Attention: spoilers ahead.
This has to be one of the lamest TV-movies I've ever seen. It doesn't even rate as "being so bad that it's actually good", in my opinion. No way. There is virtually no suspense created for the viewer, not to mention that the editing is very poor.
Besides the fact that the plot itself is beyond being far-fetched, none of the actors present themselves as believable in their roles, particularly since judging by the expressions on their faces throughout, they don't even attempt to hide the fact that they aren't taking their scenes seriously. There is way too much smiling, silly dialog, and evidently very little fear for their own safety or concern for the plight of the kidnap victim for whom they've volunteered to rescue.
The so-called "fight scene" near the end is a real groaner and head-shakingly nonsensical since despite it being obvious that the heroes are completely outnumbered by the bad guys, they still somehow manage to defeat them all with poorly-executed punches and karate chops. I shook my head in disbelief at how one of the good guys managed again and again to shove a half-dozen "heavies" backwards with a pole--which would have been a chore even for Steven Seagal! Even when rifles are belatedly used to fire at the conveniently escaping heroes, none of them are hit by a single bullet!
Elke Sommer and Patrick McNee (as the chief bad guy no less) must have needed the money pretty desperately to lower themselves by appearing in this turkey. What were they thinking?! Even when McNee is finally knocked half-unconscious in a less-than-believable one-on-one fight and eventually taken into custody by the Coast Guard, he seems to be relieved rather than angry (and indeed maybe he was!).
Finally, at the closing scene where the "heroes" are clustered together joking and smugly self-congratulating each other as they're ostensibly being recruited by the authorities to head off to their next adventure in South America, I said to myself, "Yeah...and don't bother coming back, either!".
One can only assume that "The Fantastic Seven" was targeted at the less-critical preteen market. Older teens and adults stumbling across it while channel-surfing would have surely begun muttering, "C'mon...this movie is so stupid!", and switched to something else--ANYTHING else.
If the producers were hoping for "The Fantastic Seven" to be picked up as a regular series, they must have been dreaming in technicolor.
This has to be one of the lamest TV-movies I've ever seen. It doesn't even rate as "being so bad that it's actually good", in my opinion. No way. There is virtually no suspense created for the viewer, not to mention that the editing is very poor.
Besides the fact that the plot itself is beyond being far-fetched, none of the actors present themselves as believable in their roles, particularly since judging by the expressions on their faces throughout, they don't even attempt to hide the fact that they aren't taking their scenes seriously. There is way too much smiling, silly dialog, and evidently very little fear for their own safety or concern for the plight of the kidnap victim for whom they've volunteered to rescue.
The so-called "fight scene" near the end is a real groaner and head-shakingly nonsensical since despite it being obvious that the heroes are completely outnumbered by the bad guys, they still somehow manage to defeat them all with poorly-executed punches and karate chops. I shook my head in disbelief at how one of the good guys managed again and again to shove a half-dozen "heavies" backwards with a pole--which would have been a chore even for Steven Seagal! Even when rifles are belatedly used to fire at the conveniently escaping heroes, none of them are hit by a single bullet!
Elke Sommer and Patrick McNee (as the chief bad guy no less) must have needed the money pretty desperately to lower themselves by appearing in this turkey. What were they thinking?! Even when McNee is finally knocked half-unconscious in a less-than-believable one-on-one fight and eventually taken into custody by the Coast Guard, he seems to be relieved rather than angry (and indeed maybe he was!).
Finally, at the closing scene where the "heroes" are clustered together joking and smugly self-congratulating each other as they're ostensibly being recruited by the authorities to head off to their next adventure in South America, I said to myself, "Yeah...and don't bother coming back, either!".
One can only assume that "The Fantastic Seven" was targeted at the less-critical preteen market. Older teens and adults stumbling across it while channel-surfing would have surely begun muttering, "C'mon...this movie is so stupid!", and switched to something else--ANYTHING else.
If the producers were hoping for "The Fantastic Seven" to be picked up as a regular series, they must have been dreaming in technicolor.