George Taylor
Back in the late 1980's and early 1990's Marvel was selling the rights to it's characters to virtually anyone. The rights to Marvel's first family fell into the hands of schlockmeister extraordinary Roger Corman (I mean that in a nice way). The result: A 12$ budget doesn't work. The Think looked alright, but the rest of the FF is mostly animated - especially the Torch. Put your hands over your mouth and speak - that's the Thing and Doctor Doom (who at least looked far better than he did in either of the other movies). But overall this is a tedious exercise in how to make a crappy movie. It's as bad as the Captain America's of the 1970's and 1990's.
EitoMan
This film has a crazy history, but if you put that aside and judge it as a superhero film made on a budget it is great. This movie comes from a time before superhero films had budgets over $100,000,000 and back when comic books were still aimed primarily at kids. It's a simple origin story that stays pretty true to the comic book. The FX can be kind of goofy (except for The Thing, which overall looks awesome). The acting is solid as is the directing, music, and script. If you're a jerk and like belittling cheap genre movies, then you'll probably have a field day with this movie since it literally had 1/100th the budget of modern comic-book films...but I think it's entertaining and fun. The folks who made it did a good job.
americaowe
This is still the best of all the Fantastic Four movies made so far. It had a tiny budget but still was more fun to watch then the other newer three Fantastic Four movies all put together. The best scene is that of Doctor Doom sitting on his throne, surrounded by flaming torches and laughing uncontrollably as if he had lost his mind. This scene is considered one of the best scenes ever shot among all comic book movies. You know, a few years ago George Lucas admitted he copied the Star Wars characters from the Fantastic FOUR: Hans Solo was Reed Richards, the brother and sister Leah and Luke were Johnny and sue ,the Thing was the Wookie and you have only to look at Darth Vader to realize he was copied of Doctor Doom. I realized that back when Star Wars premiered in the movie theaters in the 1970's. My dream back then and now was to have Lucas direct a Fantastic Four movie, not these losers who directed the last three bombs.
tomgillespie2002
Reed Richards (Alex Hyde-White) and Victor Von Doom (Joseph Culp) are University friends who decide, with the arrival of comet Colossus imminent, it is the perfect time to try their long-planned experiment. Naturally, things go wrong and it appears that Von Doom is killed in the accident. Years later, Richards and his friend Ben Grimm (Michael Bailey Smith) venture into space as the same comet passes again, this time with their old friends Sue (Rebecca Staab) and Johnny Storm (Jay Underwood). Again, things go wrong, as the diamond that was going to be used in the experiment has been stolen and swapped by a thief, and the four crash back to Earth with new superpowers.Well, where to start? The fact that this film is still unavailable practically anywhere (it was even ignored in the obligatory cash-in release when the big-budget 2005 version hit the theatres) speaks volumes about its quality. Stan Lee admitted that the film was never intended for release, and that the film was only made due to the fact that their rights to make a film were running out. And so we have this colossally and diabolically awful s**t-stain of an excuse of a movie, utterly amateurish in every imaginable way. It's a film that the Sci-Fi (sorry, Sy Fy) channel would be proud of (or not).The main distraction is the ridiculous sub-plot, which has The Jeweller (Ian Trigger), the thief of the diamond (which he just walks in and picks it up, by the way), kidnap a blind sculptor who after a 10-second meeting with a pre-Thing Grimm, falls in love with him. It's one of those what-the-f**k moments that causes you to wonder where the script- writers got the crack they've obviously been smoking from. It constantly takes the action away from the Four and makes the film all the more tedious. And it's the most laughable use of a blind female sculptor since Lionel Ritchie's music video for Hello.The film is full of these moments, really. One that stuck with me the most was how Reed and Grimm, preparing for their trip into space, simply drop by the Storm's to ask them if they'd like to, y'know, come up into space. Not that it needs any training or anything. The Four themselves (with the exception of The Thing), once transformed are really quite awful. If you've ever seen Master of the Flying Guillotine (1976) and the guy with the extendible arms in that, then you'll have an idea about Reed's power. If you've not, then I'll tell you, it looks s**t. The Human Torch actually turns into a strange cartoon-computer effect hybrid at one point as if the film-makers just couldn't be a***d anymore, and the invisible one (whatever she's called), well, can't be seen, so they get away with it. The effects guys must have put all their money into the Thing's costume as it's actually quite good.Apart from the Thing's costume, I fail to think of anything remotely good or even average about this film. It's just awful. Dr. Doom's costume is so amateurish, he looks like an S&M-loving, gay Robin Hood hybrid. And you can't tell what he's saying half the time. Shame on you, Roger Corman. But saying that, the 1994 film is no less heartless or emotionless as the 2005 version, which was only slightly rescued by a big budget and a good performance by Chris Evans. Apart from that, also very s**t.
