Not so Fantastic Four

Rating: 4/10 (9 July 2005)

After reading the numerous reviews about this movie, I went expecting a complete and total disaster of a film, what I got wasn't quite that bad. Make no mistake, I am not saying that this is a good movie by any stretch, but it does measure up better than Daredevil and The Hulk.
The story moves far too slowly, and way too much time is given to building up the origins of the characters, but it was somewhat watchable. Still the movie could have used a bit more action, and a bit less "worried scientist." The special effects are weak seeming to be of the Terminator 2. I am thankful that they decided to do The Thing via makeup as opposed to CGI because, as in the case of Hulk, the bad computer animation would have made the character even more laughable. The acting was not great, but honestly was a little better than I was expecting.
I think the biggest culprit in the failure of this film is Tim Story. I have to question why Story was given this movie to direct, and on a deeper level why he keeps receiving projects - one would have thought that the deplorable Taxi would have ended his career. Other Superhero films have been blessed by superior directing talents like Tim Burton, Christopher Nolan, Sam Raimi, Bryan Singer, and even Richard Donner, and have all been blessed by these creative directors bringing a unique sense of vision to their film. With Batman Begins and Sin City we had films that brought comic books to life - sadly in comparison Fantastic Four belongs on the discount rack.
The movie does have one big plus - it is a chance to watch the unbelievable beautiful Jessica Alba for two hours - so it ain't all bad. In the end if you can only see one superhero flick this summer go see Batman Begins, if you want some light fluff - this one won't kill you, but it won't satisfy you either.