Director: Tim Story
Writer: Mark Frost, Michael France (Screenplay) Stan Lee, Jack Kirby (Comics)
Starring: Ioan Gruffudd, Jessica Alba, Chris Evans, Michael Chiklis, Julian McMahon, Hamish Linklater, Kerry Washington
Plot: A group of astronauts gain superpowers after a cosmic radiation exposure and must use them to oppose the plans of their enemy, Doctor Victor Von Doom.
There may be spoilers the rest of the review
Verdict: Fun Superhero Film
Story: Fantastic Four starts as Reed Richards (Gruffudd) and Ben Grimm (Chiklis) trying to negotiate a deal with Victor Von Doom (McMahon) a business man who runs the city as the two plan their mission in space. With the mission lined up the three are joined by Sue (Alba) and Johnny Storm (Evans) but when the solar storm heads to them earlier disaster strikes the space station with the whole crew getting exposed to the solar winds.
Put in quarantine the astronauts soon start seeing side effects and almost extra abilities they have gained, Johnny is literally a human torch, Ben turns into a rock man, Reed can stretch, Sue can turn invisible and Victor is dealing with telepathic powers. While the Fantastic Four are born, Victor Doom sees his empire crumble as his evil side comes out.
With Victor becoming a danger to the Earth the Fantastic Four must embrace their powers to save the world and become the heroes the world comes to love and accept.
Fantastic Four is a superhero film straight off the back of the X-Men and Spiderman success. The origin story works well and the battle is all good enough for what we expect for the first battle they face. The negatives are clear here and that is with the special effects that have dated badly. The settings also don’t leave too much to the imagination as they are just the standard superhero fight locations.
The cast are all picked perfectly really with each one of the characters suiting the actor’s abilities. Chris Evans stands out as the cocky Human Torch character but it is his chemistry with Michael Chiklis that gets most of the laughs in the film. Julian McMahon as the villain works because he always looks like the powerful business man.
Overall: For the time this was a great addition to the genre but now it feels slightly out of place.
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