Fantastic Four

They go to another dimention, they get their powers, then Doctor Doom shows up, they fight him and it's over. There's practically nothing else.

We never see them learn to use their powers, we never see them getting to know each other, we rarely see the four together for most of the movie. All of that is skipped. We're told it happened, but we never see it, only glimpses of it in the backround.

There's some good scenes. The cast is good. The effects are good. It is composed of scenes that belong in a good movie, but lacks all of the esential pieces to make it a good movie. The end result is just really bland and boring. It's not even worth getting mad about; It's just kinda sad.

Fantastic Four started catching my eye in the casting stage. Seemingly not giving a damn about the source material, it was refreshing to see those kind of balls especially from Marvel. While I welcome Michael B. Jordan as The Human Torch, I wish I could say the same thing about the rest of the film. Fantastic Four is merely a reboot that loses its steam after the first act. Coming in at just over an hour and a half, the film is a rushed piece of reject summer movie drab. The characters are paper thin and about 10 years too young for their respective roles. The visual effects are far from stunning, especially The Thing, whose transformation into the ghastly beast is something closer to a PS2 game than an actual film with a $100 million price tag. Miles Teller proves here that his performance in Whiplash is truly a fluke. As Mr. Fantastic, he struggles to sound like he knows what he is talking about. Perhaps a little more rehearsal time and a little less focus on that cheap looking silver streak in his hair could have benefited him. Kate Mara as Susan Storm is about as idiotic as it can get. Mara is a great actress, there's no other way about it but Kate Mara as Susan Storm is terrible and borderline embarrassing. The biggest shock here in this film is where all the controversy started...Michael B. Jordan as The Human Torch. Jordan's ability to be a badass likable gear head is insanely good. He's the best part of this film by far. If there is anyone that could single handedly carry this film on their back, it is him. The film overall is too dark for Fantastic Four and too shallow for Marvel which leaves it drifting somewhere between ridiculous and not necessary...and at times, both. If there's any movie to see this summer, I can assure you, Fantastic Four is NOT it.

So I was contemplating if I should watch this a few months ago and I said no. The fantastic 4 looks like high school kids... WTH is this! It already looks horrible.

I came home from work today and wanted to watch a movie. There was nothing on so I decided eh fantastic 4. There's nothing else to watch, how bad can this be...

I just wasted 2 hours of my life I can't get back..... very disappointed.... I have never wrote a review on IMDb before, but this movie just did it for me. The 2005 movie was 10 times better than this, why would you ruin fantastic four..

I went into this movie with hope and optimism and not put off by the negative light shone towards it. An hour and 40 minutes later, I left feeling empty and unsatisfied. Comic book films are supposed to make you feel inspired, but not this one.

So what is wrong with it? One word – chemistry. In any superhero team/ensemble there should be great character interactions and a feeling that these guys can effectively make a team, never mind a ''fantastic'' team. The best team movies all have characters playing off each other as in the Avengers and X-Men.  However, there is zero chemistry between any of the F4. We see an attempt at some early romance between Reed and Sue which doesn't go anywhere. Johnny Storm is billed as a genius but troubled kid however we never see why he has a high IQ, he is just shifted in to make up the numbers. We never see him form any sustainable bond with any of the others. Ben Grimm also appears as an outsider, brought in with little sense to the project to fill the final slot. The chemistry between the original F4 (2005) was MUCH better whereas here they feel like 4 individuals.

 

The climatic battle takes place in the most boring environment that you can imagine. It is over within 10 minutes, with not much ingenuity to overcome a half decent attempt at Dr Doom, who at first seems very intimidating. This film will be quickly forgotten and the question isn't whether a sequel will be made or whether it will cross over with X-Men, but is the original Fantastic 4 film a better watch than this depressing, dull comic book movie. Final score 5.5/10

Over the last decade, we have seen a number of superhero movies get a much needed reboot. After the atrocious Batman & Robin, Batman was brilliantly brought back to the big screen in Batman Begins. When the Spider-Man franchise hit an embarrassing rock bottom with Spider-Man 3, it was reinvigorated with the very likable The Amazing Spider-Man.

Eight years on from the dud that was Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer and it's time that Marvel's first family got a reboot. With a lot of rumours flying around about trouble on set and the studio not seeming to have total confidence in their product, could 2015's Fantastic Four do these iconic comic-book characters justice?

Reed Richards (Miles Teller) is a brilliant young scientist on the verge of discovering how to both transport matter to another dimension and bring it back. Recruited by Professor Franklin Storm (Reg E. Cathey), Reed is given the resources and help, in the form of Sue Storm (Kate Mara), Victor Von Doom (Toby Kebbell) and Johnny Storm (Michael B. Jordan), to to finish what he started in his younger years.

When they finally crack inter-dimensional travel, Reed invites his childhood friend Ben Grimm (Jamie Bell) to travel to another world along with him and his team. An accident causes their physical form to drastically change. Reed, Sue, Johnny and Ben must learn to harness their powers and work as a team to stop Victor, who is hell bent on destroying Earth.

The one thing that stood out to me about Fantastic Four is just how unbelievably dull it is. For characters who have such a rich and colourful history in the comics, this really is a pretty drab affair. The film only has a 100 minute runtime however, it feels much longer, dragging its feet and feeling very tired right from the very start.

When a superhero movie gets less exciting after they get their powers, something is very very wrong.

I had some hope for this film and one of the main reason was down to the fact that Josh Trank was sat in the director's chair. Trank hit the big time with Chronicle, a film that combined the superhero genre with found footage. I can't express just how disappointed I am with Trank because everything about Fantastic Four is just so sloppy.

The story is weak, the script is cringeworthy and the special effects are average at best. It all culminates in one of the most boring finales you will ever witness in a superhero movie. Compared to what else you see happen in other superhero movies these days, it all looks and feels amateur.

Then there are the performances. Miles Teller, Kate Mara, Michael B. Jordan, Jamie Bell and Toby Kebbell are all young actors who have the world at their feet. They have each impressed in their own way prior to Fantastic Four but every single one of them has the range of the cast in Tim Story's Fantastic Four films and waste their talents in Trank's reboot.

Fantastic Four is a film very much out of time and place in today's market of superhero movies. Ten or fifteen years ago a studio might have been able to get away with it but not today. Audiences like to be entertained and with the competition offering much more excitement, I don't see audiences taking to this, at all.