Fantastic Four

____

By Todd Karella
July 8, 2005

Original Story Synopsis:

After four astronauts are exposed to radiation while on a mission in space, they return to Earth only to find they each have unique super powers.

Movie-Pix Best Guess:

So far, the production photos being released look incredible.

It's also being done by the same people who brought X-men to the big screen, making it one of the most anticipated films of 2005

Movie-Pix Hit or Miss

Best Guess Results:

While most of the big-named critics are panning this film, Movie-Pix is the only one to have the guts to say this film is good.

A fun film for comic book fans who can sit back and enjoy the ride. Great special effects with a great cast.

Sometimes film critics are way out of touch with reality and the general public as they have no clue what a film is about. This is one of those cases.
A perfect example is some critics are even comparing it to The Incredibles. The Fantastic Four has been around since the 1960s, and The Incredibles came out in 2004. Now who's copying who???????
The Fantastic Four was never a serious comic like Batman or the X-men, and not a human soap opera like Spider-Man. They were more light hearted and fun, and the film shows the way the comic was meant to be.

As with most screen adaptations, there were some liberties taken with the story. Sue Storm (Jessica Alba) and Reed Richards (Ioan Gruffudd) were considerably older in the comics, Dr. Doom (Julian McMahon) had a different origin, and the reason for their accidental exposure to radiation was changed as well. None of these changes had any negative impact on the film as the basic story and feel of the movie stays true to the original.
Richards is the scientific genius of his time. He's so smart that his theories sound a little bizarre and

his focus is spent on science and not on the running of his business or on his social skills. The latter costing him the love of his life, Sue.
Sue has moved on with her life and is working with Victor Von Doom (McMahon), who also happens to be Reed's biggest rival.

With his company failing and nobody else willing to back his latest venture, Reed turns to Victor, the one man who has both the capital and the knowledge to appreciate his idea. The idea is to fly out into space and examine a radiation cloud, a cloud that Reed believes altered the DNA and enhanced evolutionary development of every living creature on Earth the last time it passed by millions of years ago.
Victor agrees to go along with the plan but he's going and taking both Sue and her younger brother Johnny (Chris Evans) along as the pilot. Reed agrees and brings along his own pilot and best friend, Ben Grimm (Michael Chiklis).
While they are in space, something goes wrong. The radiation cloud has accelerated and arrives sooner than they had calculated. They have no time to bring up the shields and protect themselves and are bombarded by the DNA altering radiation.
At first nothing appears to have changed, but slowly the begin to realize that each of them has special powers.
Johnny can conjure up fire as he slowly turn into The Human Torch. Sue becomes known as The Invisible Girl as she can manipulate light waves and create force fields. Reed is Mr. Fantastic and can stretch his body as if it were made of plastic. Ben has the most dramatic change as his entire body turns to stone and gives him incredible strength and invincibility along with the nickname The Thing.
The majority of the film is spent on the Fantastic Four discovering their powers and learning how to function as a group. While most of the others are accepting of their powers Ben is hardest hit as his transformation has permanently changed his appearance and made him frightening, even to his own wife.

Being too busy with their own problems, they don't notice that Victor is having his own issues. His body is slowly turning to metal and he can control electricity.
As Victor's company begins to crumble from the fallout of their failure on their expedition, he slowly loses his sanity and his desire for more power becomes an obsession.
Now not only do the Fantastic Four have to figure out what to do with their powers, but the must also figure out how to stop a super villian bent on their destruction.
The final battle is amazing and the special effects are incredible throughout. It's just a fun film with lots of action and humor.

~Simply Fantastic~

Rated PG-13