A Very Middle-of-the-Road Superhero Effort

Rating: 6/10 (18 January 2018)

This is the first theatrically released "Fantastic Four" movie, as there was previously an unreleased 1994 B-movie made by Roger Coreman. I don't find this version of "Fantastic Four" to be outright terrible; just a little bit bland and kind of unmemorable.
The performances are mostly fine. Ioan Gruffudd was serviceable and Chris Evans was pretty good as Johnny Storm, but the best performance here is Michael Chiklis as Ben Grimm. He was an excellent choice for the role. Julian McMahon was rather "blah" as Dr. Doom, as was Jessica Alba as The Invisible Woman.
My main gripe with this movie is that the story is rather uneventful. There isn't much action or excitement in it until the last half hour or so. While I appreciate that they took time to show the main characters getting used to their powers (unlike the 2015 reboot), the film at times felt less like a superhero movie and more like a sitcom. It didn't have much of superheroes being superheroes, in short.
The climax at the end was decent but nothing too spectacular, and the humorous scenes are hit-or-miss. The special effects are pretty good, though, and I really like the soundtrack.
This isn't one of the best superhero movies out there or one of the worst. It's just very middle-of-the-road. Watching it wouldn't be a complete waste of time, but don't expect anything mind-blowing.
RATING: C+