Not too bad at all.

Rating: 6/10 (2 January 2008)

Fantastic Four starts as genetic scientists Reed Richards (Ioan Gruffudd) & Ben Grimm (Michael Chiklis) ask's billionaire industrialist & friend Victor von Doom (Julian McMahon) to fund a trip into outer space to study a cosmic storm at his space-station. Doom agrees & goes along with Reed's ex-girlfriend Sue Storm (Jessica Alba) & her cocky pilot brother Johnny Storm (Chris Evans) to help out, while aboard the space-station all five are exposed to the cosmic storm. Back on Earth & they all experience changes, Reed can stretch his limbs, Ben turns into a rock creature, Sue gains the power of invisibility & Johnny can turn himself into a human flying fireball. After saving people in a huge pile up on a bridge the media dub them the Fantastic Four, meanwhile von Doom also undergoes changes as he slowly starts to turn into metal & has the ability to control electricity which he intends to use for his own sinister ends...
This American German co-production was directed by Tim Story & is a film which has jumped on the recent bandwagon for popular Marvel comic book superhero films following the huge success of the likes of Blade (1998), X-Men (2000), Spider-Man (2002), Daredevil (2003), Hulk (2003), The Punisher (2004), the dire Elektra (2005), Ghost Rider (2007) & the upcoming Iron Man (2008) to name but some. While not the best comic book superhero adaptation Fantastic Four isn't the worst in my opinion, I mean a film has it's work cut out to be as bad as Elektra. The script by Mark Frost & Michael France follows the recent trend of comic book superhero films by trying to give the 2-D character's some personality & there's a fair amount of exposition here, a lot of the film is devoted to how each of the Fantastic Four deal with their powers & in particular how Ben copes with turning into a orange rock. This is all well & good but the von Doom angle is put on the back burner for the majority of the film & he makes for a somewhat neglected villain, I never really understood his motivation for anything. The film gives von Doom no more motive than he just wants to be powerful, wow big deal. At about 100 minutes in length it doesn't outstay it's welcome, it moves along at a reasonable pace although there aren't many big action scenes. The human character's are none existent, the clichéd relationship between Reed & Sue is just corny & overall I'd imagine Fantastic Four will appeal to fans of the comic book more than the casual viewer, I mean I don't think Fantastic Four could be enjoyed on the same level of a say Blade or Spider-Man by the average film-goer.
Director Story does alright, although apart from a spectacular sequence set on a bridge & the final confrontation between the Fantastic Four & von Doom there's surprisingly little action here. Packed with CGI computer effects they vary, some are brilliant like when the Thing stands in front of an oncoming truck & it wraps itself around Thing but some are pretty poor like just about anytime Reed uses his stretch limbs. Was I the only one who found the scene when Reed literally slides down the side of the building funny? This wasn't the first time the Fantastic Four had been adapted for our screens, The Fantastic Four (1994) film was made but never intended to be released as if the company who owned the rights didn't make a film by a certain date they would lose them while there have been several cartoon show's featuring the character's. The violence is minimal & is mostly fantasy fighting between the superhero character's.
According to the IMDb this had a budget of about $100,000,000 which is a lot of money so you expect a well made film & it is, although set in New York it was largely filmed in Canada. The acting varies, I though Ioan Gruffud was really bland & forgettable while the idea of Jessica Alba as a genetic scientist is more far fetched than anything else in this entire film! For those who live here in the UK Johnny Storm played by Chris Evans isn't the same Chris Evans who married Billie Piper, has ginger hair & is widely known as a DJ!
Fantastic Four is a good solid comic book superhero film, there's plenty of special effects & it's looks nice enough & I suppose it passes 100 odd minutes painlessly enough as well but I thought the main story was a bit lacking & a bit too simplistic while I could have done without all the clichéd sub-plots going on. Good & certainly worth a watch particularly if you like these comic book superhero films.