Fantastic Four (2005)

[TM2-Megatron]

It was a mediocre, but fun movie overall. The level of action probably wasn't as high as some people would've hoped; and it was obviously decided to play up the (slightly dysfunctional) "family" angle of the F4 more heavily than their crime fighting (at least until the sequel). It was certainly enjoyable enough if you put your mind on hold and took it for what it was. It was more light-hearted than other comic adaptations have been for some time; however this isn't necessarily a good thing (for me, anyways). Personally, I've always liked superhero movies involving mutations or scientific experiments to have a "real-world" grittiness to them. Dr. Octavius' transformation to villain in Spider-Man 2 is a good example; particularly the scene in the hospital. The atmosphere of the scene was perfectly done, down to the doctor's comments. However, the world of the F4 movie was almost too "clean" for me to become completely involved in it as I watched.

I do have a few unanswered questions about it, though. Why was this storm such a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for study if Richards was able to recreate it from scratch in a lab with a machine? What's to prevent anyone from using that damn thing to get powers, now? And why did the Thing's second exposure produce EXACTLY the same mutation as his first? Aren't mutations random; isn't that the point? I'm also curious why it was decided to simply send Doom off to his native country; arguably the likeliest place you'd find some sympathizer of his willing to help him regain power.

And also, not that it really matters; but I found the transition from the nearly non-existant "opening credits" to the actual movie to be extremely abrupt and not to my liking at all. It must've of taken a total of 3 seconds to move from Marvel's logo to the first scene of the movie.

[Marianne81]

I loved it. I would give it 3 and 1/2 out of 4 stars. I liked that it was more lighthearted than serious. There's nothings wrong if a movie of this sort is dark or brooding, but if it isn't that doesn't make it bad. If every movie was done the same way that would be pretty boring.
I was completely unfamilar with this comic book. I never even heard of it until recently, so I went in with no preconceived notions as to how the characters should be. That being said I completely fell in love with them all. I can't wait for the sequel!

Marianne

[yankees]

Fantastic 4 Review
Starin: Chris Evans and Jessica Alba, and Iaon Garfouled

Story
5 People are sent To Space.. They get hit by some weird thing and it all gives them powers. One can stretch, the other can turn into fire, one is strong, and one has the power of invisibilty... the other one named Doom owned the company that went to space and they lost billions of dollars. So he trys to Destroy NYC... While the others have to deal with there powers and accept them. In the end it is up for them to stop Dr. Doom and save NYC.

What Worked:
- The Cast Is Good
-Good Special Effects at times
- Good Action
- Nice To See a Non Serious Comic Movie

What Didnt Work
- Bad Dialouge
- Boring at times

Thoughts
The Fantastic 4 movie was always being planed.. There was one that was supposed to be released in 94 but they didnt because it was bad. Over The Years we had many comic films. Some were aful Like The Hulk, Batman and Robin, and Catwoman. Others Where one of the years best Like Spiderman 1 and 2, and Batman Begins. Fantastic 4 is probblay between the middle. The Thing that makes fantastic 4 good is its not a serious movie. Batan Begins was serious because It was all about what Bruce Wayne did to become Batman. The 1st Spiderman didnt have a serious tone to It... but I thought The last fight scene was way too dark For The Film.. Spiderman 2 wasmore on the serious side of parker not being Spidey. The F4 has none of those problems... they try to make the film fun they do well at that.. but at times the movie was Boring and I mean very boring. There were times durin the movie sayin to myself I should have seen War Of The Worlds again. Overall there is only about 10min of action in the film. While Spidey 2 had less action than the first it tell kept yoiu interested about what was goin On. The Effects were good in the film but there were parts when they looked really bad. The people they picked for the movie were good. But There was bad dialouge in it that was even worse than star wars. The ending made it open for a sequel.. I wouldnt mind it if they added more action and a better story while they kept the fun stuff and the humor in it.

Closin Thoughts
While Fantastic 4 is nowhere close to being as good as Batman Begins Or The Spiderman films it still maages to be good at times but it can get boring.

Overall Grade
B-
________
Alaska dispensary

[TaleAsOldAsTime]

I had mixed feelings about the film going in since it got horrible reviews. But i left the movie theaters not disappointed. I absolutely loved the film and i have always loved the fantastic four. Cannot wait for the sequel and im definately buying the film the 1st day out on DVD,


Grade: A

[Robin Hood]

I went and saw The Fantastic Four yesterday, it was surprisingly good.

[Timon/Pumbaa fan]

There are three types of Superhero movies. The ones that are absolute masterpieces(Batman Begins and Spider-man). Ones that are good, but not great(The X-Men series) and then there are the more disappointing ones(Hulk, Daredevil). Fantastic Four goes into the second category.

I really enjoyed it. I thought Michael Chiklis was terrific as The Thing. I also liked The Invisable Women(she was hot! ) and Victor Von Doom was a really great villian!

I didn't like Johnny Storm(The Human Torch) though. He was annoying! I can see why Ben(The Thing) hated him so much.

I was a bit surprised at how short this movie was though. The running time was an hour and 15 minutes. Most summer "blockbusters" are usually an hour and 40 minutes. Definatly a surprise.

Overall a fun movie. I still say Revenge os the Sith is the best movie of the year however! My rating: 8/10

[2099net]

Well, the UK single and double disc sets have been announced. Odd, considering they share the same early December release as the US sets, and it's normally like getting blood from a stone to get any info on a DVD release over here.

http://www.dvdtimes.co.uk/content.php?contentid=58693

I guess R1 will get a similar 2 disc set mid-2006, perhaps with an extended cut of the film.

