elektra", would comic book movies continue to be made or would the superhero genre die out once again. Luckily, the genre has not died, despite movie critic's most desperate wishes, and in 2005 Marvel's 'First Family of Heroes' were given the big screen treatment they deserved, and audiences were treated to a more tongue-in-cheek comic book movie, that still delivered the goods in terms of storytelling and quality.

"Fantastic 4" is essentially the origins for this team of reluctant heroes. Dr. Reed Richards (Ioan Gruffudd) and his best friend Ben Grimm (Michael Chiklis) are attempting to persuade the extremely rich industrialist, Victor Von Doom, to fund an expedition into space to study a cosmic anomaly that is nearing Earth's orbit. Von Doom agrees with the proviso that he and his lovely assistant/girlfriend, Susan Storm (Jessica Alba), along with her hot-headed brother Johnny Storm (Chris Evans) are allowed to join them on their voyage into space. Though the expedition begins pleasantly enough, except for Johnny's practical jokes on Ben, things quickly turn awry as the cosmic anomaly reaches Von Doom's space station sooner than expected and all 5 members of the expedition are bombarded with cosmic rays. Upon their return to Earth everything appears to be normal, but then everyone begins experiencing changes in their bodies, and new powers developing. Each member exhibits different powers, Reed has the power of elasticity, Sue gains invisibility, Johnny can control fire, and Ben becomes hard as rock. These four out of the five member team try to learn more about the source of their new powers and possibly find a cure for them. Meanwhile, Victor Von Doom, whose skin is slowly becoming a metallic alloy, and also has the ability to shoot electricity from his hands, is becoming increasingly distrubed and blames Reed for causing his current condition. However, instead of finding a cure, he embraces his anger along with his power and turns on the society that has begun to shun him. Now Reed, Ben, Sue, and Johnny must decide whether to rid themselves of their powers or join forces to battle their onetime comrade and protect humanity from his evil.

Though not nearly as serious as "Spiderman" or "X-Men" or any of the other Marvel Comics' movies for that matter, "Fantastic 4" still gives an engaging story that can be both serious and humorous. The casting is terrific, all of the actors perfectly embody their comic book counterparts, especially Chris Evans and Michael Chiklis. These two actors excellently capture the constant bickering/bullying between the Human Torch and the Thing, while at the same time showing their underlying loyalty and willingness to sacrifice for one another if the need arose. The special effects work is terrific, and it was nice to see the Thing not be computer generated like the Hulk was. Though critics tore this movie apart and tried to convince the public it was not and could never be a big success, the box office numbers provided by fans and general movie audiences proved otherwise.

If you enjoyed "Spiderman" or "X-Men" or any of the other comic book movies, or are just a fan of sci-fi/action movies with good storytelling, then "Fantastic 4" is a movie you should see. However, do not watch this movie expecting to see the same level of drama as "Spiderman" and "X-Men" had, this movie is much lighter in tone, while still delivering a good story with plenty of drama mixed in.

"Fantastic 4" is rated PG-13 for violence, language, and brief sensuality.

I so expected this movie to suck. I mean the Fantastic Four are not my favorite Marvel heroes, and past attempts to bring them to the screen has proved unsuccessful.

Still, I enjoyed this one. The movie may be considered a little slow since quite a bit of time is spent on the origin story. Of course that's what I'd expect since this is supposedly the first in a potential franchise. It's also interesting to see them all finally come together with their powers, in a scene (around the middle of the film) quite reminiscent of the first time Superman saves Lois Lane in the 1978 Superman movie. In regards to pacing, Dr Doom (once he discovers his powers) is dealt with in one battle at the end of the film pretty swiftly. Unlike for example Spider-Man 2 where Doc Ock made a few evil appearances before the final battle, in Fantastic Four Dr Doom discovers his powers during the extended origin and then our heroes get straight to it and that's the end of the movie.

This may unsettle some audiences but I consider it to simply be a change to the formula we've expected in recent years. Good for them!

I can't remember the film, but I'd seen an old movie once about a screenwriter who was complaining about the way the studio treated his little script about kids playing ball in the park. Once it was written and sold, the piece was later turned into a war film, ruing any care, attention or real labor that the writer had put into an otherwise fetching story. To say that this is what could have happened to the Fantastic Four is just an assumption. But, somewhere along the line, between writing the script and casting the film, somebody who didn't know a damn thing about Marvel's finest hero group took control and warped it into one of the stupidest pieces of cinema this side of SuperGirl. Either they didn't know or they didn't care. Take your pick.

