almost fantastic (The Fantastic Four [1994] (DVD))

Member Name: stevepeto

Product:	The Fantastic Four [1994] (DVD)
Date:	12/03/09 (238 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: good action film, special effects

Disadvantages: purists maybe upset

>>> Movie: <<<
There is a storm coming, as Reed Richards (Ioan Gruffudd); a brilliant but bankrupt scientist and his friend Ben Grimm (Michael Chiklis) explains to old school "friend" Victor Doom (Julian McMahon). Reed wants Doom to fund an expedition, as well as provide his space station in order to study this storm which may give clues about the very birth of mankind. Doom agrees, but only after fleecing Reed for a massive percentage of any profits as well as a place on the trip for himself and Susan Storm (Jessica Alba) who also happens to be Reeds ex-girlfriend, and her brother Johnny Storm (Chris Evans).

After being introduced to characters, the mission gets under way. But we quickly find out that a miscalculation in the plan means that everyone gets exposed to massive amounts of radiation from the storm; and so the Fantastic Four (Mr. Fantastic, the Invisible Woman, the Human Torch and the Thing) are born, as well as new arch villain Dr Doom.

Initially I had been told lots of bad things about the Fantastic 4 film. That it was not worth seeing. That it was a lemon of a film, and that it was not a true depiction of the Fantastic Four characters from the comics. The last of these reasons (to me) would not be very high on my reasons for not seeing the film as I had not read any of the comics and so I didn't know the true story of the characters, also this was a theatrical release and so would probably upset the purists anyway no matter how it was done. However I was still not completely confident when I inserted the disk. But how did it fair?

I must say I was pleasantly surprised by the film and the different "take" it had on the other superhero films I have seen such as The Hulk, Spiderman, and Batman etc. Whereas these other Superhero's have a lot of inner turmoil and angst it is not (with the exception of Ben Grimm (The Thing)) brought to play in this movie. In fact they all pretty much take their new powers in their stride. Whilst I have read that one of the downfalls of the movie is because their new powers do not seem to phase them in any way we have to remember that this is a action/adventure superhero movie, not a delve into the physiological effects of having a mind blowing "super power" thrust upon them.

When back on Earth and their transformations and changes become more apparent, Reed works tirelessly to try and find a cure, In the meantime Victor Doom starts turning into the bad guy and predictably the good Vs evil battle begins and soon their paths cross.

Tim Story the director has allowed the characters to have a bit of fun with the roles, there is humour scattered throughout the film by way of quips from all of the main people. The special effects are decent too, the view from the space station when Victor is talking to Susan as is the storm when it hits the space station for example give us a great preview into what is to come further into the film. The characters too are for the most part very good. The human torch effects I think are probably the best although It may fall down a little with Grimm's, The Thing looking like he is in a rubber suit some of the time, but at the same time I am glad they didn't resort to a CGI thing, that would have been worse.

Also, unlike most other superhero films the public seem to love them, Rather than seeing them as "the bad guys". Whilst there are a few moments in the film that seemed "wrong" (Ben Grimm's girlfriend leaving the house is very risqué garments, for example these were not overbearing to the point of spoiling the movie completely. After all, my son said the film was "much better and much funnier than the Hulk".

>>> Picture: <<<
Presented in Widescreen 2.35:1 Anamorphic, the picture is a joy to behold. It came across as amazingly sharp and detailed with various hues of colour being used for different scenes within the film. A couple of cases of edge enhancement cropped but, but these were minor. I felt it was definitely up there in terms of best picture quality.

>>> Sound: <<<
Audio tracks available are English Dolby Digital 5.1 and 5.1 DTS. I watched the DTS version this time and was quite impressive. It was loud. To the point where I had the turn the Db down on the sub woofer a tad. Use of rears was more pronounced in the later half of the movie.

>>> Extras <<<
Please note that I received only disk one of the 2 disk set and so I cannot comment on the disc 2 extras .

*** Disc 1: ***
On entering the special features section you get the choice of:

*** Cast Commentary: ***
Which is an audio commentary from cast members Ioan Grufford, Jessica Alba, Chris Evans, Michael Chiklis and Julian McMahon: I think what Is different about a commentary about a commentary from the actors rather than from the director or screenwriter etc is that you get little snippets about the movie that you would never learn if it had been given by the other people. Fairly interesting commentary, if you like watching that sort of thing.

*** 'The Fantastic Tour': ***
A handheld mini tour from Jessica Alba with interviews with the rest of the cast. Lots of jerky camera action which is a tad annoying however it is a different take on most of the "making of's" or "behind the scenes" that I've seen before. And whilst giving no insight into the actual technical aspects of making the film, it does give an appreciation into the promotion of a movie once it is made.

*** Music Videos: ***
'Everything Burns' music video
Anastasia and Ben Moody video from a song featured in the film.

*** 'Come On, Come In' music video ***
Velvet revolver's video from a song featured in the film.

*** Music soundtrack spot ***
A plug for the film soundtrack available as an album.

*** Inside Look: ***
X-Men 3': Fantastic Four and X-Men 3 producer Avi Arad walks us through X-men 3.

>>> Disc 2: <<<
'Heroes Are Born - The Making Of Fantastic Four':
A feature length "making of" covering each of the main characters and scenes.

*** 'The Baxter Building -Declassified': ***
The film's associate producer David Groder takes us around the art deco home of the Fantastic Four team. He guides us around the set and describes the key elements, with cutaways to the movie scenes showing how they appeared on the big screen.

*** Animatic comparison: ***
Computer animation side by side with final finished film element.

*** Deleted scenes: ***
Scenes that didn't make it to the final cut of the film, including one where Mr. Fantastic morphs into Wolverine as Sue Storm describes her perfect man!
'The Making of Fantastic Four': a fun and fast paced featurette introducing the franchise and characters, touching upon their powers and the special effects
'Fantastic Four -Making a Scene': a detailed guide to the creation of special effects used for a scene in the movie.

'Fantastic Four - Casting Session':
A collection of audition sessions involving each of the final cast members shot during pre-production of the film.

*** Theatrical teaser trailer. ***

*** Theatrical trailer. ***

*** TV spots. ***

Disc 2 subtitles:
English, French, Dutch, Italian, Spanish, Danish, Finnish, Norwegian, Swedish, Greek, Portuguese, Polish, Czech, Turkish, Russian

© This review is entirely my own work but may have been cross posted elsewhere. MAY also be published under the name sjp1966 on Ciao UK and Ciao US and also under sjp1966 on the Digital Lard website to which I am a contributor, as well as cross posted to IMDB external reviews, and possibly other places too.

Summary: an enjoyable 1st outing for the four, but may not appeal to die hard fans