Fantastic Four
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation | Release Date: July 8, 2005 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
40
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 35 Critic Reviews
Positive:
6
Mixed:
18
Negative:
11
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
75
Seattle Post-IntelligencerWilliam Arnold
It's done with an agreeable confidence and flair, the actors all fit comfortably in their roles and the effects are fun. Read full review
75
Baltimore SunMichael Sragow
Blessedly unimportant, Fantastic Four cruises along on modest yet genuine comic-book pleasures. Read full review
70
Washington PostStephen Hunter
A funky, fun film version of the famous Marvel superhero concoction, one of the earliest of the revisionist wave of supes and in some ways the most lovable or at least the most knowable. Read full review
63
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
Frustrating because it doesn't seem far removed from a wholly enjoyable motion picture, but the tempo's off, beats are missed, and the production ends up sounding out-of-tune. Read full review
63
Chicago TribuneMichael Wilmington
I don't think it will seriously disappoint longtime fans, but it made me itchy as I watched it unfold in ways that the comics never did when I read them in the '60s. Read full review
63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Liam Lacey
In a summer of low movie expectations and worse results, Fantastic Four is a not-so-bad mindless bit of camp escapism that doesn't try to eclipse its dime-store comic book roots. Read full review
60
Chicago ReaderStaff (Not credited)
Michael Chiklis (of the cop show "The Shield") steals the movie as the agonized Thing. Read full review
50
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
This clumsy, cheesy, chintzy adaptation, with its F/X that look dated the moment you see them, is like something left over from the '60s. Read full review
50
VarietyJoe Leydon
A wildly uneven, sporadically slapdash action-adventure that amuses in fits and starts. Read full review
50
Washington PostDesson Thomson
This "Four" ain't so "Fantastic." Read full review
50
Miami HeraldRene Rodriguez
Even if you can get past the acting -- and in the case of the beautiful, blank Alba, that's asking a lot -- the film just sits there, not exactly torturous, but never very exciting, either. Read full review
50
Christian Science MonitorDavid Sterritt
It's fun to watch superheroes who aren't quite at ease with their abilities, but "The Incredibles" - last year's similarly themed animated film - is livelier and funnier. Read full review
50
Los Angeles TimesKevin Crust
Fails to be anything more than a mild summertime diversion. Based on the Marvel comic book, it's a prototypical air conditioner movie. Read full review
50
USA TodayClaudia Puig
There's nothing terribly fantastic about this ho-hum futuristic foray. Read full review
50
Portland OregonianM. E. Russell
It's a waste of classic material. Rent "The Incredibles" and see what should have been. Read full review
50
SalonStephanie Zacharek
Fantastic Four doesn't expand on, or even illuminate, anything much beyond the most basic theme of what it feels like to be an adolescent misfit. This is a comic-book movie that actually makes an effort not to go over kids' heads. Read full review
50
The A.V. ClubKeith Phipps
A garish mediocrity. Read full review
40
Dallas ObserverRobert Wilonsky
A comic-book movie unashamed of its roots, meaning it's unabashed about being silly, overwrought nonsense, which works to its benefit--so much so that you're almost rooting for it by the end. Read full review
40
The New York TimesDana Stevens
Compared with the psychological probing and spiritual brooding of "Batman Begins," Fantastic Four is proudly dumb, loud and inconsequential. Read full review
40
The Hollywood ReporterMichael Rechtshaffen
A colossal snore. Read full review
40
TV Guide MagazineAngel Cohn
Favors light action over character dynamics. Read full review
40
Film ThreatPete Vonder Haar
The release of Fantastic Four marks the beginning of the end for movies based on Marvel Comics' upper tier of characters. Read full review
40
Austin ChronicleMarc Savlov
After this mediocrity, no one's even going to remember Roger Corman's godawful bargain-basement 1994 version. Which, on second thought, had a lot more heart that this one. Read full review
40
EmpireOlly Richards
Fleetingly enjoyable in very short bursts, this is the most cynically constructed event movie in recent memory, its heart purely in its wallet. A fantastic bore. Read full review
38
Philadelphia InquirerSteven Rea
There's nothing remotely fantastic about this Fantastic Four. Read full review
38
New York Daily NewsJack Mathews
It needed a star like Clooney at its center, and a character actor like Alan Rickman as Dr. Doom. You don't expect realism from a comic-book movie, but you do want the characters to seem larger than life. Read full review
30
L.A. WeeklyScott Foundas
Directing seems an unduly elegant term for what Hollywood hack du jour Tim Story (Barbershop, Taxi) does here -- the action scenes are so choppily constructed that their excitement disappears faster than the Invisible Woman. Read full review
30
SlateDavid Edelstein
An overinflated B-movie with no grace, no subtext, no wit, and featuring beefcake/cheesecake actors who look like they've been plucked from the soaps. Read full review
30
Wall Street JournalJoe Morgenstern
The result is a movie groping for a comic tone while its FX machinery spews vast clouds of visual gibberish.
30
Village VoiceMatt Singer
The action sequences reek of drudgery rather than adventure, and with the exception of Chiklis's remarkably soulful performance beneath 60 pounds of orange Thing makeup, all of the characters are flatter than their two-dimensional counterparts. Read full review
25
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
The really good superhero movies, like "Superman," "SpiderMan 2" and "Batman Begins," leave Fantastic Four so far behind that the movie should almost be ashamed to show itself in the same theaters. Read full review
25
New York PostLou Lumenick
A perfect storm of wooden acting, hackneyed direction, inane scripting and laughably cartoonish special effects produces a shapeless mess more wearyingly stupid than arch-villian Dr. Doom is evil. Read full review
25
Boston GlobeWesley Morris
What the movie lacks most is a real sense of adventure. Read full review
25
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
They take on special powers that the filmmakers are incapable of making interesting, partly because the characters are ciphers, and partly because the story is listless and uninventive. Read full review
25
PremiereAaron Hillis
From less a purist's standpoint than a seeker of serviceable junk food, this comprehensive waste of time is too bouncy to be an "Elektra" bummer, but should make Marvel mascot Stan Lee think twice about burning another lucrative bridge with unintentional hilarity. Read full review
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