Certainly Entertaining, but Nothing... Fantastic

Rating: 8/10 (9 July 2005)

Although I thoroughly enjoyed "Fantastic Four" and found it quite entertaining, it is definitely not spectacular. The movie begins with Reed Richards (Ioan Gruffudd), the brilliant, yet out of luck (and money), scientist, and his best friend, Ben Grimm (Michael Chiklis-The Shield), astronaut and pilot. Their dream: to study the effects of a cosmic storm on human DNA in order to learn more about the basic make-up of human beings, and possibly find cures for the world's most destructive diseases. However, Reed must seek funding from former MIT rival (and current industrial millionaire) Victor Von Doom (Julian McMahon-Nip/ Tuck and Charmed), who is also "dating" Reed's former love, the brilliant and beautiful Susan Storm (Jessica Alba-Honey). Also on the trip is Sue's younger brother, hothead pilot Johnny Storm (Chris Evans-Cellular and The Perfect Score), who also happens to be a self-centered attention-seeker (and really hot... no pun intended). But as they near the completion of their mission, it becomes apparent that Reed has miscalculated the speed of the storm, and the crew has minutes to get Ben back into the ship and activate the shields. This they fail to do, and Ben, Reed, Sue, and Johnny are all exposed to mutating radiation. When they wake up in quarantine days later, they find they have transformed into superheroes. Reed, the leader of the group, has become "Mr. Fantastic", with the ability to stretch and contort his limbs like rubber. Sue, now "The Invisible Girl", has the ability to become invisible, as well as bend and deflect light. Ben (who has gone through the most dramatic change) becomes a big rock-like... thing with superhuman strength, and is aptly named "The Thing". Finally, Johnny has become "The Human Torch", and can engulf himself in flames and reach dizzying heat (like the heat of a supernova). The four team together to form "The Fantastic Four", and battle the evil Victor, now Dr. Doom, who was also transformed by the storm into a metallic villain. Will the superheroes defeat the bad-guy? You figure it out. However, the ending does leave room for a sequel... because in Hollywood, there's always gotta be a sequel (just look at Garfield 2 and Cheaper By the Dozen 2). All in all, a good, highly entertaining movie, which, although it fails to thoroughly impress, at least made me want to write a review.