As bad as the first film

Rating: 3/10 (26 September 2008)

Whilst I paid to see Fantastic Four, I didn't make the same mistake twice, and only saw this film on a place from Sydney to Singapore. I was warned by a friend of mine that this film was bad, and he was right. I personally think that Fantastic Four is a weaker comic book compared to Marvel's other series like Spider-man, X-Men, Iron Man, the Incredible Hulk and even the Punisher, but it's no excuse for making a bad film.
The film starts off with Reed Richards and Sue Storm about to marry each other and it is seen as the biggest wedding of the decade. At the same time there are strange things are happened across the globe. During the wedding a strange silver creature flies through New York and is followed by the Human Touch. After contact with the Silver Surfer the Human Touch has the ability to swap powers with any of the other members of the Fanstatic Four. Reed Richards discovers that a whole line of planets had been destroyed and that it looked like Earth was next. He also discovers that Earth only had a week before it would be destroyed, and the Fanstantic Four end up having to fight with the US Army in London and the Black Forest. Dr. Doom also returns, and he is fascinated by the power of the Silver Surfer. The Fantansic Four end up having to fight the Silver Surfer, the Army and Dr. Doom.
Like the first film the casting is awful, Jessica Alba is too young to play Sue Storm and is just there to get naked, Ioan Gruffudd can't act and who though that Julian McMahon should play Dr. Doom should not belong in films. At times it is even worst because the relationship between the Human Touch and the Thing had been toned down, so you lose the comedy value. Dr. Doom is no longer metal and he just a good looking guy in a hood; completely missing the point. There are massive plot holes, such as the Americans having an army base in Russia: I really don't see that happening. The Special Effects were good, but that not a good reason to see a film and there are better actions scenes in films such as in the Spider-man series. I think that Fantanstic Four is not an easy comic book to put on screen. It is hard to make it realistic, but fans of the comic books don't really want to see a kids film. Some aspects should have not have been in the film, like the Fantanstic Four aircraft which was just silly. This film cannot appeal to anyone. The only think that really made me smile was Stan Lee's cameo and the first chase between of the Silver Surfer was well done, but that's it.
If you want to watch a good fun comic book film, watch the Spider-man Series, or Iron Man or the Incredible Hulk. Avoid the Fantanstic Four Series. I wouldn't be surprised that a third film is already in the pipeline but I hope if they do it they start again and give it to people who know what they are doing.