Fantastic Four (Fantastic 4) is an American superhero film based on one of the Marvel superhero teams of the same name. It was directed by Tim Story and released by 20th Century Fox in 2005. Even though I enjoyed this movie as a kid, it received a 27% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. However, I believe that this movie was severely underrated due to the following reasons

• Faithfulness to the Comics: Out of all the Fantastic Four films produced by 20th Century Fox, the characters in this movie are the most accurate when compared to the comic books. This is mainly because the film perfectly portrays the idea of the Fantastic Four being a dysfunctional, yet loving family due to the spot-on casting and their portrayal of each character. Also, this movie portrays the most comic-accurate origin story of the Fantastic Four out of all other Fantastic Four films produced by 20th Century Fox. This is because of the fact that they depicted the Fantastic Four as four people, which are interested in science, that gain strange powers due to a storm of cosmic energy in space. This also makes the audiences feel that it was taken straight out of the Fantastic Four comic books.
• The Casting: The casting was perfect because it seemed as if the actors were born to portray a member of the Fantastic Four. For example, Mister Fantastic/Reed Richards was portrayed brilliantly by Ioan Gruffudd. In the film, Reed is depicted as the team leader of the Fantastic Four, with a brilliant intellect and a scientific nature. This portrayal is spot-on and is very similar to the comic books’ version of Mister Fantastic, which the same can go for the portrayals of the other characters.
• The Tone: The tone of this Fantastic Four film was lighthearted and suitable for younger audiences as well as older audiences. This is because the filmmakers wanted to make this film suitable for all audiences, by replacing intensely graphic violence with family-friendly fight scenes. Therefore, people of all ages can enjoy the film.

Due to the faithfulness of the characters, along with the casting and the comic-accurate origin story depicted in the film, this is an underrated but fantastic film that is definitely worth watching. In my opinion, this is one of the best comic book movies that I have watched and also one of my all-time favourites.

• By Wit (Grade 10)