Very Cool!!!

Pretty Good

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Marvel's Fantastic Four has had three live action adaptations. Many however don't know of the earlier low budget attempt at bringing the group to the screen. This is partly due to it never being officially released…Constantin Films bought a ten year option for the rights to Marvel Comics. Since the ten year option was coming to an end, they quickly put together an adaptation of the Fantastic Four. Marvel, when seeing the film, were displeased and presumably destroyed the film prints and negative.Despite its low budget nature, this is honestly my preferred version of the Fantastic Four. The 2005 version is fun but flawed and don't get me started on the horrid 2015 'Fant4stic'. This one is closer to the comics and feels like a comic book film. It may be cheesy and quite lame at times, but it always kept me entertained.

Today, movies based on comic book superheroes are all the rage. They are routinely some of the biggest blockbusters of the year and several recent superhero flicks are among the highest grossing films of all time. But this was not always so. For a while, comic book heroes were relegated to cheap serials and B pictures, along with made-for-TV movies.SUPERMAN: THE MOVIE (1978) was a "real" movie: an A picture with a Hollywood-sized budget and a cast of name actors. Tim Burton's BATMAN (1989) was another "real" movie based on a comic book superhero. Both films spawned successful franchises, bringing the fantasy world of DC Comics to life on the big screen. But in the early '90s, it seemed that comic book properties (outside of Batman, that is) were still largely considered niche fare, worthy only of low-budget productions aimed at children (the perceived comic book-reading community). Marvel Comics did not have the kind of success enjoyed by rival DC. While Superman and Batman had been brought to the screen courtesy of Warner Bros., Marvel's characters were licensed out to small-time studios. A planned Spider-Man film fell through in the late '80s and a low-budget Captain America film was released direct-to-video in 1990.Which brings us to THE FANTASTIC FOUR (1994). If comic book movies were thought to be too goofy or weird for mainstream, big-budget productions, then I guess THE FANTASTIC FOUR is the perfect low-budget, cheesy superhero movie. The film remains true to the comics with regard to the colorful costumes and the characters. (Evidently there was little concern in these movies to "adapt" the source material for mainstream consumption.) The special effects aren't too fancy, but it's interesting to see how the filmmakers make do with what they've got in order to tell their story.The movie tells the origin of Marvel Comics' First Family. An outer space mishap leaves four individuals with extraordinary abilities. Dr. Reed Richards ("Mr. Fantastic") can stretch his body like a rubber band. Sue Storm ("The Invisible Girl") can become invisible. Johnny Storm ("Human Torch") can conjure flames. Ben Grimm ("The Thing") has a rocklike exterior and super-strength. They must battle Dr. Doom, a hooded megalomaniac who wants to harness the secret to their powers.Rebecca Staab is too cute as Sue Storm (and in that blue spandex... wowsers). Joseph Culp hams it up to a high degree as Dr. Doom. His face hidden behind a metal mask, Doom takes to wild gesticulations and his booming dialogue is amusingly over-the-top. Jay Underwood, looking like Armie Hammer's long-lost older brother, plays the fiery-tempered Johnny Storm, who mainly shoots fire out of his hand. He doesn't realize his full "Human Torch" potential until the climax, when the producers shell out for some early CGI. The animatronic Thing mask is rather impressive, despite some lip-sync limitations. Of all the superpowers portrayed in the film, Reed Richards's stretchy effects are the most awkward.It's nice to see Reed Richards (Alex Hyde-White) portrayed as maybe a half-generation older than Sue and Johnny. Reed knew Sue when she was a kid and he was a college student. A decade later, Reed is a big-time scientist, complete with (somewhat ridiculous) gray temples and Sue and Johnny are grown-up enough to go with him on a space mission. Ben (Michael Bailey Smith), Reed's jock buddy from college, is the pilot.In this story, Reed Richards and Doom were college eggheads together before the accident that led Doom down his sinister path. Reed blames himself for his friend's apparent death, while Doom seeks revenge by sabotaging Reed's later expedition. In the ten-year gap Doom has somehow become the iron-fisted ruler of some foreign domain, living in a mountaintop castle and everything.A secondary villain, the Jeweler (Ian Trigger), leads an underground society of social outcasts. He has a poetic soul and serves as an interesting contrast to Doom.I'm only casually familiar with "Fantastic Four" comic book continuity, but this 1994 movie hits some right notes. The romance between Reed and Sue, starting as a schoolgirl crush on a mentor figure. The love story between the monstrously disfigured Ben Grimm and the blind Alicia Masters. The blue and white costumes (sewn apparently out of thin air by Sue Storm on a lazy afternoon at the Baxter Building). There's even an appearance by the Fantasticar.The film never mentions the heroes' well-known comic book nicknames, but in one particularly corny scene the team is given its "Fantastic Four" moniker. The movie also posits the theory that the cosmic rays that transformed them delved into their psyches and turned their personal weaknesses into their greatest strengths (shy violet Sue Storm has the ability to disappear, etc.). I don't know if this comes from the comic book origins, but the pseudoscientific explanation allows the film to move on to more important things.As a low-budget superhero romp, THE FANTASTIC FOUR goes down easy. It's not the polished studio blockbuster that we've come to expect from comic book movies, but it's a faithful adaptation on a small scale. A quaint little movie with a lot of heart. Somewhat tragically, the film was never intended to be released, unbeknownst to the cast and crew. All their hard work for nothing. Luckily the movie has found its way out into the world and can be tracked down by those interested in giving it a shot.

