It is difficult to watch a film reboot without comparing it to its predecessor; with Marvel Studios raising the bar on the Super Hero genre, Fox’s Fantastic Four has a small margin of error. Unfortunately, Marvel’s first family never quite takes off the way it plans. Similar to Reed Richard’s inter-dimensional bio matter shuttle, there are several hiccups.
Unlike the first two movies, this version of Fantastic Four follows the Ultimate Universe origin, where the four gain their powers traveling through Reed’s inter-dimensional shuttle. We’re guided along the films’ narrative from the perspective of Reed Richard (Miles Teller); this is where, coincidentally, the first problem with the movie reveals itself. Fantastic Four suffers from an unnecessarily long origin story with a chaotically flat payout. The film seems as if it’s dragging its feet by taking almost 45 minutes for the group to gain their powers. On top of that, another 20 minutes passes before any of them start using said powers. This creates Fantastic Four’s biggest issue. The film focuses far too much of its energy on creating the origin story, and chooses to neglect, not only character development and personality but, building a team dynamic. Oddly enough this missing element is what separates the Fantastic Four from their solo-costumed counterparts.
Not once was it even remotely believable that these four were a team. Even the relationship between Sue Storm (Kata Mara), Dr. Franklin Storm’s (Reg E. Cathey) adopted daughter, and Johnny Storm (Michael B. Jordan) lacks the feeling of being genuine. The relationship these four are implied to have comes off as forced and borderline unbelievable, at various points in the film. Ben Grimm (Jamie Bell) serves as a physical presence more than anything with poorly written one-liners, used solely to remind the audience that his character is present. Yet, despite all of this, we’re supposed to believe that he and Reed are best friends even though they’re never shown together once Reed joins the Baxter Institution. This is especially disheartening due to the fact that Miles Teller and Michael B. Jordan shared a great on-camera chemistry in 2014’s That Awkward Moment; the opportunity for great team building banter was surely missed in this film.
As far as plot goes, the film yet again isn’t too sure of what exactly it is doing. The initial problem is building a functioning inter-dimensional shuttle, which they manage to do first try. Reed runs away once things go awry and a year goes by. There was a lack of a real conflict that gives the feel of a super hero film until the very end of the film when Dr. Doom (Toby Kebell) is revealed. Let it be known that his unveiling is so underwhelming that by the time the movie credits roll you never feel the true gravity of villainy. Not only that, his design is ridiculous and so unidentifiable that you don’t know this is Dr. Doom just by looking at him. To make matters worse, the film completely throws his powers and abilities out the window and replace them with this ability to manipulate objects with his mind.
Fantastic Four suffers from an abundance of missed opportunities; not once did it come close to the mark, even having been given all of the chances in the world. It took too long to get to the point and never took the time to allow viewers to gain a relationship with the characters. Half way through the film, I began to wonder whether or not Stan Lee was going to make one of his infamous cameos. When it came to the end without seeing Stan Lee, it became abundantly clear that even he couldn’t take part in this fantastic disaster. Fantastic Four is so dull that it is flat out unwatchable. With a monotonous origin and weak character establishment Marvel’s first family feels more like they are having a cocktail party than a super powered family saving the world.
