When I walked into Fantastic Four I did not expect an Oscar worthy movie. What I did expect was to have fun and that’s what I got, a whole lot of fun. I think we adults have been spoiled as late with our comic book movies. Constantine, Batman: Begins, Sin City, the Spider-man films and even the X-men films all have adult themes and are pretty serious movies. Think about it. Batman and Constantine are dark characters to begin with. Sin City is an adult comic book. The Spider-man movies have become the stomping grounds for a whiny, reluctant superhero and the last X-men film ends with the death of a main character. Not a whole lot of fun going on here. Not a lot for the kids to awe at.
That is where this film succeeds. It is the fun comic book movie that the whole family can enjoy. Frankly, that’s why I liked it so much. This was popcorn at its finest. And as a fan of the Fantastic Four comic, that’s fine with me. The comic book is NOT a work of literary genius. In the end, it’s a kid’s picture book with fun characters that have super powers and in the end they always beat the bad guy. You know what this film is about? Fun characters that have super powers and in the end they always beat the bad guy.
The Fantastic Four start as two scientists (Ioan Gruffudd as Reed Richards and Jessica Alba as Sue Storm) and two pilots (Michael Chiklis as Ben Grimm and Chris Evans as Johnny Storm [Sue’s younger brother]) who zoom into space with an evil millionaire (Julian McMahon as Victor Von Doom). While in space the five are hit by cosmic radiation, which alters their DNA and gives them all superpowers.
Richards is transformed into Mr. Fantastic as he can stretch and manipulate his body as if it were made of elastic. Sue Storm can turn invisible and produce invisible force fields hence she is called the Invisible Woman. Grimm, The Thing, gets completely covered with orange rock and gets super strength. And as the Human Torch, Johnny Storm can ignite his entire body on fire and fly.
Upon returning to earth the four of them are not so fantastic. They quarantine themselves in their lab while Reed and Sue try to find a cure for their powers. This is where the movie excels. As the four of them learn more about their powers, there are many funny scenes of the team getting stir crazy while they’re stuck in their lab.
Meanwhile, Von Doom discovers he also has powers. He starts to lose his dashing good looks. His company is falling apart and he is losing his girl, Sue Storm to the man he blames for his demise, Reed Richards. He becomes Dr. Doom and he goes after the Fantastic Four.
As you can imagine, a battle ensues and good triumphs over evil in the end. Now, is this the best movie ever written? No. Is it the best acting ever in a film? No. But Chiklis and Evans really do shine as The Thing and Johnny Storm. Their scenes together are brilliant. The special effects are very cool. And I cannot stress enough how childlike and fun the movie is. That is why I vehemently oppose this movie being on Truthbringer’s worst five of the summer. If you go into this movie expecting X-men, you’re not gonna get it. But if you go into it expecting the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie (one of my personal favorites) that is what you get with the Fantastic Four.
Now onto the DVD. The DVD has three deleted scenes. They’re nothing to write home about as they are each only about 3 minutes long. There is a making of the action-packed Brooklyn Bridge scene, which is kind of interesting. There are a few other mini-docs, which are slightly entertaining.
Then there is a “video diary” of the press tour which is one of the most painful things I have ever watched. It is very boring and has no value whatsoever.
The music videos are also pretty painful.
COMMENTARY!!!!! Finally a non-special edition DVD with a commentary track. This commentary is with Alba, Chiklis and Gruffudd and it is pretty entertaining. They tell some decent behind-the-scenes stuff but it really shines because it shows how much fun they had making this movie. Chiklis, who is a true fan of the comic books, definitely steals the show and he sounds like a 5 year-old on Christmas as he watches the film. “Oh wow! Look at that!” etc.
All-in-all I stand by my statement that I enjoyed this movie. The extras on the DVD are nothing special but at least they put a commentary track on the disc. My final assessment of this whole package:
FINAL ANALYSIS!
RENT THIS DVD.
P.S. FROM TRUTHBRINGER
Disagreeing with the Truthbringer will not get you evicted. I like to think of myself more open minded than that. It does however buy you a weekend in the snake and scorpion pit. Sorry Boz.
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