I just watched this tonight. I thought I'd be watching one of those "so bad that it's good" movies - but no, it was quite good, especially considering this was never intended to be released and this made this with 1.5M. Some people can't even build a house with 1.5M.It was just fun. The acting was nothing special but it wasn't bad. To me this movie is much more faithful to the cartoon show I used to watch when I was a kid than the 2005+ versions. OK, some elements are simply ridiculous but it was like that too in the cartoon i.e. bending the physics of things a little bit i.e. laser beam - read the trivia. And what the hell was that "Jeweler" subplot? Who cares. I couldn't help but laugh when their spaceship explodes in space yet they fall down to earth like other debris. Indestructible 4!! Some things they got right include the Fantastic 4 suits - spot on exactly like in the cartoon, with collar and blue - nice. Ben, the Thing is real funny, they got the rock-look good but he's too small - even smaller than Reeds and with tiny arms - and looks like a cross between a monkey and a lizard from "V", yet when he's in human form he's this real buff guy, much bigger than Reeds loll. I really like the fire effect with the Torch, once again closer to the cartoon from back in the days, unfortunately we only get to see the Torch in all his splendor in the end of the movie. I think what is really accurate is Victor aka Dr Doom... he really has those weird funky gestures and that evil insane laugh and jokes - sadly sometimes the sound is poor due to trying to use the guy's voice with the helmet without any rerecording so its muffled loll. The mask itself is accurate and the overall impression is good.I give it 6 or anything over the 2005+ versions. Imagine if you had given 100M+ to these guys!!! Most likely it would have ruined it. Yep, nice entertainment for 1.5M. This could be cult - the studio should release it in theatres as it never was... I dare you Hollywood!!! Release and see if you can make more than 1.5M with this. I double-dare you!!!

This film reminded me highly of a late 70s or early 80s superhero adaptation. Special effects were cheap for the time it was filmed, but seemed perfectly fine for a direct to TV or direct to video release. I don't even know if it would have done that bad at the box office, if you were looking for a fair adaptation and weren't concerned about special effects and big budges the movie was otherwise perfectly fine. Wouldn't have pulled in $200 million but would surely have earned more than it cost to make. Actors acted their parts fairly well and were fairly believable. There are moments of comic relief. I watched this in its entirety last night expecting to turn it off, and about halfway through I realized it really wasn't bad. It was interesting enough to keep me watching. The added cheapness of some of its aspects had a certain charm about it. If it weren't for the cheapness of the special effects it was otherwise filmed well enough to suggest it would have cost more than its budget. I let my 11 year old stepson watch it this morning and he didn't thing it was bad either. At least worthy of a DVD release, its not bad enough to hide away in a vault somewhere. The musical score isn't bad either.