BLU-RAY REVIEW

Fantastic Four

Featured In Issue 118, March 2007

Picture4.5
SoundNR
WSR Score4
Basic Information on new release titles is posted as soon as titles are announced. Once reviewed, additional data is added to the database.
(Studio/Distributor):
20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
(Catalog Number):
2239585
(MPAA Rating):
PG-13
(Rating Reason):
For sequences of intense action, and some suggestive content
(Retail Price):
$39.98
(Disc Type):
Single Side, Single Layer (BD-25)
(Widescreen Edition):
Yes
(Full Screen Edition):
No
(Running Time In Minutes):
106
(Color Type):
Color
(Chaptered/Scene Access):
Yes
(Closed Captioned):
Yes
(Regional Coding):
A
(Theatrical Year):
2005
(Theatrical Release):
Yes
(Direct-To-Video Release):
No
(Disc Release Date):
11/14/06
(THX® Digitally Mastered):
No
(Director):
Tim Story
(Screenplay/Written By):
(Story):
(Music):
(Director Of Photography):
(Production Designer):
(Visual Effects):
(Costume Designer):
(Editor):
(Supervising Sound Editors):
(Re-Recording Mixers):
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(Co-Producers):
(Producers):
(Academy Awards):
(Principal Photography):
(Theatrical Aspect Ratio):
(Measured Disc Aspect Ratio):
(Disc Soundtrack):
DTS HD Lossless 5.1
(Theatrical Sound):
(Theatrical Re-Issue Soundtrack):
(DTS Bit Rate):
(Dolby Digital Bit Rate):
(Additional Languages):
(French Language):
(Spanish Language):
(Chinese Language):
(Subtitles):
(Cantonese Language):
(Mandarin Language):
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(Italian Language):
(German Language):
(Portuguese Language):

When a group of scientists are exposed to a cloud of radiation, their DNA is mutated in fantastic ways. Johnny Storm (Evans)—quite a ham before becoming supernatural—is ecstatic with the changes in his body and dubs himself the Human Torch, turning himself into an inferno whenever he pleases. Reed Richards (Gruffudd) finds that he can stretch his body like rubber and becomes known as Mr. Fantastic, while Johnny's sister Sue (Alba) becomes the Invisible Girl. Ben Grimm (Chiklis)—who had been exposed to the most amount of radiation—mutates into a behemoth of stone muscles and takes on the pseudonym of The Thing. A fifth member of the mission is also altered, but plans to use his new talents for evil, and Doctor Doom (McMahon) takes on the Fantastic Four in his dreadful quest for complete power. (Suzanne Hodges)

Special features include a cast audio commentary featuring Jessica Alba and Michael Chiklis; and trailers.

The 2.35:1 Blu-ray Disc looks very good, with sharp, highly detailed close shots and well-saturated, and balanced, colors. Blacks are deep and solid, and shadow delineation is well rendered. Edge enhancement is not a problem. (Danny Richelieu)

The lossless DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack probably sounds very, very good. Too bad the first-generation Blu-ray Disc players don't have a way of decoding it. Instead, the core DTS® stream is decoded at 1.5 Mbps, and does sound very good. Fidelity is pristine, and dialogue can always be heard over the din, no matter how extreme it gets. (Danny Richelieu)