Les 4 Fantastiques

... about the first family of Marvel Comics. A lot of the story lines and characters have been switched around "for a modern sensibility". Teenage genius Reed Richards (Miles Teller) and his high school buddy Ben Grimm (Jamie Bell) build a working inter-dimensional matter transporter, which naturally brings them to the attention of Dr. Franklin Storm (Reg E. Cathey) and his super-science team, who are attempting to do the same thing but on a larger scale.

Reed is brought into the research team, joining Storm's adoptive genius daughter Sue (Kate Mara) and hot-headed son Johnny (Michael B. Jordan), as well as brooding genius Victor Von Doom (Toby Kebbell). Reed, Ben, Johnny and Victor use the transporter to travel to the other dimension, where things go wrong, Victor is lost, and the others are brought back changed (Sue is also altered upon the return of the others). From here the story gets bad really quickly, as the government takes them captive, and some go on the run, and others fight with the army.

Suffice it to say, that as bad as the previous film adaptation went, this is much worse, and fails to get a single aspect of the story or the characters right, or even makes an interesting or compelling film for those who don't know the comic book backstory. This flopped hard at the box office, and plans for a series were thankfully scrapped. Also featuring Tim Blake Nelson. Directed by Josh Trank, although many stories of behind-the-scenes chaos and extensive re-shoots draw into question how much was done by whom. From 20th Century Fox.

Fantastic Four started catching my eye in the casting stage. Seemingly not giving a damn about the source material, it was refreshing to see those kind of balls especially from Marvel. While I welcome Michael B. Jordan as The Human Torch, I wish I could say the same thing about the rest of the film. Fantastic Four is merely a reboot that loses its steam after the first act. Coming in at just over an hour and a half, the film is a rushed piece of reject summer movie drab. The characters are paper thin and about 10 years too young for their respective roles. The visual effects are far from stunning, especially The Thing, whose transformation into the ghastly beast is something closer to a PS2 game than an actual film with a $100 million price tag. Miles Teller proves here that his performance in Whiplash is truly a fluke. As Mr. Fantastic, he struggles to sound like he knows what he is talking about. Perhaps a little more rehearsal time and a little less focus on that cheap looking silver streak in his hair could have benefited him. Kate Mara as Susan Storm is about as idiotic as it can get. Mara is a great actress, there's no other way about it but Kate Mara as Susan Storm is terrible and borderline embarrassing. The biggest shock here in this film is where all the controversy started...Michael B. Jordan as The Human Torch. Jordan's ability to be a badass likable gear head is insanely good. He's the best part of this film by far. If there is anyone that could single handedly carry this film on their back, it is him. The film overall is too dark for Fantastic Four and too shallow for Marvel which leaves it drifting somewhere between ridiculous and not necessary...and at times, both. If there's any movie to see this summer, I can assure you, Fantastic Four is NOT it.

I went into this movie with hope and optimism and not put off by the negative light shone towards it. An hour and 40 minutes later, I left feeling empty and unsatisfied. Comic book films are supposed to make you feel inspired, but not this one.

So what is wrong with it? One word – chemistry. In any superhero team/ensemble there should be great character interactions and a feeling that these guys can effectively make a team, never mind a ''fantastic'' team. The best team movies all have characters playing off each other as in the Avengers and X-Men.  However, there is zero chemistry between any of the F4. We see an attempt at some early romance between Reed and Sue which doesn't go anywhere. Johnny Storm is billed as a genius but troubled kid however we never see why he has a high IQ, he is just shifted in to make up the numbers. We never see him form any sustainable bond with any of the others. Ben Grimm also appears as an outsider, brought in with little sense to the project to fill the final slot. The chemistry between the original F4 (2005) was MUCH better whereas here they feel like 4 individuals.

 

The climatic battle takes place in the most boring environment that you can imagine. It is over within 10 minutes, with not much ingenuity to overcome a half decent attempt at Dr Doom, who at first seems very intimidating. This film will be quickly forgotten and the question isn't whether a sequel will be made or whether it will cross over with X-Men, but is the original Fantastic 4 film a better watch than this depressing, dull comic book movie. Final score 5.5/10

So I was contemplating if I should watch this a few months ago and I said no. The fantastic 4 looks like high school kids... WTH is this! It already looks horrible.

I came home from work today and wanted to watch a movie. There was nothing on so I decided eh fantastic 4. There's nothing else to watch, how bad can this be...

I just wasted 2 hours of my life I can't get back..... very disappointed.... I have never wrote a review on IMDb before, but this movie just did it for me. The 2005 movie was 10 times better than this, why would you ruin fantastic four..

They go to another dimention, they get their powers, then Doctor Doom shows up, they fight him and it's over. There's practically nothing else.

We never see them learn to use their powers, we never see them getting to know each other, we rarely see the four together for most of the movie. All of that is skipped. We're told it happened, but we never see it, only glimpses of it in the backround.

There's some good scenes. The cast is good. The effects are good. It is composed of scenes that belong in a good movie, but lacks all of the esential pieces to make it a good movie. The end result is just really bland and boring. It's not even worth getting mad about; It's just kinda sad.