Overall: B-Cast: B
Plot: B
Special Effects/Stunts: B-
Similarity to Comic: A
Director: Tim Story
Comic Company: Marvel
Stars: Jessica Alba, Chris Evans, Michael Chiklis
Rating: PG-13
See the IMDB page
See the Rotten Tomatoes page
Although the Fantastic Four are not known for being the most marketable or successful superheroes on the big screen, I think this film does the team justice. Where it lacks in special effects of the time and some lackluster character development it makes up for by having two of the rarest traits in the comic book superhero film industry; consistency and continuity to the comics that started it all.
The Good: Like many of the viewers I went into this movie not really knowing a lot about the Silver Surfer and his origin. I did some research after I finished the movie and discovered to my surprise that the writers actually did a very good job keeping his origin true to the comics. Despite not giving Galactus a name or backstory, they told the tale of the Silver Surfer and how he came to work with the Fantastic Four quite well. It should also be noted that the origin of the Silver Surfer is a big moment not only for him but for the Fantastic Four as well, making it even better that the writers chose this story line over the many great Fantastic Four adventures available.
The cast was pretty good. Every actor stayed true to the character they played in the previous film, which is all you can ask for out of a cast that stayed primarily the same minus the minor characters. The special effects weren't anything spectacular, but this movie was made in 2007 so compared to the masterpieces of today they're not bad and they certainly didn't take anything away from the movie. Did the movie build much on the first film? Not really, did it leave us wanting more? Again not really, but what we got was exactly what we were expecting, so it certainly didn't disappoint us.
The Bad: I like Dr. Doom and all, he IS one of the greatest super-villains of all time after all, but we already saw him in the first movie, did he really have to come back and try to take over the world again? I personally think villain repetition in superhero movies is overdone and takes away from the quality of the villain as well as the actors who played them. Take the Joker for example; every single Batman director has to do their own version of the Joker, and while each one is great in their own way it becomes just a little less special each time they come out with a new one. The audience needs to see their heroes take on new threats. Everyone knows that Batman beats the Joker ten times out of ten, just as the Fantastic Four always beat Dr. Doom. It can be exciting, dramatic, and visually appealing, but sometimes I want to see a new story, not the same one reenacted differently.
Along those same lines I would have liked to see a bit more character development, maybe some fighting among themselves aside from the seemingly friendly Thing and Torch banter, and some more realistic public hysteria. I mean look at the size of Galactus, somebody would have seen that thing in a telescope days before he showed up by Earth, and then some Armageddon type panic would have surely ensued. I like and appreciate character, actor, and story line consistency, I think certain parts of sequels need to be bigger and better than their predecessors.
The Interesting: Did the movie really need the Human Torch to develop the ability to steal the others abilities? In the first film they all went into comas for an undisclosed amount of time before developing their powers, and then in this movie the Torch can just touch them and Boom! The powers are just transferred? That stretches what even I can accept as a scientific error in superhero films. And what is the point of having the Torch use all of their powers himself? Couldn't they just fight as a team? And why didn't Johnny just touch Dr. Doom and steal his power and then let the other members of the team deal with a flaming Dr. Doom? They have to be better able to fight one of their own powers than his right?
How has the Invisible Woman not figured out how to control her power enough to not end up naked in public view by now? She seems to be mastering her ability in every other way, but then whoops! Not that I'm complaining, I did like the blonde Jessica Alba, but still, consistency... Also the weight of the Thing doesn't seem to make sense. In some scenes he's unbelievably heavy and dishes out massive carnage, and then in others he seems to weigh only slightly less than an average person. Oh and don't get me started on the Dodge jet...
Conclusion: Overall this movie delivers in all areas, but it doesn't deliver anything spectacular. It is another decent movie in the modern age of superhero films and if nothing else gave writers and producers something to improve upon in the future.
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