Director:Â Josh Trank
Cast:Â Miles Teller, Kate Mara, Michael B. Jordan, Jamie Bell, Toby Kebbell, Tim Blake Nelson, Reg E. Cathey
Rating: 12A
Running Time: 100 mins
Release Date: August 6th, 2015
I don’t believe I’ve yet seen a Hollywood comic book blockbuster arrive in cinemas after being treated with as much hostility and pure hatred as FANTASTIC FOUR has had to endure. Beginning with the backlash of Michael B. Jordan being cast as Johnny Storm, a white male in the comics, and accelerating to rumours of studio interference, a multitude of re-shoots and director Josh Trank’s apparent erratic behaviour on set; the most recent reboot of a Marvel property had to prove to everyone that they were wrong. Unfortunately the end result is less than fantastic.
Miles Teller, Kate Mara, Jamie Bell and Michael B. Jordan play our titular heroes who, after travelling to another dimension in a scientific experiment gone wrong, are individually granted special abilities. Teller is able to stretch his limbs out and extend them, Mara can turn invisible and use telekinesis, Bell is turned into a hulking rock monster and Jordan can engulf himself in flames and fly. Victor Von Doom, played by Toby Kebbell, also went with them and the powers he’s received have turned him more than a little power crazy.
One of the film’s biggest mistakes is squandering its good cast: Miles Teller plays Reed Richards as a socially awkward but brilliant scientist before an odd mid film transformation turns him into a brooding, boring protagonist. Jamie Bell especially gives a good performance as Ben Grimm, before the lab accident renders him into a rock formed monstrosity. Unfortunately this means Bell’s performance gets buried under some horrible looking CGI that wastes the potential he had shown. Likewise Kate Mara and Michael B. Jordan have some good chemistry with each other, as adopted siblings Sue and Johnny Storm. The film begins to explore their relationship before unceremoniously dropping any and all plot lines in the second and third acts for cheap CGI and relentless exposition. Toby Kebell makes for a fine antagonist until his transformation into their nemesis Dr Doom, with Kebbell ending up looking like a chewed up action man figurine, another example of the poor CGI in the film.
If anything, the film’s downward spiral begins as soon as our characters receive their powers, as the beginning of the film is a nice set up for what should have followed, a somber and interesting take on superhero films. Trying to ground itself in reality, the film doesn’t have to push itself too hard to make its story work, in fact the film is at its best when it tries to find the reality in the situation. Waking up in the laboratory from their experiment gone wrong, Reed finds Johnny’s supposed dead body, completely on fire. The sight is horrifying and jarring and so is the image of Reed, suspended out on a table with his limbs stretched nearly as far as they can go, being experimented on by the government. The characters believe their powers are a burden and want them undone, at least they do for about 20 minutes before the film switches lanes and ends up giving us an epic showdown with Doom that is lazy and uninspired, ending with obvious bait for a sequel that should never happen.
This is the worst kind of reboot imaginable, a rushed hatchet job that has no respect for its audience’s intelligence or for the source material itself. Every line of dialogue is exposition, everything that is being done is spelled out in the worst way to hammer the point home to the audience. What little build up there is at the beginning is thrown away for a muddled film that squanders the best things the film had going for it. The FANTASTIC FOUR get an F for trying and the hope that they’ll disappear as quickly as Sue Storm can.
Verdict
