Fantastic Four (2015): Review
THE FANTASTIC FOUR, a contemporary re-imagining of Marvel’s original and longest-running superhero team, centers on four young outsiders who teleport to an alternate and dangerous universe, which alters their physical form in shocking ways. Their lives irrevocably upended, the team must learn to harness their daunting new abilities and work together to save Earth from a former friend turned enemy.
I kept quiet about what I thought about this reboot being made mainly because I try not to pass judgement until I see the full product. Everyone has been voicing their opinion on the film since it was announced and I really didn’t want to have any part of those conversations. Now that the movie is out my personal embargo has been lifted. I’ve been secretly rooting for this movie just for the fact that I usually like every superhero movie…..even the “not so great” ones but then something surprising happened. This film was really and truly….not great. From the looks of it it had good intentions but just didn’t deliver. I liked the way that they pulled their origin story from the Ultimate Fantastic Four comics although I thought it was a bit too truncated in the wrong places. They could’ve cut certain scenes out to show story elements that were more personal to each character in order for us to care a bit more for the group. That was one of the biggest problems. I just didn’t care about any of them that much. They were all just….there. It’s a shame too because all of the actors involved are fantastic but they just weren’t utilized properly. The setup of the film took about 40 minutes or so and that was definitely too long to show them without any sort of powers. The one thing that I do applaud was the way they gained their powers. It wasn’t the typical way that we’ve always seen and was a bit more gruesome which I dug. After that they time jumped to “1 year later” and they were already adjusted to their powers and that kind of upset me. They missed a big chunk of story telling there where they could’ve showed them adapting to their new lives. THAT would’ve made me care about them more. Another thing was the reworking of Dr. Doom. Character wise I thought it was fine but as far as design goes they should’ve kept a more traditional look. They made him look very much like an android with beady eyes. Those eyes bothered me A LOT. The final act was really short and didn’t feel as impactful as other superhero films and just felt like it was kind of bland. There was nothing there that made me say “Wow!”. In the end this was a film that had glimpses of good intentions but ultimately fell flat. In fact, if you want to see a more entertaining Fantastic Four movie you might as well look at the previous two. At least you’ll have a fun time watching them. 4/10
