I would like to start off by saying that, despite considering myself somewhat a purist when it comes to interpretations of superheroes in films, I do enjoy a good reboot of a character or franchise. Characters that were created in the 1960’s must be brought up to date to remain relevant and a new take on a classic character is essential as one can’t keep telling the same story over and over and still be interesting. Franchises like Bond, Superman, and Batman have all successfully rebooted their franchises and breathed new life into characters for a new generation. That being said, Josh Trank is an impressive director and the cast that was assembled was solid and even provocative, so I approached the reboot of the disappointing 2005 Fantastic Four films with optimism. My optimism was betrayed. This film was a hot mess from top to bottom. Its’ attempt at grounded realism failed and the result was a dark and ponderous film that had no concept of what makes superheroes magic. Of course, one accepts change in characters and storyline with a reboot, but after it’s over, one should feel the essence of the character is captured. When Daniel Craig uttered the phrase “My name is Bond; James Bond” at the end of ‘Casino Royale’ we totally accepted him as Bond despite the changes. This was not the case with the Fantastic Four. These were not the characters of the comic book nor even an effective re-imagining.
Josh Trank has already distanced himself from this film after opening day, tweeting that the studios took his film and messed it up. Not sure that is completely true as the basic concept of the re-imaging was flawed, but I will continue. The core casting was solid; Miles Teller and Michael B Jordan were both inspired casting choices as Reed Richards and Johnny Storm. Jordan caused manufactured controversy as his character is blond haired and blue eyed in the comics and Jordan is African American. This was not an issue while watching and he was actually one of the more faithful portrayals in the film. As for everyone else, the casting director should be publicly humiliated. Every great film needs a great super villain, and Tobey Kebbell as Dr Doom was embarrassingly pathetic. Dr Doom is the genius blue-blooded monarch of the fictitious country of Latveria. He is Marvel’s greatest villain and is a man of enormous intellect, presence, and gravitas. This film portrayed him as an unkempt, disenfranchised,underground hacker who just happened to be from Latveria. He possessed no sense of regality or purpose other than being anti-authority and government (ironically, totally opposite of his iron fisted despot persona in the comics). Kate Mara and Jamie Bell were uninspired choices for Sue Storm and The Thing. The CGI was impressive for the Thing, but that is all I can say about it. Thespian Reg E. Cathay as Dr. Franklin Richards must have thought he was in a Shakespeare production as he bellowed every line with over the top abandon.
So where does that leave us? I had no problem with the altering of the original story by having the team gain their powers through inter-dimensional travel rather than a mere space trip. I didn’t even have an issue with making them all teenagers instead of adults like in the comic book. My issue is that not only did the gloom and pace suck all the life out of the story, but the magic fun that Marvel is able to capture in its’ films was completely absent. Marvel has mastered the magic formula to create the excitement comic book geeks had as kids when reading their stories. Movies in the hands of people who don’t understand this and that try to make what they think a comic book movie is fails miserably. The most notable example is Joel Schumacher’s ‘Batman and Robin’ which should have ended a lot more careers than it did. There is nothing fun or wondrous about the Fantastic Four and the character development and interplay was on par with a CW show rather than something worthy of the First Family of comics.
The story itself was silly and made all the worse as they cloaked it in a dark, tedious, and politically correct self-important atmosphere. The team traveling to an alternate universe in secret (and while drunk mind you)to find resources to save our dying planet, strained credulity (is climate change in every Hollywood movie now?). Supposedly the strange green glowing substance they found there gives them their powers, but Sue Storm wasn’t even with them, so I didn’t understand how she was affected to. Victor Von Doom is left behind and when they return to the alternate dimension they find Doom an all powerful recluse who wants to remain there and rule…what? I’m not sure since he seemed to be the only inhabitant. Equally confusing is why he appears to be crippled when he is mysteriously all-powerful and why, if he wants to stay in the alternate universe, he allows them to bring him back to Earth. Doom was a character of great power and cunning in the comics. This Doom walked around like a character that belonged in the movie ‘Scanners’, randomly exploding peoples heads with undefined power and glowing green. Whatever they call this character in this film, it was no way even a remote reimagining of Dr. Doom. I don’t know what it was.
In the third act, the battle to save Earth in the alternate dimension lacked any sense of wonder and, indeed, approached levels of hokey and camp that I haven’t seen for quite awhile in superhero films. Whether or not Trank is responsible for this mess, it is obvious that the final product is a result of people who have no concept of superheroes. The Fantastic Four was Marvel’s flagship at one time and someone should be able to make a great movie from it. This is not it. It will be interesting to see where it goes from here, because sequels had already been planned and cross-overs with the X-Men were in the works. I cannot imagine Sony going forward after this dismal outing. My hope is that they sell the movie rights back to Marvel, who I have no doubt would be able to make a movie worth seeing.
Sometimes movies are so bad they ruin your day. This was one.
I give this film 1/2 star
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