When a visitor from another planet informs us Earth will soon be destroyed, it is up to the heroes known as The Fantastic Four to save the planet. Ever since being given superpowers, the Fantastic Four have become superhero celebrities. Reed Richards, the brilliant scientist and leader of the group, can stretch his body in a rubbery fashion. His fiance, Sue Storm, can turn invisible and create force fields. Her brother Johnny is known as The Human Torch, since he can fly and turn his body to fire. Finally, their friend and pilot Ben Grimm is turned into a super-strong rock monster called The Thing. Reed and Sue are planning on getting married, a huge celebrity wedding in the city of New York, when a silver UFO arrives and flies around Earth, creating massive holes in the ground in random places around the planet. This causes Reed to begin secretly building a device to track the UFO's location, and when Sue finds out, she is disappointed he isn't more focused on their wedding. During the wedding, they realize it's in New York City-- Johnny sees it fly by, and he takes off after it, discovering that it's not a ship at all, but a creature on a flying surfboard-like object. It grabs Johnny, causing him to temporarily lose his power, and shifting his molecules to the point where he can switch powers with anyone else in the group by touching them. When Reed discovers that the Silver Surfer always arrives on a planet shortly before the planet's destruction, they seek him down and confront him. He reveals that he serves Galactus, a space cloud, who consumes planets in order to survive. With the Surfer's help, they must find a way to defeat Galactus before it can eat Earth... but with their powers acting funny, and an old adversary in Doctor Doom causing trouble, it may prove difficult.
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Best part of story, including ending:
There are slow stretches in this film where the characters act unnecessarily wacky, but the action is strong and Evans and Chiklis in particular are great.
Best scene in story:
The first chase after the Surfer all around NYC is an exciting sequence with a shocking ending when Johnny suddenly loses his powers and seems destined to die.
Opinion about the main character:
Reed, as far as main characters go, is a bit of a drag, but he's nice enough, and really, the supporting cast is so strong that they carry it.
