Actor Michael Chiklis, known for portraying Ben Grimm / The Thing in Fantastic Four (2005) and its 2007 sequel Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, recently reflected on the films, calling them "highly underrated." He expressed his belief that critics at the time misjudged them.
"There were a lot of people, I think, critically who got it wrong," he said of the 2005 film and its 2007 follow-up Rise of the Silver Surfer.
"They really maligned our films, and they were very underrated considering... The audience very loved them. It was one of those cases where critics weren't great to those films, but the audience was, and that still remains," Chiklis said.
Acknowledging the appreciation shown by the audience, he said, "And now all these years later, people are sort of acknowledging like, hey, these films are family-friendly, fun movies... They got a lot right. They may be imperfect, but they're really good movies."
Alongside Chiklis, Fantastic Four starred Ioan Gruffudd as Reed Richards/Mister Fantastic, Jessica Alba as Sue Storm/Invisible Woman and Chris Evans as Johnny Storm/Human Torch. The new reboot stars Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Ebon Moss-Bachrach and Joseph Quinn. Julia Garner starred as the Silver Surfer.
Sharing his views on the new adaptation The Fantastic Four: First Steps, he said, "I had a great experience doing them, and I just... I hope that it kills. And it seems like it's doing really well. And by the way, I really like Ebon Moss-Bachrach. He's a terrific actor, so I'm really looking forward to see what he does with... the Thing."
Michael Chiklis is widely recognized for his portrayal of LAPD Detective Vic Mackey in the FX crime drama The Shield (2002–2008), a role that earned him a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series in 2002. He also gained fame for playing Ben Grimm, also known as The Thing, in Fantastic Four (2005) and its sequel Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007).
His other notable TV performances include the role of the bald Commissioner Tony Scali in The Commish (1991–1996), Dell Toledo in American Horror Story: Freak Show (2014–2015), and Nathaniel Barnes in Gotham (2015–2017).
