But the film does manage to do a few things well, making it a bad movie, but not necessarily a terrible one. While it devotes too much time to the bickering between the Four, the relationships between them echo the series pretty well, particularly between Ben Grimm and Johnny Storm (Chris Evans). In fact, Chiklis and Evans are easily the two best elements of the film, with Chiklis injecting some pathos as the monstrous Thing and Evans providing genuine fun as the hotheaded Human Torch. I also like the charisma of Julian McMahon as the antagonist of the film, even though it wasn't a very good interpretation of Dr Doom (which is more the fault of the writers than it is McMahon's). Finally, while the climactic battle was demonstrably flawed, it was still fun to see the team combine their powers in creative ways.
I'm guessing those factors were enough to combine with a nice summer matinée viewing with my wife three years ago to trick me into thinking Fantastic Four was a decent movie, but not enough to trick me into thinking the same with a late night solitary DVD viewing three years later. So consider this review my retraction, and yet another example of how reviews can only ever hope to capture a specific moment in time, and as with all opinions, are subject to change.
Directed by: Tim Story
Starring: Ioan Gruffudd, Jessica Alba, Chris Evans, Michael Chiklis, Julian McMahon, Kerry Washington
Bonus DVD Review: Interestingly, while the film itself is a stunning mediocrity that probably insults fans of the comic more than it excites them, the Extended Edition DVD is still a worthy edition to the shelves of big Fantastic Four fans. As long as they don't watch the first disc with both cuts of the film (theatrical and extended).
Instead, the value for fans comes from the special features disc. Again, you probably want to skip the featurettes on the movie, including a long and detailed feature titled Heroes are Born: The Making of Fantastic Four, since it's a long and detailed look at a bad movie. However, there are two, one-hour long documentaries on the comics themselves that are well put together, and just the sort of thing fans of the comics should love. The first is titled The World's Greatest Comic Magazine, which provides an overview of the title from its inception in 1961 through to the then-current incarnations of The Fantastic Four, Ultimate Fantastic Four and Marvel Knights 4. The doc features interviews from FF luminaries such as Stan Lee, John Romita, George Pérez, Walt Simonson, and Joe Sinnott. The second documentary is titled Jack Kirby: Storyteller, which is a loving homage to the man most responsible for the success of the Fantastic Four. These docs are perfect for fans, meaning that even if you hate the movie for what it did to your favourite family of superheroes, the DVD is oddly a great way to celebrate them.
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