FANTASTIC FOUR (6 out of 10) Directed by Josh Trank; Written by Josh Trank, Jeremy Slater and Simon Kinberg; Starring Miles Teller, Michael B. Jordan, Kate Mara, Jamie Bell and Reg E. Cathey; Rated PG-13 for sequences of intense action, and some suggestive content; Running time 106 minutes, In wide release August 7, 2015.
Based on the long running Marvel comics series, “Fantastic Four” is about a team of scientists, adventurers, and explorers of the unknown who happen to save the very universe more often than not. The film, directed by Josh Trank, takes more cues from the Ultimate iteration of the family. The film begins with Reed Richards (played in later years by Miles Teller) in school, promising to be the first human to teleport himself and it builds on the thrill of science and exploration from there.
He’s roped into his homemade science experiments Ben Grimm (played later by Jamie Bell), and the pair are able to affect small scale teleportation to a different dimension at their school science fair. Of course, this draws the attention of Franklin Storm and his Baxter Foundation. They give Reed resources to further his project and bring in Victor Von Doom to help him.
When the film focuses on this science and exploration and thrill of discovery, it works the best. Add to that the character relationships between the key members of the team and Doom, the film is actually solid in its first two acts. It builds logically and continues to spiral the web of character relation further. There’s tension between Doom and Sue Storm, tension between Reed and Sue, Johnny Storm fills his role, and eventually Ben gets brought back into the fold, further connecting those dots. There’s actually quite a bit of solid, subtle filmmaking in building these relationships. This is easily the period of the film I found the widest smile on my face.
The fact that they focused for so long on the characters and their dreams and the things they want to accomplish scientifically was refreshing to me. I’m so bored by mindless action sequences in films lately that serve nothing but for the sake of having an action sequence. This is more “The Social Network” than “Avengers” and I think it’s smart to differentiate the films in this way.
When the kids end up getting their powers, the film shifts gears for a reel into almost a horror film and is even able to keep me interested at that point with that turn.
It’s when it goes off the rails into traditional, yawn-inducing superhero third act fare that I began to check out.
For me, as a fan of the “Fantastic Four” for as long as I can remember, they’ve always worked best as a family, in relationship dramas, working to explore the unknown and push the boundaries of science. They were always superheroes further down the list. When they stuck to the science and the NASA-type work, I was riveted. After that it lost all cohesiveness.
The film definitely has problems, but it’s ambitious and tries to give us something different. Victor von Doom should have been left for another movie, when we could further explore his motivations. Reed should have continued to be the villain here through the third act of the film that didn’t even actually need a major “action” sequence. It could have used tension and suspense and the frustration of trying to accomplish goals and the breaking of the relationships to provide the climax. My suspicion is that maybe that’s what we would have got had the film not gone to such intensive reshoots.
Yes, there are dialogue issues. Yes, some of the acting is silly. Yes, there are problems with the villain’s motivations (which is why I think we should have been reintroduced to him in another film). No. This movie isn’t great, but by no means is it deserving of the ire other critics have been giving it (including my fellow robot’s 0 out of 10 review). It dared to try something different and when it was there, it was refreshing and fun. When it tried to be like every other cookie cutter superhero movie, it descended into the absurd.
It certainly soars above the last two versions of the film, and I’d say it will probably age better than “The Dark Knight Rises” or the “Amazing Spider-Man” films. And it tried to accomplish something ambitious. I’ll take an ambitious failure over the safe route any old day of the week. I hope Fox and Simon Kinberg learn from what works and what doesn’t in this film and give us a sequel with this cast that doubles down on that exploration and excitement of discovery.
I’m giving this film a 6 out of 10. It’s ambitious, but ultimately mediocre. I want a sequel with a stronger sense of fun and scientific wonder without the trappings of trying to make it into a thing it’s not. Get them out, exploring the unknown where they belong, not punching stuff.
Except for the Thing.
Let him clobber everything.