TRAILER 111 Play all videos What to know Marred by goofy attempts at wit, subpar acting, and bland storytelling, Fantastic Four is a mediocre attempt to bring Marvel's oldest hero team to the big screen. Read critic reviews Fantastic Four Rise of the Silver Surfer Rent/buy Rent/buy Subscription Buy Fantastic Four videos Fantastic Four Trailer 1 TRAILER 111 Fantastic Four Photos Movie Info Scientist Reed Richards Ioan Gruffudd persuades his arrogant former classmate, Victor von Doom Julian McMahon, to fund his experiments with cosmic energy. On von Doom's space station, the crew - including astronaut Ben Grimm Michael Chiklis, researcher Sue Storm Jessica Alba and pilot Johnny Storm Chris Evans - are exposed to a mysterious cosmic storm that bestows super powers upon them. As they cope with their transformations, von Doom vows his revenge. Rating PG-13 Suggestive ContentSequences of Intense Action Genre Action, Adventure, Fantasy Original Language English Director Tim Story Producer Chris Columbus, Avi Arad Writer Mark Frost Release Date Theaters Jul 8, 2005 wide Release Date Streaming Dec 6, 2005 Box Office Gross USA $ Runtime 1h 46m Distributor 20th Century Fox Production Co 1492 Pictures, 20th Century Fox, Marvel Enterprises Sound Mix Dolby SRD, SDDS, Surround, DTS Aspect Ratio Scope Cast & Crew News & Interviews for Fantastic Four Critic Reviews for Fantastic Four Audience Reviews for Fantastic Four Jun 20, 2016 This movie was just not that great. Script was pretty flat and the film was just not that entertaining. The effects, especially with Johnny Storm, were pretty good but that was about it. Julian McMahon as Victor Von Doom was about as good as the acting got and that's not saying much. Nov 25, 2013 It's watchable, and would probably benefit from going for some M-rated content. And some of the casting was atrocious. The casting of Chris Evans Scott Pilgrim VS The World, The Losers, Push, Sunshine, Cellular as Johnny Storm/The Human Torch was not one of these bad casting decisions. In fact, Evans, along with Australian actor Julian McMahon who is much more attractive than his father, Australian ex-Prime Minister, Sir William McMahon almost managed to salvage the film. McMahon portrays the antagonist, Doctor Doom. Other than the rest of the casting choices, I have a few more problems with this film. The depressingly fake mise en scène being among them; mainly the terrible direction of extras in the film. The fact that these completely normal people are whacked straight in the face with a super-power granting cloud, 15 minutes in to a two hour plus film, without ever really finding out about how they lived as humans, also doesn't go very far towards helping their case. Sure it's loud, but in an effects driven action film, that has terrible effects, you have to push really hard to come up with something good, and Fantastic 4 did not push hard. It'll be very interesting to see what happens from here. I know there's a rubbish sequel and all but that's not what I mean. I'm talking about Captain America The First Avenger. Chris Evans is playing the eponymous protagonist in the film, which is another Marvel pump-out. So, despite the comics all being intertwined, it doesn't really seem like Johnny Storm and Steve Rogers will never meet. Unless they reboot Fantastic 4, which I wouldn't mind except that they wouldn't be able to have the only good choice of the 4 not being able to reprise his role. All in all I could basically take it or leave it. Fantastic 4 is not the kind of film that makes me want to kill myself after watching, but it probably wasn't worth watching the second time round I just put myself through to write this review. Sure there's about a scenes worth of human emotion, and a grand total of probably two laughs, and I could understand that there's people out there who do like the film. But from my point of view, I honestly gotta say I'm glad that Marvel left this kind of film style behind. -Gimly Super Reviewer Mar 18, 2013 Competent entertainment, and a fun feuding dynamic between youngish heroes not quite ready for the limelight, but it's basically just the Marvel Origin Story Template applied once more. Jessica Alba can't act, but Julian McMahon as Dr. Doom is one of the better villain performances in this stable. Meh. Super Reviewer Nov 18, 2012 Pretty good superhero film, The story was a little silly, Acting not very clever, Quite entertaining though, Some good effects and action makes it worth watching. Super Reviewer
