MOVIE REVIEW – FANTASTIC FOUR

You know things are bad for a film when the director apologizes and throws all the suits involved under the bus. Such is the case for the re-imagining of the Fantastic Four by director Josh Trank. Ever since the first casting news circulated around the Internet and was met with general concern and disappointment, any hope for this project was all but gone. I think Fantastic Four was DOA (dead on arrival). Which is sad, because as passionate as we are about our comic book films and adaptations of the characters, I strongly believe we are also open-minded enough to give it a chance. Warning spoilers ahead…


This re-imagining is more like Marvel’s version of the Ultimate’s comic book line. It’s like an alternate universe type of story. The biggest problem had nothing to do with the casting. I was neither impressed nor disappointed with the young casting of Miles Teller (as Reed Richards), Kate Mara (Susan Storm), Michael B. Jordan (Johnny Storm) and Jamie Bell (Ben Grimm/The Thing). I get the idea of using a young cast to make this appeal to a 20-something crowd. But the script never gave them enough for their characters to shine and it only hindered the talents behind these characters. The main problem is in the story itself or the lack of. I just didn’t care or fully understood and you get a sense from the audience that they didn’t care or understand either.  


The long and the short of it is that Reed Richards is recruited by Dr. Franklin Storm to join the Baxter Institute and work on a teleportation device that he had been overseeing after Victor Von Doom (Toby Kebbell) had originally started but left due to conflicts with the government suits. Franklin convinces Victor to come back and work with Reed to finish the project. After a successful test run that shows that the machine works and is safe, things go terribly wrong when Reed, Victor, Johnny and Ben take the machine for a joy ride to explore Planet Zero of the other dimension before the government takes over the device for good.  The thought here was to be the first humans to explore the planet and plant a flag. Sounds like a good idea at the time.

While on the planet, Reed and Victor’s curiosity causes an unknown energy force to erupt like lava and “attack” them. The CGI here is just dreadful. Victor is lost and presumed dead and as the others fight to get back, this energy force forever changes them including Sue who was trying to bring them back from the other side. As expected, the government does take over and uses them as military pawns. I did like how Reed Richards looked all stretched out and how Johnny looked as the Human Torch and I especially liked The Thing. But that’s as far as it goes.


About a year or so goes by and when a team of scientist go back to Planet Zero to study it, they discover they are not alone. Victor Von Doom is very much alive. They make the mistake of bringing him back and all hell breaks loose. Reed, with the help of Sue as the Invisible Woman, Johnny and Ben band together to stop Victor and save Earth. 

Fantastic Four is the worst kind of mediocrity. Meaning, that there was some hints of a viable story and character development that you wanted to see emerge and then the proverbial rug gets pulled from right under us. It would have been so much easier if it was just plain terrible. This reboot makes the one with Chris Evans and Jessica Alba look like a classic. Yup, I went there.

We all know that the only film properties left that are not under Marvel’s full control is the X-Men and the Fantastic Four which are controlled by Fox. While the X-Men have had both commercial successes as well as critical ones, Fantastic Four has not. I do wish that someday these film properties can return to Marvel Studios. Then, perhaps a better, more definitive Fantastic Four can be made. They are considered the first family of comics and deserve a better representation.
Directed by: Josh Trank
Starring: Miles Teller, Kate Mara, Michael B. Jordon, Jamie Bell and Toby Kebbell
PG-13 106 Mins
Fantastic Four – **1/2 (out of 5 stars)
May the Dork be with you,
JPB

The Dork Knight
About The Dork Knight 520 Articles
James aka “The Dork Knight” is a blogger and writer based out of Upstate New York. For James, it all started with a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away… when he dragged his mom to see The Empire Strikes Back 10 weeks in a row. He lives and breathes nerd culture. James is proof that a Star Wars fanatic can be a passionate Trekkie as well. So much so James dressed up as Captain Kirk to the premiere of Star Trek VI in 1991 and still has the uniform. When it comes to Comic Books, Sci-Fi or Fantasy whether in print or digital, in the theatre or on my TV screen, I’m all about it and I love it. So bring your Phaser (set to stun), Lightsaber, Sonic Screwdriver, a Wand, Mjolnir or the Ring to rule them all, because this site is for the dork in all of us.