It's a pretty decent comic book movie although it's a far cry from fantastic.

Rating: 6/10 (2 August 2005)

I would be lying if at any point in time I said I wanted to see the "Fantastic Four". While I worked for Eworks, all we did was test TV spots and trailers for this movie and to be honest none of them grabbed my attention at all. In fact this movie looked so bad and I never wanted to see it. But again due to the lack of movies so far this summer, I decided since my brothers wanted to see it that I would see "The Fantastic Four" A group of scientists get money to go up into space because they are searching for new ways to cure diseases. While in space some kind of force hits the ship and now everyone on board develops special powers, Sue Storm (Jessica Alba) has the ability to become invisible, Johnny Storm (Chris Evans) has the ability to turn into fire, Reed Richards (Ian Gruffudd) has the ability to stretch, and finally Ben Grimm (Michael Chiklis) becomes a rock creature with super strength. Together they become the Fantastic Four! But there was one more scientist named Victor (Julian McMahon) who was on board the ship when the force hit and instead of using his powers for good, he decides to use his powers to destroy the Fantastic Four and ultimately control the world. And so "The Fantastic Four" ensues I have to admit I really liked the movie much more then I ever thought was possible. For a comic book movie it's pretty darn good. I mean compared to comic films like "Blade", "Catwoman", "Dare Devil", "The Hulk", and "Elektra" to name a few, this film is a masterpiece. The story is decent, it could be better but it's a comic book movie so I don't expect great writing. The acting surprisingly isn't too bad either, and that came as a shock. Jessica Alba is improving since her role in the awful" Honey" and everyone else is pretty decent as well. Honestly it was a decent popcorn flick, it's nothing to think about or take seriously; you just have to sit back and enjoy.
There were a couple of things that hurt the film and I will go over them now. The first thing was the characters outside Sue Storm and Reed Richards were too childish. I mean they seemed like little kids. Also the dialogue was really bad, I mean when Sue says to Johnny and Ben "stop fighting", I literally busted out laughing because I couldn't help think what? Are they 3 years old or something? I mean wow who wrote that line. The whole dialogue thing was pretty bad at times basically because of bad one liners like when Dr. Doom goes "Sue, You're Fired" I mean give me a break. Also in the end the film feels very rushed. They take so much time for the characters to develop and understand their powers that by the time Dr. Doom comes into the picture it's like 10 minutes before the film ends. I mean the battle at the end was disappointing because it was very short and felt rushed.
Overall it's a comic book movie and all comic book movies basically have the same plot, a good guy or in this case good guys get powers, they decide they want to do well; some bad guy gets power as well and wants to use it to destroy the world or control it. Most movies are like this "Spiderman", "The Hulk"," X-men" etc. The Fantastic Four does this well. It has a nice amount of action, an OK story, the dialogue needs a little fixing up and so does the end but in the end it's much better then the trailers and critics for that matter lead it to be. I would see the sequel which I know it coming so I can only hope they improve the few things wrong with this one.
My final rating for "The Fantastic Four" is a 6/10. Go to a matinée or take the kids they will love it.