26O n screen, the Fantastic Four remain the poor relations of the Marvel superhero family. The first (2005) episode of last decade's F4 diptych at least showed some flippant pop-culture fizz. But Johnny Storm, the Human Torch Chris Evans flames out in "Fantastic Four," wondering what it would be like to shake hands with Aquaman. So you get in a spaceship, and you venture into orbit to research a mysterious star storm hurtling toward Earth. There's a theory it may involve properties of use to man. The spaceship is equipped with a shield to protect its passengers from harmful effects, but the storm arrives ahead of schedule and saturates everybody on board with unexplained but powerful energy that creates radical molecular changes in their return safety to Earth, only to discover that Reed Richards Ioan Gruffudd, the leader of the group, has a body that can take any form or stretch to unimaginable lengths. Call him Mr. Fantastic. Ben Grimm Michael Chiklis develops superhuman powers in a vast and bulky body that seems made of stone. Call him the Thing. Sue Storm Jessica Alba can become invisible at will and generate force fields that can contain propane explosions, in case you have a propane explosion that needs containing but want the option of being invisible. Call her Invisible Woman. And her brother Johnny Storm Chris Evans has a body that can burn at supernova temperatures. Call him the Human Torch. I almost forgot the villain, Victor Von Doom Julian McMahon, who becomes Dr. Doom and wants to use the properties of the star storm and the powers of the Fantastic Four for his own purposes. He eventually becomes this point in the review, are you growing a little restless? What am I gonna do, list names and actors and superpowers and nicknames forever? That's how the movie all setup and demonstration, and naming and discussing and demonstrating, and it never digests the complications of the Fantastic Four and gets on to telling a compelling story. Sure, there's a nice sequence where the Thing keeps a fire truck from falling off a bridge, but you see one fire truck saved from falling off a bridge, you've seen them Fantastic Four are, in short, underwhelming. The edges kind of blur between them and other superhero teams. That's understandable. How many people could pass a test right now on who the X-Men are and what their powers are? Or would want to? I wasn't watching "Fantastic Four" to study it, but to be entertained by it, but how could I be amazed by a movie that makes its own characters so indifferent about themselves?The Human Torch, to repeat, can burn at supernova temperatures! He can become so hot, indeed, that he could threaten the very existence of the Earth itself! This is absolutely stupendously amazing, wouldn't you agree? If you could burn at supernova temperatures, would you be able to stop talking about it? I know people who won't shut up about winning 50 bucks in the after Johnny Storm finds out he has become the Human Torch, he takes it pretty much in stride, showing off a little by setting his thumb on fire. Later he saves the Earth, while Invisible Woman simultaneously contains his supernova so he doesn't destroy it. That means Invisible Woman could maybe create a force field to contain the sun, which would be a big deal, but she's too distracted to explore the possibilities; she gets uptight because she will have to be naked to be invisible, because otherwise people could see her empty clothes; it is no consolation to her that invisible nudity is more of a metaphysical concept than a condition. Are these people complete idiots? The entire nature of their existence has radically changed, and they're about as excited as if they got a makeover on "Oprah." The exception is Ben Grimm, as the Thing, who gets depressed when he looks in the mirror. Unlike the others, who look normal except when actually exhibiting superpowers, he looks like - well, he looks like his suits would fit The Hulk, just as the Human Torch looks like The Flash, and the Invisible Woman reminds me of Storm in "X-Men."Is this the road company? Thing clomps around on his Size 18 boulders and feels like an outcast until he meets a blind woman named Alicia Kerry Washington who loves him, in part because she can't see him. But the Thing looks like Don Rickles crossed with Mt. Rushmore; he has a body that feels like a driveway and a face with crevices you could hide a toothbrush in. Alicia tenderly feels his face with her fingers, like blind people often do while falling in love in the movies, and I guess she