When I heard who was cast as Ben Grimm, the Thing, I was really excited. I had never even once thought of Michael Chiklis, but there could not have been anyone better for the role. Hyped up, I learned about who would take the role of the Human Torch. Whatever, I'd never even heard of this kid. Then, Jessica Alba, and I said, "Oh no." Not as the....Invisible Woman??? How can it be worse!?! Then, it got worse with some guy who's name I couldn't even pronounce as Mr. Fantastic, with gray dye on his temples. Not even looking anywhere near the real age of Reed Richards, this guy meant doom. But not all by himself. No, the real doom would come from the smug actor, Something Whatisname, who would destroy the character of Dr. Doom forever. Not only did this guy look like he couldn't play Doom but he played him in a really stupid plot device. Here...

Reed and his ilk want to go out into space for a science mission. I halfway believed him as a smart guy, but never are we made to believe that he is a genius. Victor Von Doom is the billionaire who finances the project and tags along - with Sue Storm as his girlfriend (!) and Johnny and Ben to tag along as pilots. Now, what is wrong with this story?

FIRST: Reed and Doom were friends in college until Doom blew up his own face in a science mistake and blamed it on Reed, hating him forever. This was waaaaay before Reed even knew the Storms.

SECOND: Johnny Storm was much younger in the comic book, at least by three or four years. AT LEAST. How he unbelievably managed to take the trip into space at that age, I will never know, so it's good that they fixed that part.

THIRD: I don't think Sue was a scientist in the book - in fact, I'm positive of it. Either way, Jessica Alba, being a major hottie, gets away with her hotness when being in ANY movie. But she will never get away with playing a scientist.

FOURTH: Doom never went into space with Reed and his ilk and he sure as heck wasn't dating Sue.

FIFTH: Ben Grimm ROCKS! Can't diss that part.

So, there. Before the film even starts, not only do they manage to smartly create a timely story about their origin which manages to incorporate Doom, but they DO IT BADLY AND STUPIDLY! Trying to crunch in the important themes was a good idea but it was left in the hands of bad, bad, bad storytellers. Doom ends up getting zapped in space with the rest of them and that's why he has armor? BECAUSE IT'S HIS SKIN? LAME!!!!

I won't go into much more of my personal hatreds, but I will tell you that I despise the director, Tim Story of "Barbershop" fame. Not only is he not competent enough to take on a story like this one, but he doesn't know enough about it to care. With a name like his, I half expected at least a good visual "story." Instead, we seemed to get just a pile of smoking junk, as if he didn't know a good story if it bit him in the butt. Now, some directors just do what they do because it's payday or because they don't have the clout to flex any muscles. If he were Spielberg, he would probably have said, "NO! TAKE THIS GARBAGE BACK AND LET WHEN KNOW WHEN YOU HIRE SOME REAL SCREENWRITERS!" (this from the guy who made "Jurassic Park" - which only floated thanks to CGI. But CLOUT reigns supreme) But, Story is not Spielberg, he's the guy from "Barbershop." But the film just reeks of not even trying. If he was powerless and had to succumb to the studio's demands, I take it all back. The studio should have backed off, not him.

Ben's latext skin was good, but it really should have been better with a little CGI touch-ups. There were times when I cringed at how obviously fake his orange suit was. Still, Chiklis handled the job really well, but the scene where Ben's wife leaves him was totally laughable. Still, not his fault. Furthermore, not that I'm hating, but I could have sworn that Ben's blind girlfriend in the comic book was white.

Sue Storm and Reed Richards sucked almost as bad as Doctor Doom. Doom is a super-intimidating figure and it did not play out here well enough. He said some mean things, smacked some people around, but he was by no means the insane mastermind from paper pictures. Sue's powers looked super-cool but Reed's seemed a bit silly at times. But during the BIG FIGHT SCENE, I forgave a lot and just enjoyed myself. For a few minutes there, it was totally FANTASTIC FOUR material.

The Human Torch could not have been better. Not how I imagined him, but he surpassed all my expectations and actually proved me wrong in some places. He is cocky and arrogant and, like Dash from THE INCREDIBLES, seemed to be the only one to relish the idea of having super powers. Nice change of pace, differing from Batman, Blade and Spiderman, who do what they have to do like it's a curse or a reason to be bummed out all the time.

