REVIEW: Fantastic Four
This review contains spoilers!
Directed by Josh Trank, 'Fantastic Four' is a contemporary re-imagining of Marvel's superhero team. It centers on four young outsiders who travel 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.
As i write this review, the Rotten Tomatoes score is showing 11% after 52 reviews. Wow, must be a real stinker, right? Wrong. The summary next to the score says "a woefully misguided attempt to translate a classic comic series without the humor, joy, or colorful thrills that made it great." Made what great? The comic that is now cancelled due to poor sales or the previous two films that everyone loves hating on? The same mouth breathers can't admit that if those films were part of the MCU, they'd praise the shit out of them. Instead they cry man child tears for Fox to hand the rights back to their beloved Marvel Studios.
For the past 6 months, the ill will towards this new production reached epic levels, even before the first trailer. The closet racist millennial hipsters were out in force on the internet, all because Johnny Storm was to be played by a black man. And apparently the big scoop that Doctor Doom would be renamed Victor Domashaev, a hacker with the username DOOM. This rumor refused to die, but completely shot down in the first 20 minutes of the film. He IS from Latveria, his name IS Victor Von Doom, he IS a scientist. Now, please. Shut. The. Fuck. Up.
Did i enjoy the film myself? Yes, mostly. Josh Trank brings intelligence and realism, which some comic film fans refuse to accept. The dark tone and light humour were balanced throughout, unlike the mess that can be Marvel's cinematic universe. With an almost 50s sci-fi vibe, there's a refreshing approach here that is in contrast to the safe, by the numbers direction of recent Marvel efforts.
The character development was spot on. Well written with sympathy, empathy and chemistry. The confident but nerdy Reed (Miles Teller) was believable as a child prodigy now realizing his dream. Johnny (Michael B. Jordan) and his adopted sister Sue (Kate Mara) share a strained relationship but respect each other. The Thing's (Jamie Bell) journey from bullied kid to becoming a horrific weapon of war by the military is a sympathetic one. And Victor (Toby Kebbell) is a moody anti hero at first, but turns into an intense, brain exploding, scary ass villain.
Of course there are issues with the film, big ones, but does it deserve the kind of hate expressed by critics as if the film punched their mothers? The 'one year later' point in the story after great build up is lazy and jarring. The chopped up structure feels like studio meddling. Rumours now suggest that Fox pulled three action scenes from the script just days before production started, leaving Trank annoyed. Also, the third act was edited behind the director's back. It shows, the sudden comic action in the final act felt rushed and dumbed down, with sloppy CGI. A disappointing end to a promising start.
We'll need to wait and see what happens now. Fox must have been confident at one point as they announced plans for a sequel after a solid first trailer (which consists of several scenes not in the film) but closer to release they embargoed reviews, what happened? For now, don't believe the hate, but the fallout to this mess is fascinating.
