[Review] Fantastic Four

The name Fantastic Four suggests a certain joie de vivre, a delight in its own comic book silliness. When Marvel's first family were translated to the big screen by Tim Story in 2005, and again for a 2007 sequel, that lightness of touch unfortunately slipped into kitschy smugness, with the excessive focus on camp humour sucking the characters dry of believeable humanity. As oversaturated as the blockbuster movie scene has become with reboots and reimaginings, Fantastic Four presented a worthwhile opportunity for Fox to do right by the characters with the same balance of wit and sincerity which made Joss Whedon's first attempt at The Avengers such a rousing success.

Unfortunately, the studio decided that rather than going for a balanced approach, they would instead push to the opposite extreme, banishing all joy and warmth in favour of something closer in tone to Christopher Nolan's Batman movies. It doesn't take much of a comic book fan to point out that Batman and Fantastic Four couldn't really have much less in common, unless one were to look back to the Bat's loopy silver age incarnation at a stretch (no pun intended, Mister Fantastic). Consequently, this latest Fantastic Four is a movie perpetually at war with itself, unable to reconcile the fun suggested by its title and its characters with the miserable tone the writers inflict upon them.

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Fantastic Four
Director: Josh Trank
Rating: PG-13

Release Date: August 7th, 2015

The movie is an origin story to the extent that few movies have been origin stories before. Tim Story's 2005 version pushed through the core character dynamics and roots of the Four's powers in about twenty minutes before starting towards the main smackdown with Doctor Doom. Trank's version dedicates virtually the entire movie to setting the stage for how the characters get their powers and eventually come to terms with them, leaving the ultimate showdown - more or less the only real action sequence - squished into what amounts to little more than ten minutes at the end. In fact, Toby Kebbell's Victor probably gets no more than fifteen minutes' total screentime, with his introduction every bit as rushed as his exit. Considering Doom is supposed to be one of Marvel's most fearsome and complex villains, we're offered little sense of the character beyond a dash of petulance and hints at unrequited feelings for Kate Mara's Sue. Of such meagre ingredients are great supervillains not made.

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What we're left with for the remaining 80-odd minutes is a tedious and mostly plotless trawl through a series of events telegraphed so blatantly that even those not spoilt by the trailer or arriving with any knowledge of the comics will have a clear idea where it's heading. It might have worked as a character piece had the characters been given any greater definition than the cursory outlines on show. Reed Richards is the clever one. Johnny Storm is, boom boom, the hotheaded rebel. Sue is, um, a less brilliant version of Reed, with a weird fascination with musical patterns that exists for no other reason than to give her a single, lazily-written scene she can call her own around the midpoint. Ben is Reed's best friend and a bit angsty. Only Reed and Ben give off the faintest sense of humanity, mostly because the movie gives their friendship a little backstory. As for Reed and Sue, they spend what little time they have together making snide comments and being annoyed with each other... so maybe a perfect set-up for a married couple after all.

The script offers nothing to the reasonably talented cast, who flounder trying to create any semblance of chemistry. This is in no small part down to them spending so little time together as a foursome, to the extent that there's little reason to believe Ben has even met Sue until the very end. The familial relationship between the Four is often cited as what makes their superhero team different from others, yet the movie goes to great lengths to keep them apart. Ben departs the story once Reed joins the Baxter foundation, only returning when Reed drunk dials him (not joking) to come along with him, Johnny and Victor on an unsanctioned first journey in their pan-dimensional travel machine, leaving Sue behind. When they return, Victor abandoned, the four are segregated all the way through to the climax, at which point Reed starts talking about the importance of working together even though, as far as viewers are concerned, it seems as though they barely know each other.

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The first half of the movie is significantly better than the second - a glimpse of an N64 controller is maybe the highlight of the entire thing - at least feeling as though it is building towards something even if it's patently obvious what that something is. Everything thereafter descends into a disorganised shambles, hitting one or two solid grace notes - an emphasis on the horror of each character's condition is well-played, and Doom's first demonstration of his vaguely defined powers is appreciably nasty, even if the movie has to subsequently forget them to stop him winning too easily - but otherwise spending a lot of time on entirely disposable training montages and grumbles about distrustful governments before hurrying the finale. The CGI is uniformly abysmal, particularly when it comes to Johnny's weightless human torch mode (which seems to cast little to no light or heat in several instances), Doom's melted action figure excuse for a face mask and the Thing, trouserless and dickless throughout, barely matching his mouth movements to his speech.

Its present 9% score on Rotten Tomatoes, lower than Jonah Hex, The Spirit and League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen, puts it among company whose badness is at least interesting, whereas Fantastic Four is merely dull, disjointed and dispiriting. Production troubles may have taken their toll, but it's hard to credit director Josh Trank's claim that his first cut was 'fantastic' when there's so little here that even hints at competence. It's a movie which roots the Thing's catchphrase in childhood abuse suffered at the hands of his older brother, which should tell you all you need to know. Fantastic Four is a series of compounding misjudgments, resulting in a movie ashamed of its own identity and straining to capture a zeitgeist long since passed. At least half the title is honest. It may not be fantastic, but is a 4/10 movie through and through.


