About Heroes

This review was submitted by Spider-ben:
Fantastic Four Extended Cut DVD
Stars: Ioan Gruffud, Jessica Alba, Michael Chiklis, Chris Evans
Director: Tim Story

With the Silver Surfer about to soar into theaters this weekend, Marvel and Fox have come together to distribute this extended version of the first Fantastic Four film. Despite whether you loved or hated the first movie, I strongly encourage all hardcore FF fans to buy this DVD for the second disc chock full of fantastic bonus features. But before diving into the goodies, I want to share some of the awesome deleted scenes restored into this version of the film.

There were a handful of extended or deleted scenes added in, but a few really stood out to help enhance the film. The first scene that impressed me was when Ben Grimm has met with Alicia Masters and decides to go inside her art gallery. Inside, Ben is surprised to see puppets lying around, and Alicia mentions that they aren’t hers and belong to her step father. I totally geeked out, realizing she was referring to the puppet master! Another scene that will really excite fans is when Reed and Sue are talking on the pier overlooking the water, and Reed tells Sue that he figured she always wanted a strong man. In this scene, Reed shifts his facial features around to look like Hugh Jackman as Wolverine in the X-Men films. It makes sense they could do this since Fox owns the rights to the X-Franchise along with the FF movie rights. This is a fun tie in for the fans, and a great geeky moment. Another scene shows Sue reading all of the fan mail arriving at the Baxter Building, but instead of opening the mail she makes the envelope invisible, reading the letter still inside. This was a pretty cool scene analyzing Sue’s cleverness with her powers.

Finally, before the big final fight with Doom, Johnny is showing off in a bar and tries to steal this cute girl. The girl’s boyfriend comes over, and Johnny creates a flame that almost burns the boyfriend. The girl gets pissed and tells Johnny what a loser he is for only using his powers to show off in bars and hit on pretty girls. As this is said, Johnny’s adoring fans realize he is pathetic and turn away from him. I felt this scene was important because it forces Johnny to realize what unique gift he has, and he really should be using his powers to help others. It’s an important Johnny moment cut from the theatrical version and it really helps Johnny’s character development as he grows up and becomes a hero.

Now on to the second disc. There are two sections on this disc, one being the production of the movie and one detailing the comic book history. The production part has this really awesome look at making the FF movie. It focuses on filming the actions scenes, and it has in-depth looks at how the 4 core FF characters were brought to life, along with how Doctor Doom made his live action debut. What’s really fun is that Stan Lee is caught talking with both Mike Chiklis and Julian McMahon between takes. Mike tells Stan that when he was a boy he would go to the grocery store with his brother, pick up the latest FF issue, and race home to read it. He told Stan ever since he was a boy, he dreamed of playing Ben Grimm. Stan then talked with Julian, and Stan said that Doctor Doom never really broke any laws; he just wanted to conquer the world! But due to Doom’s diplomatic immunity, he would always be treated royally despite his evil intentions.
That is really cool to see behind the scenes moments like these. There are also the trailers and TV spots for the film, and on the first disc there is the teaser trailer for the second FF movie. After the trailer, there is a short featurette on the Silver Surfer and his progression in the comic book world over the years.

The comic book part of the disc is awesome! There is an hour long look at all the different writers and artists who worked on the comic since it debuted all the way up to present day. Some of the comic creators interviewed include: Stan Lee, John Romita Sr, Walter Simonson, Steve Rude, Jim Lee, Chris Claremont, Alex Ross, Mark Waid, Karl Kesel, Joe Quesada, and more. So this is a must have for serious FF fans. The next documentary is about Jack Kirby and his impact on comics. Both co-workers and family members remember the incredible legacy that this man left behind, and how he continues to influence new comic book creators to this day. There is also a look at Alex Ross’
collection of FF stuff, mostly featuring the life size Thing and Doctor Doom head sculpts produced by Dynamic Forces some years ago.

All in all, this is a must buy for any FF fan. Not only do you get all the stuff mentioned above, but there is also a movie ticket up to $8.50 off admission to see Rise of the Silver Surfer. I’d have to give the movie itself an A, and this entire DVD set an A+!
Great for any FF or comic book fan.