Fantastic Four (2015)
Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
Directed By: Josh Trank
Ten years ago Fox showed us a low point in superhero cinema with the release of Tim Story's Fantastic Four. The movie was campy, cheesy, uninspired and just all around dull, and then it got a sequel and something we thought couldn't get anymore painful, did. They destroyed the Silver Surfer and made a mockery of the source material, but we all forgot about it and gave it a pass considering it was from a time when studios didn't know how to handle these kinds of movies. Well, it has been a decade and the superhero genre is now the pinnacle of Hollywood blockbusters. With X-Men flourishing it was no surprise Fox would give another go-around with Marvel's original team of supers. They set it up perfectly too, they brought in young visionary director Josh Trank and loaded him up with a cast of some of the hottest up and coming actors around. Then the behind the scenes drama started pouring out and this movie seemed to never catch a break in the media. I remained positive however, I love the people they brought on to this project and the trailers made the movie look great, and then I saw it.
The film opens with a young Reed Richards in his grade school days ranting to his classmates about how he is going to be the first person in history to teleport himself. Not only that but he claims to have already built the prototype in his garage and with the help of Ben Grimm and his dads scrap yard Richards might actually be able to make it work. After the two send a toy car to god knows where the film cuts to seven years later when Reed (Miles Teller) is now a senior in high school. Hes built a larger version of his original machine and can now teleport matter to and from and unknown location, something Franklin Storm (Reg E. Cathey) has been trying to accomplish for years.
After accepting a position on their project at The Baxter Building he begins working on a machine that will take them to another dimension, one that could supply this world with new energy and unlimited resources. After he successfully builds the machine with the help of Dr. Storms two kids Sue (Kate Mara) and Johnny (Michael B. Jordan), as well as the man who started this project Victor Von Doom (Toby Kebbell) they drunkenly decide to take the machine for a test ride themselves. Tragedy strikes on the maiden voyage however and the crew return home with some altered biology. They all display a unique set of abilities and as always seems to be the case, the government now has plans to use them as weapons.Caught in the middle of a moral debate these four must now decide if they are going to let this tragedy destroy their lives or define them.
It's difficult to label this movie as bad, the movie is definitely a mess but there are so many signs of brilliance scattered throughout that by the time its over you don't really know what to think. The first act of the film is solid, I loved the flashback to young Reed Richards and Ben Grimm and thought it set the movie off on the perfect note. The film does a nice job of introducing you to the characters early on and giving you a handle on who exactly each of them are. Unfortunately once they all come together this is all lost and its hard to find much chemistry between them. It felt like every time something was just starting to get interesting or a character was beginning to develop more the film would cut away before we ever got any pay off. The whole movie felt like Fox had no faith in Trank's vision so they cut it down to something they thought would be serviceable to the fans.
Miles Teller, Jamie Bell, Kate Mara, Michael B. Jordan, and Toby Kebbell all give great performances in the first half of this film and are actually a lot of fun to watch on screen together. Then the second half comes around and it feels like it were written by someone else entirely. The dialogue turns from intelligent wit into cheesy and cringe worthy moments that are hard to believe came from the same people who wrote the first two acts. It's hard to believe you could have this much talent together on screen and not produce wonderful art, but once again Fox has found a way to do it.
I can't put the blame on Trank's direction or Kinberg's writing because this wasn't the complete film they had wanted to give us. At a staggeringly short one hundred minutes this film never even got a chance to get its story off the ground and moving. Whatever vision these guys had for this film was completely gutted in post and edited down to a shell of a superhero movie that they somehow thought would be "good enough". The film boats some great VFX work too as the entire team look incredible in action and the alternate world they visit is beautiful. Sadly however, we never get to see too much of these guys actually using their powers in a fight. The bulk of the action is in the final scene and it's over before you even knew it began, in turn wasting one of the coolest villains in comic book lore, Dr. Doom.
When the credits rolled last night the only thing I could bring myself to say was "well, some of it was really awesome, right?". They laid the groundwork for a great film but were never given the chance to bring that vision to fruition and because of that this picture is all over the place. Still, there was enough for me to have fun with in the film and the characters are developed just enough that I don't necessarily want to see this team die with one film. If Fox can realize their mistakes and bring on another great film maker and give them full freedom this time to make the Fantastic Four film they want to and I feel this property could easily be re-birthed. This is still the best F4 movie we have seen yet (not that it says much) and as long as it doesn't completely tank at the box office this weekend I think we might still see the X-Men crossover we have all been teased about. Could that save the franchise? I don't know but if not they should just wave the white flag and begin making deals with Marvel studios.
As always, thanks for reading and I am Zach Who Watches Movies. You can find me anytime on twitter @ZachWWMovies, smell ya later!
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