Promotional Fantastic Four photo of Michael B. Jordan, Miles Teller, Kate Mara, and Jamie Bell

Fantastic Four Flex Their Powers in Final Trailer

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While San Diego Comic Con 2015 was a huge hit for superhero films, Fantastic Four unfortunately got buried beneath the hype surrounding DeadpoolBatman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, and Suicide Squad. After all, it's hard to build more excitement for a film with no new information and scheduled for a release less than a month away.

Nevertheless, Fox is prepared for Fantastic Four to be a big hit, as showcased in this final trailer for the film. The trailer holds no punches back (pun intended) by showing off each of the Fantastic Four's powers. The new cut is decidedly more action-oriented and should help sway any potential moviegoers on the fence. Don't forget, this is the year for Michael B. Jordan.

Miles Teller, Kate Mara, Jamie Bell, and Toby Kebbell all star with Josh Trank directing. Fantastic Four will be in theaters on August 7th.


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[Teaser Trailer] Fantastic Four

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After months of little to no information on the upcoming reboot of Fantastic Four, the seal was broken yesterday when director Josh Trank divulged the first concrete information about the film in an exclusive interview with Collider. Today, the first footage of the film was released, hushing any doubters of the film that still might have the previous Fantastic Four films stuck in their brains.

Naturally, the teaser trailer doesn't show much, but it does establish the tone of the film, which Trank has gone on to describe as "hard sci-fi," which alludes to taking the comic's origin story and making it more grounded and realistic. Fans of the Ultimate Fantastic Four series may notice some similarities with this teaser, such as the think tank environment in which Reed Richards (Miles Teller) and Sue Storm (Kate Mara) are a part of.

With the proverbial cat out of the bag, expect tons more information in the months leading to Fantastic Four's theatrical release on August 7th.


Fantastic Four and X-Men

X-Men, Fantastic Four Film Crossover Won't Happen Anytime Soon

Marvel set the blueprint for unified film universes with Iron Man. Since then, they've made billions at the box office with every subsequent Marvel-related film tying into an overarching narrative. Some of the groundwork for The Avengers was placed in Iron Man, for example. Keeping to a cohesive narrative structure is something that involves tons of planning and forethought and can't simply be rushed through. However, some of the other studios aren't necessarily treating their properties with the same care, rushing through sequel and spin-off announcements like nothing.

It makes sense, then, that a Fantastic Four and X-Men crossover would happen sooner than later. They're both owned by Fox, and each film property is being written by Simon Kinberg. However, that's apparently not the case, if Kinberg's word is to be believed. During an interview with ScreenCrush, the writer was asked point-blank whether or not an FF/X-Men crossover would take place. His answer is somewhat surprising:

Well, it’s complicated. Because none of the X-Men movies have acknowledged the notion of a sort of superhero team — the Fantastic Four. And the Fantastic Four acquire powers, so for them to live in a world where mutants are prevalent is kind of complicated, because you’re like, “Oh, you’re just a mutant.” Like, “What’s so fantastic about you?” [...] No, it is, they live in discrete universes.

The logic behind his reasoning is hot and cold. On the one hand, yes, creating a universe that's already established itself as having mutants would neuter the Fantastic Four's rise as the premier superhero team/family. At the same time, this didn't stop Marvel from creating their universe full of mutants and superheroes. It makes better sense to have each property thrive on their own instead of lumping them all together (re: Batman vs. Superman) and contemplate a crossover down the line. Whatever the case may be, it'll be at least a few years before we see a Thing and Wolverine Fastball Special.

[ScreenCrush via /Film]


Film still of Toby Kebbell in RocknRolla

Toby Kebbell Cast as Doctor Doom in Fantastic Four Reboot

Josh Trank's Fantastic Four reboot is finally settling into form. Following the official casting of Michael B. Jordan (That Awkward Moment) as Johnny Storm/The Human Torch, Kate Mara (Transcendence) as Sue Storm/Invisible Woman, Jamie Bell (Nymphomaniac) as Ben Grimm/The Thing, and Miles Teller (The Spectacular Now) as Reed Richards/Mr. Fantastic, it's being reported that Toby Kebbell (Dawn of the Planet of the Apes) will be portraying the Fantastic Four's arch-nemesis, Victor Van Damme/Doctor Doom.

The Fantastic Four reboot will be primarily based on the Ultimate Fantastic Four line of books that re-imagined the staple Marvel 616 heroes as teenagers modernized for the current generation of fans. In the Ultimate FF universe, Sue, Reed, and Victor are young adult prodigies part of the Baxter Building's think tank devoted to the advancement of science and technology. After the cosmic event that give Sue, Reed, Ben, and Johnny their powers, the arc eschews away from the standard Marvel 616 continuity. Your Dad's Fantastic Four, this is not.

