Subpar movie

Rating: 4/10 (9 July 2005)

The standard for superhero movies has been progressively raised over the past few years, how anybody thought that it was acceptable to release Fantastic Four in its current state is unbelievable.
The most prominent flaw that this movie has is the extraordinary amount of time WASTED on the useless banter, discovery and exhibition of each of the characters powers (no we didn't really need to see Mr. Fantastic reaching into the other room for toilet paper). Nothing really happens until the final few minutes of the movie. That leaves us with a good hour and a half of pointless scenes with mildly amusing humor prior to the movie really "starting".
The portrayal of Dr. Doom is...well disappointing. If you're at all familiar with the comic you know that he is dark, menacing and a bane to society. Here he is reduced to somebody that is not "badass" enough to give the Fantastic Four and the movie a purpose.
McMahon and Gruffudd give forgettable performances and Alba (while nice to ogle) is whiny enough to annoy. Many of her one liners made me cringe several times throughout.
Johnny Storm (Evans) is this movies only saving grace. He's excellent as the Human Torch, providing flamboyance and humor that keep this movie from being a total bore.
While the use of CGI did not detract from the movie but it was far from perfect. Maybe I'm just nitpicking but there is a lack of lighting on some city skyscrapers when the Human Torch is flying through the city, the textures on Mr. Fantastic are at times too smooth to be believable. Thankfully the action sequences are fast enough that you don't really notice unless you are looking for faults.
In the end, there is really no point to Fantastic Four. An hour and half of dull filler material keep this from being an acceptable popcorn movie and a pathetic Dr. Doom keep this from being an acceptable adaptation.
Not worth the ticket price, not worth a rental, maybe worth a rental in the 7-day section.