[MJL356]

I loved it. A little cheesy at parts... primarily all the scenes where people are clapping for the Fantastic 4, but besides that it was great. DVD... of course.

[Robin Hood]

I wish it was coming out as a 2-disc set. Now we have to wait a year or maybe even a couple of days after it is released for the announcement that The Fantastic Four: 2-Disc Unrated Cut is coming out.

[Alice]

I loved it. A little cheesy at parts... primarily all the scenes where people are clapping for the Fantastic 4, but besides that it was great. DVD... of course.

Yeah...........People would clap for the Fantastic 4( ) but Not The X-Men???....and they're not to keen on Spider-Man.

The only good parts of this movie was when Chris Evans was shirtless........

mmmmmmmmm.....:drools:

[castleinthesky]

I saw The Fantastic Four the weekend it came out. I liked the movie. However it had week spots which set it further down my grading scale. The movie was more of a "popcorn flick", or a movie that you would see once or maybe twice in a lifetime. The movie brightenend up the early part of summer, after only having a few other hit movies such as Star Wars, Batman Begins, and Mr. and Mrs. Smith. The movie was however steps ahead of "War of the Worlds" on the acting scale.

My final review of the movie is 6/10.

Other Summer flicks to compare it with:
Batman Begins 9/10
Star Wars 9/10
War of the Worlds 4/10
Charlie and the Choclate Factory 7/10

My grading scale is rated upon a 1-10 scale in which 6 is the first passing grade. (Like school where 60% is the first passing)

[Alice]

The movie was however steps ahead of "War of the Worlds" on the acting scale.

Ugggh....Don't get me started on that P.O.S. of a Movie........

[2099net]

I loved it. A little cheesy at parts... primarily all the scenes where people are clapping for the Fantastic 4, but besides that it was great. DVD... of course.

Yeah...........People would clap for the Fantastic 4( ) but Not The X-Men???....and they're not to keen on Spider-Man.

Well, that's the logic in the comics too. It's a little strange but the logic is:

Spider-Man hides his identity (as do the X-Men, but I believe they have recently been "outed" in the comics). Everyone knows the Fantastic Four's real identities.

Spider-Man has a public hate campaign against him run by J J Jameson (and you know, people read it in the papers, some dirt is sure to stick)

The X-Men are mutants. People are afraid of mutants - especially ones which hide their status, as they afraid their neighbours or work colleges may be mutants in disguise.

The X-Men don't tend to fight "open" fights. They act in secrecy and tend to fight villains who do not threaten the general public directly.

Of course the real reason is:

The Fantasic Four is Marvel's take of celebrity, Spider-Man is Marvel's take on the bad-luck hero (and for that, you need the hero to suffer because of his heroic life-choices) and the X-Men is Marvel's take on the suffering of minorities due to prejudice and lack of understanding.

[azul017]

I wish it was coming out as a 2-disc set. Now we have to wait a year or maybe even a couple of days after it is released for the announcement that The Fantastic Four: 2-Disc Unrated Cut is coming out.

In reports a few weeks after the movie was released in theaters, Tim Story says he is working on a director's cut (this was said way before the DVD was announced) exclusively for the DVD. He says that the added scenes will have finished visual effects shots and that it'll shed more light on the characters, as well as plenty of commentaries and featurettes. I'm actually looking forward to that, because we need more time with the characters in order to know them better. (I wonder if it'll restore the 3 minute animated opening sequence John Ottman was talking about...)

But judging how Fox is taking a leaf out of Sony's book by subjecting people to the single-disc release and then announcing a 2 disc "unrated special edition" a few months afterwards, I'm not surprised to see this as a single-disc release. Because there's a 2 disc edition lurking around the corner...

[Timon/Pumbaa fan]

Yeah...........People would clap for the Fantastic 4( ) but Not The X-Men???....and they're not to keen on Spider-Man.

The whole "clapping after a movie" is I believe very new. I mean 5 years ago people just wouldn't clap after a movie. Now it's gotten to become a bit popular. Some theaters I've been too people clap all the time(even for "The Haunted Mansion" ) some theaters I've been to people just didn't feel the need to clap.

So the clapping after a theater is strangly a very technical thing.

[2099net]

I wish it was coming out as a 2-disc set. Now we have to wait a year or maybe even a couple of days after it is released for the announcement that The Fantastic Four: 2-Disc Unrated Cut is coming out.

In reports a few weeks after the movie was released in theaters, Tim Story says he is working on a director's cut (this was said way before the DVD was announced) exclusively for the DVD. He says that the added scenes will have finished visual effects shots and that it'll shed more light on the characters, as well as plenty of commentaries and featurettes. I'm actually looking forward to that, because we need more time with the characters in order to know them better. (I wonder if it'll restore the 3 minute animated opening sequence John Ottman was talking about...)

But judging how Fox is taking a leaf out of Sony's book by subjecting people to the single-disc release and then announcing a 2 disc "unrated special edition" a few months afterwards, I'm not surprised to see this as a single-disc release. Because there's a 2 disc edition lurking around the corner...

Yeah, well, the rest of the world will get the extended cut too you know! They could do a 2 disc release stateside now, and release a single disc "Directors Cut" in the future. They did with Daredevil. I suppose out extended cut will be single disc over here.