The 1994 "Fantastic Four" film is an elusive curiosity. The movie was only made so that the film's producer, Bernd Eichinger, could retain the rights to the Marvel Comics property. However, the film was never intended to be released, theatrically or otherwise. Over time, bootleg copies of the film have surfaced and have circulated among fan communities, building a small cult following. The cast and crew were never made aware of the producer's intentions to never release the film, and the result is a scrappy low-budget superhero film with a big heart.
"The Fantastic Four" tells the origin story of both the titular superhero team and the villainous Doctor Doom, borrowing various elements from the early 1960s issues of the comic book. A team of scientists and pilots consisting of Reed Richards, Sue Storm, Johnny Storm, and Ben Grimm are bombarded with radiation during a failed space mission and gain superpowers as a result. They are promptly kidnapped by Doctor Doom, Richards's former colleague. The film then wanders off into a strange back-and-forth of muddled motivation. The superhero team escapes, and Doom hunts for a diamond that will help him harness the same cosmic radiation that gave the Fantastic Four their powers. The diamond, however, has been taken by the Jeweler, a subterranean thief who serves as a stand-in for the Fantastic Four antagonist, Mole Man. Superhero action ensues, with battles underground and in Doom's castle. This is all standard operations for a superhero movie, but the presentation is what makes the film stand out.
The film was reportedly made for only one million dollars, part of which was funded by legendary B-Movie producer Roger Corman. Given the circumstances, the film looks quite impressive. Much of the budget seems to have gone to special effects to create Ben Grimm's superhero persona, The Thing. Of the four cinematic adaptations of the Fantastic Four comic, this low-budget effort somehow has the most accurate representation of The Thing; it borrows the exaggerated features of Fantastic Four co-creator Jack Kirby's original depictions of the character. There is also a surprising amount of articulation to the animatronic Thing mask, giving it slightly more life and expression than one might expect from a low budget animatronic effect.
The film's acting is suitably schlocky, as well. The campy, foppish presentation of Doctor Doom is perhaps the best version of the character to grace the screen. There is a cartoonish bombast to the performance that recalls the melodramatic soap opera spirit of superhero comics. Too many superhero movies, it seems, are afraid to look silly or embrace the inherent goofiness of their source material. The 1994 "Fantastic Four" revels in its own silliness with a respectful grace. Early in the film, the scientist/pilot group is affectionately referred to as the "Fantastic Four" before their superhero transformations, and this ham-fisted bit of name-dropping does not feel glib or ironic. The movie takes itself seriously despite the inherent cheesiness of a rushed low budget production, and it emerges with an air of unselfconscious dignity.
There is a documentary about the making of the film, "Doomed: The Untold Story of Roger Corman's Fantastic Four", that confirms my thoughts that everyone involved was trying their best in spite of the circumstances. To hear the cast and crew discuss their work on the film is to hear people who were passionate about their craft, even if the project at hand was a superhero B-movie. The 1994 "Fantastic Four" is rough and uneven, prone to a wandering plot and cheap-looking sets, but it is a film bolstered by people who truly believed in the project. A fiery can-do spirit exudes from this film. It may not be a masterpiece, but this is certainly a case of giving an A for effort. Maybe one day this film will get the official release it deserves, and the cult of "The Fantastic Four" can grow even larger.
Rating: 7/10
