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List Price: $26.98 | | Label: 20th Century Fox
Salesrank: 37717
Released: June 5, 2007 |
| Our Price: $11.13 |
| Used Price: $3.81 |
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MPAA Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
Prepare for the all-new, action-packed Fantastic Four 2-Disc Extended Edition. Bursting with hours and hours of bonus material including an exclusive 100 minute "Making of" featurette and an Inside Look at Fantastic Four 2, this Extended Edition also features 20 minutes of footage added back into the film.
Description of Fantastic Four - Extended Cut (Two-Disc Special Edition):
Marvel Comics' first family of superherodom, the Fantastic Four, hits the big screen in a light-hearted and funny adventure. It begins when down-on-his-luck genius Reed Richards (Ioan Gruffudd, Horatio Hornblower) has to enlist the financial and intellectual help from former schoolmate and rival Victor Von Doom (Julian McMahon, Nip/Tuck) in order to pursue outer-space research into human DNA. Also on the trip are Reed's best friend, Ben Grimm (Michael Chiklis, The Shield); his former lover, Sue Storm (Jessica Alba, Dark Angel, Sin City), who's now Doom's employee and love interest; and her hotshot-pilot brother, Johnny Storm (Chris Evans, Cellular). Things don't go as planned, of course, and the quartet becomes blessed--or is it cursed?--with superhuman powers: flexibility, brute strength, invisibility and projecting force fields, and bursting into flame. Meanwhile, Doom himself is undergoing a transformation.
Among the many entries in the comic-book-movie frenzy, Fantastic Four is refreshing because it doesn't take itself too seriously. Characterization isn't too deep, and the action is a bit sparse until the final reel (like most "first" superhero movies, it has to go through the "how did we get these powers and what we will do with them" churn). But it's a good-looking cast, and original comic-book cocreator Stan Lee makes his most significant Marvel-movie cameo yet, in a speaking role as the FF's steadfast postal carrier, Willie Lumpkin. Newcomers to superhero movies might find the idea of a family with flexibility, strength, invisibility, and force fields a retread of The Incredibles, but Pixar's animated film was very much a tribute to the FF and other heroes of the last 40 years. The irony is that while Fantastic Four is an enjoyable B-grade movie, it's the tribute, The Incredibles, that turned out to be a film for the ages. --David Horiuchi
On the DVD
The Fantastic Four two-disc extended-cut edition is the DVD that should have come out first. But if you did buy the original edition, you don't need it any more because this version has both the extended cut and the theatrical cut with the same commentary by Ioan Gruffudd, Jessica Alba, and Michael Chiklis. If you enjoyed the film, you'll probably like the extended cut as well, since it adds 20 minutes to the relatively short 106-minute running time. The new and extended scenes (which are also viewable separately) are mostly character interplay--Sue/Reed, Sue/Victor, Ben-Alicia (with a glimpse at a possible future villain)--plus some gags like Johnny heating up an elevator. The new cut has a new commentary by director Tim Story, producers Avi Arad and Kevin Feige, and screenwriters Michael France and Mark Frost, though they choose to talk about producing the film and not the new material. The second disc is practically worth the price of admission, with two hourlong documentaries. One is the history of the FF comic book decade by decade, with interviews of Stan Lee, Joe Sinnott, Walter Simonson, Len Wein, Marv Wolfman, Alex Ross, and Jim Lee (John Byrne is discussed but not interviewed). The second focuses on master artist Jack Kirby, including his work from the '40s on, life, work style, personal style, and far-reaching influence. The interviewees include many of the same from the other documentary, plus Neal Adams, Barry Windsor-Smith, and Kirby's kids, assistants, and friends. More featurettes and still galleries of costumes and memorabilia fill out the disc. --David Horiuchi
The Fantastic Four at Amazon.com
Comics and Graphic Novels | 
Disney animated series | 
The classic comic book |
Movie tie-in graphic novel | 
The Xbox game | 
Fantastic Four Soundtrack |
The Fantastic Cast
Stills from Fantastic Four (click for larger images)
Fantastic Four - Extended Cut (Two-Disc Special Edition) Reviews:
Fantastic Flick -- Nicely Done for Marvel's First Family! 
2009-11-08 - I got to see this film again as a rerun on cable, and must say it holds the same charm for me as it did at it's opening. Reed Richards is a science geek and a dork and Victor is a wise guy who thinks he owns the world, both out to get the love of Sue Storm (played deliciously by Jessica Alba).
With origin stories in comics there is a pretty fast few pages and panels that explain what's going on and it's done. For a movie though they need to flesh out the characters which I feel they did here.
The space scene where Ben is outside and about to get fried and Victor wants to keep him out there shows who we're dealing with in Victor. All five get powers from the storm (a deviation from the original comics story but that's fine).
The action scenes include fights with Von Doom and a lot of falling, water, fire and even guided missles in the works.
What works for me in this film are the character development, including the tension of relationships not only between themselves but between themselves and the media. The media and fans and fads are put into a pretty bright spotlight here. Not only a comic book movie but one that relates a message about people as social beings.
Not your usual shoot-em-up sci-fi film.
"Silver Surfer" was in a lot of ways the better film but we needed Fantastic Four to lay the groundwork. Hopefully there will be a third film soon. Great cast. I especially liked how they handled the blind Alicia (the Thing's girlfriend).
Fantastic Four - Rise of the Silver Surfer
Kind of cheesy
2009-09-16 - It really is a cheesy movie, but I still like it. My kids, especially my 6 year old son, love the "thing". :)
Okay, but not good. Far from 'fantastic' 
2009-08-13 - This bland, forgettable movie is just shy of being bad. The movie's two main problems are that it is too short and the main heroes do more fighting with each other than the enemy. The movie ends just when its about to get good, and that left stale taste in my mouth.
Since the release of Marvel movies such as Spider-Man and X-Men, I have looked forward to these kinds of movies hoping that they would raise the bar. This lowers it. I don't have anything else to say about this movie mostly because there's nothing really to talk about. All in all, this movie was average at best.
Fantastic Four 
2009-08-04 - For all the Fantastic Four fans out there this is a must watch. Very good video effects and great action scenes. Not to mention Jessica Alba really made this movie worth watching too.
comic book
2009-07-22 - This movie is the origin of the Fantastic Four. There is not much plot, character development or even coherence. However, by turning off my mind and just watching, it was quite enjoyable. All the basic elements of a comic book movie are in place. The discovery of the powers is entertaining. The actual "battle with the bad guy" seems tacked in at the end. (But, who would doubt that the character named "doom" would end up being the bad guy?)
