WATCH THE TRAILER HERE
First, the Recap:
The amazing wonders of film reboots, much less a potential franchise reboot. The opportunity to right past wrongs, present a better product, and give new life to characters we want to love, but have not yet quite been able to latch onto. In director and co-writer Josh Trank’s newest effort, this is exactly what he and Twentieth Century Fox were attempting to do. Starting from the very beginning, we see the history of young Reed Richards (Miles Teller) from the time he was a child to present, his genius knowing no limits as he endeavors, along with first partner Ben Grimm (Jamie Bell), to successfully create a transporter for physical matter. And in this, they succeed.
Enter Dr. Franklin Storm (Reg E. Cathey), his son, Johnny (Michael B. Jordan), and adopted daughter Sue (Kate Mara) who, along with fellow genius Victor Von Doom (Toby Kebbell), prepare to take the experiment to the next level and use the machine to transport themselves to the otherworldly dimension test objects have been sent to and returned from. In doing so, the four men, and Sue by default in the aftermath of them coming back to Earth, are exposed to and radically changed by an alien form of energy they encounter. Given new powers ranging from Reed’s elasticity, to Sue’s invisibility, Johnny’s fiery form, and Ben’s rocky exterior and strength, they find themselves at a crossroads, with the government seeing and initially exploiting them as weapons, while the return of a former friend signals a potential end to Earth and the rise of a tyrant in the newly transformed Doom.
Next, my Mind:
Taking far too long to build any true sense of the characters beyond what is already known from the previous efforts, uninspired directing, lackluster dialogue, and just plain poor execution completely crushes this film’s potential, much less any real hope of the rebooted Fantastic Four team getting a new lease on its movie life. And that’s sad. The possibilities here do exist, and the material could warrant a film that would be deemed worthy of the other non-Marvel Studio produced efforts, especially the “X-Men” series. Unfortunately, it is just not the case, and the failings of this effort simply kill it.
What is also tragic? How about the overall acting pedigree represented here via Teller, Mara, Bell, Jordan, and Kebbell being so much better than this material?! To see the delivery feel so overtly stale, almost like some kind of rough read-through rather than polished acting, is hard to digest from such accomplished thespians (Come on, Miles! Remember “Whiplash”??). A few cool visuals is by far not enough to make up for the lazy story, and by the time some action DOES occur–nobody cares. The more “grounded”, less-cartoony look and tone doesn’t even manage to save it. Even Kebbell’s Doom, while very nasty and evil as he should be, seems so overly powerful, his defeat comes too easily, truly.
This reviewer went in with hopes of a revitalized and fresher take on the team, with the more realistic feel being a needed change to the original series’ comic-book look. Instead, we got something far less than fantastic.
As always, this is all for your consideration and comment. Until next time, thank you for reading!