likes what she feels. Maybe she's story involves Dr. Doom's plot to ... but perhaps we need not concern ourselves with the plot of the movie, since it is undermined at every moment by the unwieldy need to involve a screenful of characters, who, despite the most astonishing powers, have not been made exciting or even interesting. The X-Men are major league compared to the really good superhero movies, like "Superman," "SpiderMan 2" and "Batman Begins," leave "Fantastic Four" so far behind that the movie should almost be ashamed to show itself in the same theaters. Roger Ebert Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, he won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism. Now playing Film Credits Fantastic Four 2005 Rated PG-13 for sequences of intense action and some suggestive content 106 minutes Latest blog posts about 8 hours ago about 11 hours ago about 12 hours ago 1 day ago Comments Thereis an awe factor that is inherent to a good superhero film and Fantastic Four is utterly lacking in that sense. Tim Story, the director of the film, is a promising talent; but didn't have theIn the distant annals of movie history there was a film called Fantastic Four, which chronicled the superpowers of five scientists. Following an intergalactic expedition, the quintet found their DNA irreparably transformed. Suddenly, Dr Reed Richards could stretch his limbs to ludicrous lengths, his close friend Ben was mutated into a walking rock face, Sue Storm was able to turn herself invisible and her brother Johnny kept on changing into a flying fireball. That was all of ten years ago and now, in the age of the reboot, it doesn’t seem absurd to revisit the franchise Fantastic Four Rise of the Silver Surfer was released just eight years ago. Thanks to Batman Begins and its abundant successors, reboots have become the norm and are generally darker, more intelligent and less cheesy than their predecessors, while harking back to the origins of their source material. The 2005 Fantastic Four was certainly cheesy and OTT, allowing this latest reboot to be eminently superior. It marks the second directorial outing for Josh Trank, he who was responsible for probably the best found footage thriller,’ Chronicle 2012. Once again Trank has opted for talent over star power, thus staffing his fantasy with genuinely creditable actors Miles Teller, Michael B. Jordan, Kate Mara, Toby Kebbell, Reg E. Cathey. Starting his story in 2007 the year Rise of the Silver Surfer was released, the film shows Reed Richards as an über-nerd schoolboy whose IQ is way above that of his teachers. His school project is teleportation, which seems beyond the comprehension of his peers and professors, although today scientists are beginning to believe in its feasibility, particularly with the advances in graphene application. Of course, this is the fun bit, because bright children who know better are always good for a laugh, and as Reed morphs into the grown-up Miles Teller from Whiplash fame, he proves to a government-sponsored research institute that he might be on to something. And so the preternaturally youthful Teller, Mara, Jordan, Kebbell and Jamie Bell the latter, erstwhile Billy Elliot, now being 29, play with their quantum physics to engaging effect. All this is enormously entertaining, and even vaguely credible, until the second half of the film kicks in and the silliness begins. Just three weeks ago, the Marvel Comic Universe proved with Ant-Man that less could be more, but the new Fantastic Four is bit of a step back. The special effects aren’t even that special by today’s standards and some of the teleportation stuff is more Dr Who than Interstellar. Still, Josh Trank’s universe is not about the CGI, it’s about the ideas, and with a terrific score from Philip Glass and Marco Beltrami, and the actors involved, it holds its own in a very crowded Marvel CAMERON-WILSONCast Miles Teller, Michael B. Jordan, Kate Mara, Jamie Bell, Toby Kebbell, Reg E. Cathey, Tim Blake Nelson, Dan Castellaneta, Chet Josh Trank, Pro Simon Kinberg, Matthew Vaughn, Hutch Parker, Robert Kulzer and Gregory Goodman, Screenplay Jeremy Slater, Simon Kinberg and Josh Trank, Ph Matthew Jensen, Pro Des Chris Seagers, Ed Elliot Greenberg and Stephen Rivkin, Music Marco Beltrami and Philip Glass, Costumes George L. Entertainment/20th Century Fox/Constantin Film/Marv Films/Kinberg Genre/Robert Kulzer Productions/Hutch Parker Entertainment/TSG Entertainment-20th Century mins. USA/UK/Germany. 2015. Rel 6 August 2015. Cert. 12A.