If I were to rate it from one to ten, I would give it a four. One because it's a superhero movie. Two, because Alba is hot. Three, because I loved Grimm and Johnny and their constant bickering. And four, because some of the effects, like the Human Torch's fire, were top notch. Keep one thing in mind though, after the "Incredibles" came out and everyone saw how cool a person with stretch powers could be, rumor has it that the FANTASTIC FOUR went back and shot "better" scenes of Reed stretching around. Still....no competition. Not even enough competition for a cartoon.

For once, we are given a comic book adaptation that doesn't ruin the superheroes to make a quick buck.

"The Fantastic Four" is smart, funny and has terrific effects. The plot is plausible enough to move the story along. An unlikely group fids itself in space to study a mysterious solar phenomenon and finds itself irradiated and physically altered. The group's scientist becomes elastic. His friend and bodyguard turns into a hideous man of stone. A brother and sister duo respectively become human fireball and invisible. The billionaire who sent them into space is turning into an electro-metallic madman.

Sounds farfetched, but the cast keeps the tone light with wisecracks and visual humor. The film also does a nice job of dealing with the group's various reactions to their new powers - embarrassment, wonder, horror and amusement. The effects are terrific. Chris Evans (as human torch Johnny Storm) goes snowboarding with a girlfriend, catches on fire inadvertently, goes careening and melts a tunnel through the snow that he turns into a hot tub for his date. The Thing (Michal Chiklis) alternates between ripping off truck doors (to save a trapped trucker) and apologizing for scaring people. He is the true emotional center of the movie, which is saying something, as he was covered many inches thick in foam and makeup to pay the role.

The DVD extras are few, with a handful of deleted scenes showing alternatives to the sentimental denouement between two characters. The images in the widescreen edition were quite distorted, especially in the first few minutes. But I either got used to them or they got better as the movie progressed.

TFF is well made and well acted, with just the tight touches of humor, attitude and peril to make it worth watching.

Films based on comic books are a bit of a mixed bag. While never my favorite genre, the stakes have been raised in recent years. With sophisticated outings such as "Batman Begins", "X-Men 2", and "Spiderman 2" and "Superman Returns", it seems that we've ushered in an age of comic book adaptations as art. These films surprised me and entertained me (as any movie should), but also utilized real drama, intelligence and adult sensibilities--often with great performances and smart, logical scripts. Even graphic novels have become a popular source for serious minded films.

So "The Fantastic Four" is a throwback. Far from sophisticated, it plays as a live action cartoon. That might be OK, but the more pressing problem is that it's not particularly fun either. I know a lot of people feel that "The Incredibles" borrowed heavily from "The Fantastic Four" concept, and maybe so. But at least on film "The Incredibles" was rousing entertainment. Maybe the film "Fantastic Four" should have taken that cue.

I won't blame the actors. I actually like many of them (in other roles). It's a lackluster, sloppy script. The filmmakers never really cared about this subject and it shows. First and foremost, they wanted a commercial film to play to a mass audience--kiddies included. And I can imagine small children getting a few chuckles from The Human Torch and The Thing. Their interactions, after all, are the equivalent of junior high taunting. But it's just not funny enough, the effects aren't original enough, and it sure lacks a brain. Put the small kids in front of it--it's harmless enough, but you probably don't want to invest your time with "The Fantastic Four". KGHarris, 10/06.

Much like the Daredevil Director's Cut, the Extended cut of F4 is the only way to watch the movie, the theatrical release pales in comparison.

While the movie itself is much too focused on the comedic aspects and sight gags in either format, with the extended cut you at least feel like you are getting more for your money.

The major addition to the film is the Ben Grimm and Alicia Masters romance subplot that is just glossed over in the original cut. Included is a wonderful scene in Alicia's studio where you actually see the romance begin and a real relationship form. As well as a scene at an Art Show where Ben is embarassed for Alicia to be seen with him and leaves.

The other footage is mostly of Dr. Doom dealing with his transformation, spying on the F4 and meeting with every member other than Reed trying to convince them that Reed doesn't care about them.

I highly suggest replacing any theatrical cut copies of the DVD with the extended cut, you won't be disappointed.