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List Price: $14.98 | | Label: 20th Century Fox
Salesrank: 5566
Released: December 6, 2005 |
| Our Price: $2.90 |
| Used Price: $0.25 |
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MPAA Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
Jessica Alba, Chris Evans and Michael Chiklis head a sexy, star-powered cast in this explosive adventure about a quartet of flawed, ordinary human beings who suddenly find themselves with extraordinary abilities.
After exposure to cosmic radiation, four astronauts become the most remarkable, if dysfunctional, superheroes of all time. Unfortunately, the mission's sponsor has also been transformed ? into the world's most lethal supervillain ? setting the stage for a confrontation of epic proportions. Packed with nonstop action, big laughs and awesome special effects, Fantastic 4 is "powerful fun" (The Baltimore Sun) from start to finish!
Description of Fantastic Four (Widescreen 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 principal extra on the DVD is a spirited commentary track by Jessica Alba, Michael Chiklis, and Ioan Gruffud. Self-avowed FF fan Chiklis explains why the Thing doesn't have a craggy brow, Alba recalls which things were "cool," and they talk about looking forward to the sequel. There are three short deleted scenes (including a goofy Wolverine reference), 20 minutes of barely watchable hand-held video footage from the press tour, music videos, and some short featurettes including an appearance by FF creator Stan Lee. --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 (Widescreen 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?)
