DVD of The Week: Fantastic Four - Extended Edition (2005)

By 2005, superhero films had really hit their stride, which is why the original Fantastic Four movie came as such a disappointment. Not that it was particularly bad, but for all its snazzy special effects, it just seemed so dated.

The Fantastic Four are not traditional crimefighters, like Spider-Man, Batman or Daredevil, but adventurers, scientists and explorers; which is why a knock-down, drag-out street brawl in central New York with Doctor Doom just doesn't cut it as a thrilling climax.

This extended edition of the film adds about 20 minutes of, mainly, "character" material to the film - which leads to the odd situation of having Reed (Ioan Gruffudd) and Sue (Jessica Alba) occasionally repeating lines of dialogue to each other from one scene to the next.

The role of blind sculptress Alicia Masters (Kerry Washington), in particular, has been expanded and, for the comic book fanboys, she even makes passing reference to her step-father and his puppets (Alicia's step-father is regular FF villain Philip Masters aka The Puppet Master). Eagle-eyed comic fans are also teased by a glimpse of H.E.R.B.I.E., Reed's flying robot assistant, in another new scene - he's on a shelf in the storeroom!

But all these new scenes, as interesting as they are, don't distract from the fact that, as Rachel put it, there's not much story to the Fantastic Four!

All this character development would have been fascinating had it been woven through an in-depth adventure yarn, but the origin of the FF could be told in about half-an-hour as it stands, and the rest of the film is rather light-weight padding. For instance, because there are no 'major villains' (until the cut-price Dr Doom turns up at the end), the "major incidents" the heroes get tangled up in (such as the multiple car pile-up on the bridge) are also caused by them ... although this is glossed over!

The lead actors - Gruffudd, Alba, Chris Evans and Michael Chiklis - are superb, but Mark Frost and Michael France's script reads like a series of "hit and miss moments" rather than the full story that the stars of "the world's greatest comic magazine" deserve.

Let's hope that lessons have been learned by the time The Fantastic Four: Rise of The Silver Surfer opens in cinemas around the globe tomorrow (Friday).