If the Fantastic Four were a real family I’d feel terrible for them. Three films in and now they’ve struck out. Josh Trank’s reboot of the popular Marvel family is one gigantic set-up that offers nothing to the audience until the very end.
Fantastic Four focuses on four young individuals who teleport to another universe, but when their return trip doesn’t go smoothly, one individual is left in that dimension while the others make it back but not without experiencing abnormal side effects. They are observed and then kept in isolation or used for their newly inherited abilities for government projects. The film builds to a predictable finale which sees the mostly bitter foursome teaming up to battle Dr. Doom in an attempt save the earth from annihilation.
I’m going to keep this review short and simple. I’m not sure exactly what the problems were with this film during production and in the post-production process, but Josh Trank has disowned the film and, when that happens, there’s no reason to have any faith in the project.
When you watch Fantastic Four, all the problems are pretty clear. One, the dialogue is terrible. The script, and potentially the director, managed to take some of the most talented young actors working today (Miles Teller, Michael B. Jordan, Kate Mara) and make them look like absolute noobs. They had nothing to work with and we’re left with disappointing performances that’ll make you scoff in your seat. I mean, Miles Teller is awesome and even when he had potentially funny lines, most of them fell flat.
Like I mentioned in the intro, this movie is one giant lead up to a second film. That second film has the potential to be a blast, unlike this one. This one wasn’t even a fun, mindless film to watch. I’ll give them credit for doing a nice job setting up all the characters and developing them but, other than that, there wasn’t much else to praise, maybe except for The Thing and Dr. Doom’s appearance. I thought they both looked solid.
It’s too bad the movie didn’t get going until the final 20 minutes when the Fantastic Four finally had to come together to battle Dr. Doom. It was a pretty decent fight but it did feel generic, uninspired, and shockingly, too short. SPOILER Dr. Doom was insanely powerful and after a few brief hurdles the team manages to stop him. END SPOILER. It just felt incredibly uneventful.
I hope the Fantastic Four makes money this weekend just so we can get the sequel and real movie that we fans deserve. At the same time, this movie isn’t good and I’d rather you all save your money and see something worthy of the price of admission. Even with expectations low, Fox and Co have managed to disappoint fans yet again. The question is, which is the worst Fantastic Four movie now?
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