FantasticFour is a film that people wanted to hate from the start. First, there was the controversial casting of Michael B. Jordan as the traditionally white character Johnny Storm; shortly following this was the discovery that Victor Von Doom was a computer hacker instead of a brilliant inventor; finally, there was the casting itself, which involved younger characters just finishing highFantastic Four feels like a 100-minute trailer for a movie that never happens. At this point in the ever-expanding cinematic superhero game, it behooves any filmmakers who gets involved to have at least a mildly fresh take on their characters and material, but this third attempt to create a worthy cinematic franchise from the first of Stan Lee and Jack Kirbys iconic comic book creations, which can genuinely claim to have launched the Age of Marvel, proves maddeningly lame and unimaginative. Die-hard fans will undoubtedly show up, but box-office results for this Fox release will fall far short of what Marvel achieves with its own in-house productions. The stakes are much higher now than when other hands grappled with these characters in the past. A 1994 feature produced by Bernd Eichinger and Roger Corman and directed by Oley Sassone was so cheesy that it never officially saw the light of day, while the two films directed by Tim Story in 2005 and 2007 did well enough but are remembered, if at all, for Jessica Alba. The Bottom Line More like the Unfantastic Four. This time, the reins have been handed to director and co-writer Josh Trank, whose one previous feature was the 2012 “found-footage” thriller Chronicle. Unfortunately, there is no youthful enthusiasm or sense of reinvention evident in this outing. Nothing that Trank and his co-writers Jeremy Slater and Simon Kinberg have come up with does anything to alleviate the feeling that the titular quartet simply don’t constitute very interesting superheroes. Oyster Bay school kid Reed Richards is introduced as a nerdy genius who has essentially built a teleporter in his home out of common equipment, a “bio-matter shuttle” that can transport matter through space. Helping him procure parts is tough-guy neighbor Ben Grimm. Read more Remembering the First Fantastic Four’ Movie No, Not That One His science teacher never appreciates him, but seven years later Reed Miles Teller, slumming for the first time in his sterling young career receives foundation backing to perfect his creation. One waits patiently as more exposition is laid out and further characters are shuffled in There’s deep-voiced project overseer Dr. Franklin Storm Reg E. Cathey, his car-happy son, Johnny Michael B. Jordan, who looks like he’d be happier in a Fast & Furious installment; Storm’s adopted daughter, Sue Kate Mara, a master technician who spends most of her time in front of a screen; grown-up Ben Jamie Bell; moody malcontent science genius Victor Von Doom Toby Kebbell; and agency boss Dr. Allen Tim Blake Nelson, who backs the construction of a machine designed to zap them all to another dimension and allows a multimanned mission after just one test run involving a chimpanzee. The chimp, in fact, comes back in fine shape, but no such luck for the human pioneers, who make it to a barren, rocky land of unknown location or identity, plant the flag, and are subsequently engulfed by a green energy field that gives them all strange powers — or at least distinct new characteristics Reed develops elastic, ever-stretchable limbs, and Johnny can turn into a flaming meteor, so count them lucky compared to Ben, whose new rocky body mass makes him a cousin of the Hulk with a more mottled complexion. And then there’s Victor Von Doom, who must live up to his name by going over to the dark side. Sue is forced to stay home and must ultimately move among the other characters in a large, transparent bubble straight out of The Wizard of Oz. All of this takes at least an hour, and it’s build-up to …nothing at all. A sense of heaviness, gloom and complete disappointment settles in during the second half, as the mundane setup pays no dramatic or sensory dividends whatsoever. Even if lip-service is paid to some great threat to life on Earth as we know it, the filmmakers bring nothing new to the formula, resulting in a film that’s all wind-up and no delivery. The fact that the writers couldn’t think of anything interesting to do with these characters in this first series reboot does not bode well for any potential excitement in a sequel. Read more Fantastic Four’ The Most Marvel Superheroes of All Beginning with Teller and Jordan, who have done such promising early work, the cast is utterly wasted here with mostly rote explanatory dialogue and little conflict or nuance to work on a dramatic level. And the visual style is in a dark, unattractive, gloomy mode that infects every aspect of the film. Near the end, Teller’s Reed comments on the status of the group’s actions by proclaiming, “We opened this door, we’re gonna close it.” The sooner the better. Production Marv Films, Kinberg Genre, Robert Kulzer Productions Cast Miles Teller, Michael B. Jordan, Kate Mara, Jamie Bell, Toby Kebbell, Reg E. Cathey, Tim Blake Nelson, Tim Heidecker Director Josh Trank Screenwriters Jeremy Slater, Simon Kinberg, Josh Trank Producers Simon Kinberg, Matthew Vaughn, Hutch Parker, Robert Kulzer, Gregory Goodman Executive producer Stan Lee Director of photography Matthew Jensen Production designer Chris Seagers Costume designer George L. Little Editors Elliot Greenberg, Stephen Rivkin Music Marco Beltrami, Philip Glass Visual effects supervisor James E Price Casting Ronna Kress Rated PG-13, 100 minutes FantasticFour is a film very much out of time and place in today's market of superhero movies. Ten or fifteen years ago a studio might have been able to get away with it but not today. Audiences like to be entertained and with the competition offering much more excitement, I don't see audiences taking to this, at all.
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