*** Official FANTASTIC FOUR Review Thread (1 Viewer)

[Edwin Pereyra]

Tim Story’s Fantastic Four is a less than scintillating comic book adaptation with ho-hum action sequences. Pic plays out more towards your run-of-the-mill and garden variety comic book films with an uninspired direction, screenplay, acting, soundtrack, special effects and just about everything else where the recent Spiderman franchise and Batman Begins excel.

Its kid friendly status pretty much sums up the crowd that it tries to aim for. On the miniscule plus side, Chris Evans (Johnny Storm) and Michael Chiklis (Ben Grimm/The Thing) provide the film’s amusing moments and tenderness but neither will be remembered long past the theater exit signs. Both Ioan Gruffud (Reed Richards) and Jessica Alba (Sue Storm) come off amateurish in their roles while Julian McMahon’s stodgy presence portends for a very weak villain (Dr. Doom).

The bar has been raised for other comic book film adaptations. This one doesn’t even come close to raising anything.

~Edwin

 

[David Williams]

This was the perfect Fantastic Four film.... I'm hard pressed to think of what they could have changed to make it better. There are little changes to the characters, but the core relationships are there. I think there is more than enough to like in the film for the fan of the comic book.

:star: :star: :star: 1/2 out of :star: :star: :star: :star:

 

[Lou Sytsma]

Silly but enjoyable.

 

[Mikel_Cooperman]

How about a better script? The dialogue was bad, Jessica Alba was horrible and there were just really bad moments where you are left shaking your head. One that comes to mind is after all the mahem on the bridge, the Thing's Wife shows up and puts the ring on the ground.

When you compare the two Summer Comic book movies, this and Batman, there is no comparison. Fantastic 4 is obviously aimed at a teen crowd with the rock music blaring and all the dumb humor. Better than Daredevil but not by much.
I agree with Edwin's comments above. They forgot to aim higher.

 

[Tino]

Fantastic Bore is more like it!

What a horrible POS and an insult to my childhood memories of reading the Fantastic Four.

It was painfully dull, totally devoid of chemistry between any of the leads, had below average visual effects, very little action, and a juvenile, laughably bad script.

Avoid at all costs if you are a comic book fan, and especially if you are a Fantastic Four fan.

Painful!

 

[Todd H]

What an awful film. I think my 6 year old niece could have written a better script. The dialogue was terrible, the chemistry between the characters was non-existent, and the acting was pedestrian.

:star: out of :star::star::star::star:

 

[Greg S]

Saw it last night.

Fun film. Not a great movie but I just kicked back with my Nachos and Coke and said just watch it.

I thought the 4 mains did well with each other (Reed was a little stale but the rest seemed fine) and I even thought Dr. Doom was good but not great.

Overall I had np with the effects. Its not the deepest, thought provoking film around but definitely fun.

Granted I wasn't looking for a Batman Begins type movie anyway!

Does this film raise the bar for the comic films? Nope.
Does it allow for a sequel? Yup.
Does it capture F4 properly? Kind of, afterall the F4 were not very "serious" comics IMO.

Anyway glad I saw it and I look forward to the next one.

Greg

 

[Colton]

My only complaint:

Not enough Dr. Doom. In this film, he is only a menace to the Fantastic Four, but the public has no idea who or what he is - they just stand around in the background wondering what the hell is going on. I think Dr. Doom should have made a huge introduction to the movie as "enemy #1" to the world - not just the Fantastic Four team. Yes, I realize the ending is left open for a sequel, but first impressions are important and the film fails at making Dr. Doom a uber-villian. Also, I think the characters could have been more fleshed out.

Cute story. Nice CGI.

- Colton

 

[Chris Atkins]

FANTASTIC FOUR

:star: :star: /:star: :star: :star: :star: :star:

I mostly rate this compared to other comic book movies, and it's certainly the worst comic book movie I've seen since X-Men debuted in 2000, reinvigorating the genre.

"Made for TV" doesn't do this film justice. Very pedestrian effort all the way around, from the screenplay to the score.

The biggest problem is the casting. Simply put, Ioan Gruffudd and Jessica Alba are completely wrong for the roles of Reed Richards and Sue Storm. Gruffudd lacks the weight and gravity necessary for Richards. Alba is as convincing in her role as Denise Richards was in The World is Not Enough.

There is no creativity, imagination, or delight in Fantastic Four. Everything about the film screams "cash-in", and that's a charge that I do not levy lightly. With Marvel churning out successful, smart, creative and witty films in the Spiderman and X-Men series, and a critical but not box office success in Hulk, this movie was a colossal disappointment to me.