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| The Fantastic Four Year: 1994 Main Cast: Alex Hyde-White (Dr. Reed Richards), Jay Underwood (Johnny Storm), Rebecca Staab (Susan Storm), Michael Bailey Smith (Ben Grimm/Voice of The Thing), Carl Ciarfalio (The Thing), Ian Trigger (Jeweler) and Joseph Culp (Dr. Doom) Writers: Craig J. Nevius and Kevin Rock Director: Oley Sassone Company: Constantin Film Duration: 90m Rating:  Availability: Not available Images: 1994 Movie Image Page |
One of the most notorious items in the FF canon, the "Roger Corman Movie" surprises by only featuring Corman as Executive Producer, along with Bernd Eichinger. What also continues to intrigue is just what fate was originally intended for the feature film. Stan Lee was drawn to speak about it during the publicity for Spider-Man 2 (2004), stating that Constantin were under contract to
begin principle photography on a Fantastic Four project otherwise their purchased rights would expire. The resulting Corman work was compiled in a short space of time with a minimal budget and locked away, with no serious intent of it being the real film. Yet speculation still abounds: why go to the trouble to complete an entire picture just for it to be locked in a vault? Was this an attempt at a finished product, only for Marvel to angrily veto it due to lack of quality? One common suggestion is that it was to deter any other company buying up the rights, knowing there was an inferior product potentially in the marketplace.While such thoughts will perhaps never be truly answered, the number of bootlegs on the market mean the movie has been widely seen,
and consistently panned. This is the final surprise in that, while clearly vastly underbudgeted, The Fantastic Four really isn't as bad as its reputation would attest. The tone of the movie seems to not know whether to play things for campy laughs or straight recreation, but a commendable attempt is made within the financial constraints to produce something nearly worthwhile.Sadly, there's not really any evidence of chemistry between the four leads to mimic the family feel of the comic book, yet while three of them are a little stiff, Jay Underwood performs services above and beyond the call of duty to overacting. In fact, I may never have seen someone overact with quite so much joyful abandon before. Biggest flaw lies with the overblown and intrusive incidental music, or the unintentional hilarity of Reed's stretching arms. While the viewer can admire honourable failures like the Thing suit, Reed's shaky plastic hands cannot help but produce absolute hilarity every time they're on screen. Similarly, Doom's armour is quite well
designed and lit, offset by Joseph Culp's bizarre "hand acting", and you have to see the FF discover their powers to believe it. The realisation dawns by Johnny sneezing out flame, while what sounds like an Indian snake charmer plays music apparently under the influence of crack.Perhaps unfairly derided, it's clearly demanding the impossible by expecting a reported $1.5-$4 million movie to have the look of a blockbuster. Yet if screened as a TV Movie of the Week in a slow schedule, the risible effects, lack of editorial structure and narrative cohesion wouldn't matter so much. Yes, Oley Sassone is so thoughtless a director that he includes point of view shots from the blind Alicia, and Trigger's secondary villain - a kind of substitute Mole Man - is rather futile, but it isn't without charm or (unintentional) humour and is eminently watchable. In fact, if given to a good editor, with a new soundtrack and special effects this could even reach the giddy heights of mediocrity.
The Fantastic Four costumes do look terrible, but to test the worth of this film to the average viewer I asked some friends to watch it and give me their honest thoughts. One described it as "like a car crash" while another thought it was "like watching a really cheap porn movie, only without the sex." Maybe I'm alone on this one. Yet perhaps the most important point is to return to the intent that this product was locked in a vault and never supposed to be seen. When you consider that that was the purpose, then by definition this is a film that is exempt from critical assessment. Car crash is right, though...