Like two of those other three Fantastic Four movies, this particular iteration (directed by Oley Sassone) of those four superheroes details their origin story. Reed Richards (Alex Hyde-White), Johnny Storm (Jay Underwood), Sue Storm (Rebecca Staab) and Ben Grimm (Michael Bailey Smith) go into space to observe a once-in-a-lifetime cosmic event and, after a technological mishap aboard their spaceship, get blasted by cosmic rays. Shortly after the incident, they awaken on Earth with all four being unbruised and their spaceship in shambles. Oh, and they all now exhibit strange superpowers that have been gleaned by those pesky cosmic rays.
With their new powers in tow, the four of them are procured by a mysterious individual who turns out to be Doctor Doom (Joseph Culp), a former friend of Reed's who was heavily scarred and thought to be killed in one of their science experiments who has sworn vengeance on Reed and his pals, who he intends to use as part of his greater plan to rule the world. While their new powers may be daunting to come to terms with, our four lead characters will have to learn to live with these new-fangled superpowers if they want to have even a slight bit of hope in defeating Doom and stop him from exacting his vengeful plans on the world.
As an overall movie, The Fantastic Four is only so-so, with some good details in the costumes, tone and acting having to work against some nonsensical script choices, particularly in the clunky third act. In the modern day superhero landscape, that would make it far below average, but considering the massive constraints it was under thanks to its miniscule budget, it actually seems like it came out alright. Heck, I'd handily say The Fantastic Four is way better than much more expensive superhero movie offerings of the era that actually got proper theatrical releases like comic book movie disasters such as Batman Forever and Spawn.
You can chalk that higher than expected quality up to a tone that keeps things appropriately lighthearted and earnest as well as a script that's more serviceable than expected. Like I said, the third act dovetails in quality by focusing on more forced generic superhero antics that the film can't quite visually depict properly (most notably, The Human Torch trying to stop a laser in his fiery form). But prior to that, it does work nicely in not overstaying its welcome and even bringing the characters to life in a way that feels true to their comic book roots. Sure, the dialogue and character interactions are totally cornball but it's pleasantly cornball, y'know?
I also really like the actors they've got here, especially Alex Hyde-White who does a great job as Mr. Fantastic. The two Storm siblings don't have much to do in the story proper (I know, Sue Storm getting sidelined in a Fantastic Four story, so shocking), but Rebecca Staab is solid in the few scenes where she gets the spotlight while Michael Bailey Smith does good work in The Thing, even getting saddled with a better than expected rock monster costume whose only real big flaw comes from how the characters lips don't move properly most of the time. Joseph Culp, meanwhile, brings a super appropriate sense of over-the-top theatricality to Doctor Doom that makes his turn as the legendary baddie quite fun to watch. As said before, The Fantastic Four is only OK as an overall motion picture but it turned out way better than I expected and the committed performances from the strong cast make up a big part of that. Fascinatingly, a movie that was never meant to be released like The Fantastic Four does circles around its three big-budget 21st century successors in terms of quality.
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