I will admit that I was not looking forward to seeing Fantastic Four and one of the reasons I wanted to attend Cineworld's unlimited screening of it 3 days ahead of release, was to get it out of the way.
I had no problem with the studio changing the colour of Johnny Storm's pre-firey skin. In honesty I didn't really have a problem with the studio re-telling the story with a much younger cast. After all, if they were going to re-make the story as an origin film, a younger cast would be needed. No, my problem was that we didn't need this film at all.
In an age where strong female characters seem to be getting shafted out of superhero movies, we didn't need a remake of an existing franchise. What we need is a female lead superhero movie. There. I said it.
Now let's get to the synopsis so I can really start tearing a hole in Fox's reboot and why it really didn't work.
We open on a young Reed Richards who needs a power converter for his teleportation device. He starts a highly unlikely friendship with tough kid Ben Grimm and together they zap a toy car to who-knows-where. Skip a few years and Reed is at the forefront of teleportation technology and on the brink of being able to send matter to another dimension. After making a breakthrough and getting hammered, Reed, Ben, Johnny and Victor Von Doom decide to take a joy ride in the teleporter and boldly go to the other dimension to explore. Needless to say it all goes horribly wrong, and in the process they lose Victor and all exhibit 'powers' upon their return. Including Sue Storm who wasn't part of the landing party but was in the lab when they all returned looking slightly worse for wear. Skip to the end and after a more sensible party is sent to the other dimension, Victor is found. And surprise surprise, he's pissed. Wonder why?
This was an origin story where they seemingly couldn't actually be bothered to tell the story. The early scenes of Reed and Ben could have been really in depth, building not only their relationship with each other, but also allowing the audience in on that too. Instead, the whole film just seems rushed, and like none of the characters have been properly developed. The drunken mission just seems incredibly unlikely given the people involved are supposedly some of the worlds brightest minds, and poor Sue, being the woman of the hour here is given virtually nothing to do for the whole film except listen to music.
The end fight scene comes around far too quickly and is over before it begins. I will give the film it's due and say that at least it isn't a scene for scene remake of the 2005 Fantastic Four, but it also doesn't improve on that film either. And for a movie that is being made 10 years later I expect leaps and bounds, not baby steps.
Like I said at the start of the review, I had no problem in the changes made to Johnny Storm's character from the original comic book creation. Characters can evolve from their original intentions. Evolution is all good. But there was one major change to a character that I just couldn't get on board with. Billy Elliot as Ben Grimm. Come on Fox, what the hell were you thinking? Ben is supposed to be the muscle. You said it yourself in the trailer. So why cast the shortest and skinniest actor you could find? It makes no sense at all.
My cinema buddies commented on how it would have been nice to see some scenes of them coming to grips with their powers, how they controlled them, mishaps along the way etc, and I agree. Any kind of character development on the part of any of the characters would have been nice. But we weren't given that opportunity. It's time to give the toys back to Marvel now Fox. You've had your chance twice, and you're clearly not making the most of what you've been given.
Please can we have a Black Widow movie now to counteract this crap? 2 out of 10.
Viewing Date - 4th August 2015
UK Release Date - 6th August 2015
Cast Overview:
Miles Teller ~ Reed Richards
Kate Mara ~ Sue Storm
Toby Kebbell ~ Victor Von Doom
Michael B Jordan ~ Johnny Storm
Jamie Bell ~ Ben Grimm
Reg E Cathey ~ Dr Franklin Storm
Tim Blake Nelson ~ Dr Allen
Director ~ Josh Trank
Writers ~ Simon Kinberg (Screenplay), Jeremy Slater (Screenplay), Josh Trank (Screenplay). Based on characters by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby.
No comments:
Post a Comment