Fantastic Four (2005) + Extended Edition

Following the merger between Disney and 20^th Century Fox, several Marvel properties and characters previously licensed by Fox are now scheduled to make their way into the MCU. Following Deadpool & Wolverine, 2025 seems dedicated to reintroducing the Fantastic Four for the third time, with Dr. Doom appearing in the upcoming Avengers: Doomsday, followed by the team’s first solo film in 10 years, The Fantastic Four: First Steps. Though our interest in the MCU itself has waned, in anticipation of this upcoming release, we still thought it appropriate to look back the first attempt to bring the Fantastic Four to the big screen (not counting the shelved 1994 film) in 2005, simply titled Fantastic Four. While the film generally holds up pretty decently after 20 years, it still shows its age in some respects.

Reed Richards (Ioan Gruffudd) and his friend Ben Grimm (Michael Chiklis) convince Von Doom Industries CEO Victor Von Doom (Julian McMahon) to fund a trip into space to study cosmic energy, with a crew consisting of the three of them along with Susan Storm (Jessica Alba), Von Doom’s chief genetics researcher, and her brother Johnny Storm (Chris Evans). After being exposed to a cosmic storm and recovering on Earth, all five of them experience changes in their bodies that grant them supernatural abilities. Reed, Ben, Susan and Johnny find themselves labeled heroes in the public eye after an incident on the Brooklyn Bridge, while Victor blames Reed for the mission’s failure and plots his revenge.

 

Susan Storm (Jessica Alba), Reed Richards (Ioan Gruffudd), Johnny Storm (Chris
Evans) and Ben Grimm (Michael Chiklis) are thrust into the spotlight after a
cosmic storm alters their bodies in unexpected ways

The plot structure is a little basic, but this arguably helps in balancing five characters and giving each of them enough screen time for their own arcs. Unlike the 2015 reboot, the setup for how they gain their powers is efficient, even including some clever foreshadowing to what they end up being through dialogue, allowing more time to see the characters use and develop them. It does, however, drag a little in the second act as a result, primarily in working through Reed/Mr. Fantastic and Susan/The Invisible Woman’s romance subplot. There’s also a subplot involving Ben/The Things’s own love life that feels a little wonky at the start, as while his wife is understandably shocked by his appearance, the fact that she divorces him even after seeing him use his powers to save people felt a bit abrupt. Refreshingly, in contrast to many modern superhero films, collateral damage is kept to a minimum and the final battle is largely confined to an intersection, though the ending teases a follow-up that never comes due to the failure of its sequel. While modern audiences may also take issue with some of Johnny/The Human Torch’s womanizing antics, this behavior is in-line with his more brash portrayal in this film and was a character type not uncommon in film at the time of its release.

While computer effects are thankfully kept to a minimum, what was once impressive when it first came out is now showing it age. This is especially evident with Mr. Fantastic’s stretching and The Human Torch’s flames, the latter making it obvious when the actor has been swapped out for a CG model. By contrast, the practical effects have held up amazingly well, especially the ones used for The Thing, which give the character more physicality and weight than even some of the most convincing CGI characters in more recent Marvel films. The costume designs also get credit for being as comics-accurate as possible for the time, opting for darker shades of the same colors to blend in better without resorting to pure black as in the early X-Men films.

 

While more muted, the costumes still have comics-accurate color schemes.

 

Though product placement is present throughout the movie, it is worked in very organically and in appropriate places where you would expect an ad to be (ex. the side of a bus) without being shoved in your face. One particular sequence in the second act involves Johnny Storm participating in a Motocross event, which features loads of corporate logos and a usage of a Burger King ad that was perhaps a little too “cute”, however such an event is where one would naturally expect such product placement to be, so I saw this as more of a non-issue.

Regardless of the film’s quality, one interesting aspect is its casting. While the characters are well-cast overall, Michael Chiklis was notably the only one of the main actors to have been a fan of the comics beforehand, which shows through in his portrayal of The Thing. In hindsight, the most notable casting choice is Chris Evans, whose biggest roles until 2011 were Johnny Storm in the Fantastic Four duology and Lucas Lee in Scott Pilgrim vs. The World. Since 2011, he is best known for his portrayal of Captain America in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, making it more interesting to see how well a younger Evans’ Human Torch still holds up pretty well.

 

In anticipation of the sequel, Rise of the Silver Surfer, in 2007, an Extended Edition DVD was released that included the theatrical cut in addition to a new extended cut featuring roughly 20 minutes of deleted scenes. As I was not able to find the extended cut on streaming platforms, the only way to watch it was to secure a copy of said DVD, which was fortunately not too difficult to accomplish.

Of the new footage, much of it adds to the relationships between the characters, making them feel more fleshed out than in the theatrical cut, although the extended planetarium scene can make a couple of later scenes feel a little redundant. Additionally, Doom’s machinations are expanded upon and there is a new sequence later on involving Johnny in which his behavior up to that point is called out. Notably, a cameo from Hugh Jackman as Wolverine is restored in a scene where Reed briefly alters his appearance to resemble him, plus there's a scene in which a version of H.E.R.B.I.E. from the 1978 The New Fantastic Four cartoon can be seen. Overall, the extended cut is an improvement over the theatrical cut and is the one I would recommend.

While not perfect, Fantastic Four (2005) still holds up pretty decently and is worth revisiting in advance of the Fantastic Four’s integration into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The Extended Edition also takes what was originally an okay superhero film and improves upon it into one of the better superhero films from the era, and I would highly suggest watching it over the theatrical cut if possible.