You never want a movie to be bad, you go in the movie house hoping for a good movie experience and being the optimist that I am, I really had high hopes for this one. Heck- I even wrote a whole piece on why this Fantastic Four reboot matters. Unfortunately, Marvel's first superhero family has yet to have a good movie adaptation still.
Marvel has had a series of successful movies thanks to their tried and tested formula (action + humor + relatable characters + relevant to the times) 2015's Fantastic Four veers away from this formula as they bring a darker, edgier feel to the 1960's comic to the screen. While I would applaud Director Josh Trank for taking this gamble I would have to say that good movies is like baking a cake, all the ingredients should be precisely measured in order for you to enjoy a delicious dessert. It seems that in the goal to have a different superhero movie, Fantastic Four suffers with the obvious lack of humor and action sequences that make people want to see super hero movies in the first place. While I could have pardoned the absence of a few laughs and my jaw dropping to amazing action sequences, for a younger, darker and edgier story, it was the long and dragging plot that finally broke this camel's back. There was so much back story at the expense of an "actual" story, it progresses really, really, slowly, peaks a little as it nears the end, then just ends.
The only saving grace in the movie? A really bad ass Doctor Doom with skills worthy of a Mortal Kombat "Finish Him" move. There was some improvement with The Thing's look, leaving the spandex for a bigger and bulkier build. Alas, he doesn't really get to clobber much of anything in this movie.
I already wrote about bringing the modern family dynamic with the interracial adaptation of Sue, so I'll just mention it here that was something that did impress me, so I'll just leave that here in the what-was-good-about-the-movie-paragraph.
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| "There is no Victor - just Doom" |
We see the friendship of Reed Richards and Ben Grimm in the film but even that back story fails to really warm any hearts. Even Johhny Storm's strained relationship with his father won't have you trying to stop a sniffle in the movie house.
Sue Storm is depicted as someone who loves music (it helps her think) but from someone who loves music as well, I really wanted to know what kind of music was she listening to? Is she into EDM? Does she prefer Calvin Harris or Zedd? Maybe Steve Aoki? Or is she more of an Ed Sheeran-Taylor Swift kind of girl? Is she on Spotify? They could have used that angle for a great OST. Just my two cents.
All in all, the story failed to put "being human" in the characters. Yeah Johhny Storm is on Instagram but that wasn't enough.
The 2005 Fantatsic Four was a box office success despite it being bad but they still had the 2007 Silver Surfer sequel. The 2015 take on the franchise feels like a really long prequel to what could possibly be a more action filled sequel, (I would like to see more of the teamwork and how their abilities will play off each other) should Fox decide on taking that direction. I also missed the whole Fantatisc Four family dynamic where Ben and Johnny squabble like siblings, Sue plays mommy and Reed is the Dad with the corny jokes. Will we get to see that in a Fantastic Four movie that is actually good? Only time can tell but one thing is for sure...the third time is not the charm for this franchise. Could it be the fourth? They are called Fantastic Four after all.
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