Appealing, but dumb comic-book yarn

Rating: 5/10 (23 July 2005)

Following the recent wave of comic book films that began with 1978's Superman, Fantastic Four is another product of this fad. It is about a group of scientists going on an experimental voyage, which is standing in the way of a cosmic radiation storm. A few days after the accident, all of them discover that they have powers. Reed Richards (Mr. Fantastic), the leader, has the ability to stretch his body. Sue Storm, has the ability to be invisible (Invisible Woman), Johnny Storm becomes the Flame, and Ben Grimm evolves into a muscular, rock-like creature knows ans the Thing. Together, they have to unite in order to combat Doctor DOOM, who, having witnessed the blast, becomes driven by greed as he discovers his ability to absorb electricity and metals.
The movie is entertaining, with very good special effects, adequate doses of humour, and likable lead characters. The action sequences are well-placed and creative. But it is rather unoriginal by anyone's standard, a screenplay that borrows heavily from other previous Marvel films, and is rather dumb in content. This summer blockbuster leaves hardly anything to think about afterwards.
The movie will never bore audiences and manages to stand out a bit from other contemporary releases. Summer 2005 has become a season where dark, violent action movies movies have become predominant-- i.e, Revenge of the Sith, Batman Begins, War of the Worlds--, .But nevertheless it lacks the authenticity of either such co-horts as well as previous comic book movies like the X-Men and Spiderman. Let's hope its sequel improves most of this movie's mistakes.
** out of ****