With Simon Kinberg's (X-Men: Days of Future Past) rewrites of the film's script, Trank's Fantastic Four should be infinitely better than 2005's Fantastic Four and its abysmal 2007 sequel, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer. With such a young cast at the core of the reboot, Fox has flexibility (and incentive) to re-build a Fantastic Four trilogy around them, furthering the Fox/Marvel film universe with a more cohesive, unified universe that could also see the X-Men sharing the same space. Let's just hope Fox doesn't go overboard with their plans in a desperate attempt to match the Disney/Marvel universe.

[via /Film]


Group shot of the Fantastic Four

Rumors: Jamie Bell And Kate Mara To Join Fantastic Four

Fox's Fantastic Four reboot has been rumored and pressed for info more than most other superhero movies, but it seems that the casting speculations are the closest they have ever been to being official.

According to Variety, Kate Mara just closed a deal to play Sue Storm/The Invisible Woman. Miles Teller seems to be the star withholding the rumors for awhile, and he finally has an offer from Fox to play Reed Richards/Mr. Fantastic. Jamie Bell will be Ben Grimm/The Thing, but no offer has been made yet. Michael B. Jordan has been attached to the project for awhile now to play Johnny Storm/The Human Torch. Miles Teller and Michael B. Jordan actually have a film out right now called That Awkward Moment.

While that work of theirs hasn't been doing so well critically, both have had brilliant performances recently with Teller in The Spectacular Now and Jordan in Fruitvale Station. The film is based on the Ultimate Fantastic Four comic books. It will focus around the lives of the heroes when they are younger. Josh Trank will be the director of the film. Fox's next goal in the next few weeks is to find someone to play the villain. The reboot is to be released June 19, 2015.

[via Variety]


Group shot of the Fantastic Four

Shortlist of actors for Fantastic Four reboot leaked

Rewrites to the Fantastic Four reboot may have stalled production a bit, but that hasn't stopped Fox execs from listing their actor preferences. The shortlist of actors Fox is considering for the film has leaked, and it features some very notable names.

As has been unofficially confirmed for quite some time, Michael B. Jordan (Chronicle) is the only one being considered for Johnny Storm (AKA The Human Torch), so his inclusion comes as no surprise. Miles Teller (The Spectacular Now), Kit Harington (Game of Thrones), and Jack O'Connell (Skins) are being considered for Reed Richards (Mr. Fantastic), while Saoirse Ronan (Hanna), Kate Mara (127 Hours), and Margot Robbie (The Wolf of Wall Street) are expected to audition for the role of Sue Storm (Invisible Woman). There's no word on who could portray Ben Grimm/The Thing just yet.

My personal vote for Mr. Fantastic goes to Miles Teller; the young, rising actor emanates a wise-beyond-his-years personality that fits Reed Richards perfectly; Sue Storm, however, is up in the air. If rumors are true that Saoirse Ronan did indeed audition for Star Wars Episode VII, that could conflict with Fantastic Four's production. Honestly, who would choose F4 over Star Wars? In saying that, I'd put my money down on Mara, if only because I'm not familiar with Robbie's work.

We're still a long ways away from casting being confirmed for this reboot of Marvel's first family, but it's good to see what Fox is considering.

[via /Film]


Josh Trank’s Fantastic Four reboot to be re-written by Simon Kinberg

The most recent Fantastic Four films were terrible. No amount of sugarcoating, charismatic Chris Evans quips, or Jessica Alba’s Jessica Alba-ness are enough to hide the fact that Fantastic Four and Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer were some of the worst films to come out of the Marvel and Fox partnership. With the success of Marvel Studios’ own films, Fox may be doing their best to ensure the properties still under their ownership (Fantastic Four and X-Men) are treated with the utmost respect… for a better box office return, of course.

When Chronicle came out last year, it was a surprising hit. Finally, a moderately budgeted superhero film that didn’t rely on an existing property or big name stars to sell tickets. Instead, smart writing, amazing editing, and one hell of a directorial debut were enough for the film to make a $126.6m return on a $12m budget. Following Chronicle’s success, Fox hired director Josh Trank to helm a proposed reboot of the Fantastic Four franchise last summer. However, besides murmurs of Michael B. Jordan being cast as one of the four, no other details have come out since.

Yesterday, it was announced that Simon Kinberg has been hired to make substantial rewrites to the film. Kinberg is no stranger to Fox’s stable of Marvel films as he has written the screenplays for X-Men: The Last Stand and the upcoming X-Men: Days of Future Past. While there’s still time for the film to meet its tentative Spring 2015 release date, the likelihood of the film being delayed into the summer is a lot higher. However, having Kinberg on board to tighten the script should be exactly what Fox needs to ensure this second attempt with Marvel’s first family goes smoothly.

[via /Film]