Rating of
1/4
Incompetent yet strangely endearing effort
Indyfreak - wrote on 06/04/25
This might be the best iteration of the Fantastic Four....on paper. The script is campy for sure and the acting is quite hammy. But with a proper budget and a far superior director at the helm, they would had done something quite interesting. Instead of just this morbidly weird curiosity.
The cast is commendable for taking the material as serious as they did. Alex-Hyde White displays the keen intellect as Reed Richards. Joseph Culp is wonderfully theatrical as Doctor Doom. Rebecca Staab is quite charming as Invisible Woman. Jay Underwood is appropriately immature as Human Torch. Michael Bailey Smith brings much needed humanity as the Thing.
Speaking of whom, his costume is terrific for the little budget they had available. And that brings us to the main problem with this movie. It is very cheap and it sadly looks very cheap.
For something made on a $1M budget in 1994, it looks at least ten years older. No doubt thanks to the shoddy cinematography. For a fairly lighthearted and whimsical superhero movie, it looks gritty and dark much of the time.
The action scenes are pretty cheesy. But there is a surprising body count. The animation effects for Human Torch are laughable. The stretching abilities for Mr. Fantastic are poor. Honestly, I am willing to give the invisibility scenes for Sue Storm a pass. It looks okay for the time.
Another thing I would like to give praise when it is due is for the musical score. It is very memorable and I mean that as a genuine compliment. It does feel a bit John Williams-lite at times. But the result is quite good.
The sad part is this movie did not have to turn out this way. If it got a real studio budget and actual talent behind the camera, all the work put forth by the actors would had been worth it.
