Marvel’s Fantastic Four has finally arrived on the big screen. More like Fox’s Fantastic Four. With a fresh twist to the series this year’s Fantastic Four is the exact opposite of the previous films from a decade ago. This take two on the franchise has been designed with future proofing its sequels by introducing younger talent, but that’s not where the film falls flat.
Miles Teller (Whiplash, Divergent) plays Reed Richards and the movie starts off in the character’s adolescence, which is a fresher approach to giving the appropriate background for the character. But there is a want for depth as the dialogue is completely lacking of emotion and feeling. Maybe not completely, but with the short small talk they attempt to pass off as unveiling or connecting, it just doesn’t work. The scene jumps are too worried about pushing the story along leaving a black hole to the dimensions missing within the personalities of our antagonist.
All this can be said for our female lead Sue Storm as well, portrayed by the wonderful Kate Mara (House of Cards, Transcendence). Her natural acting style, however brilliant, leaves Sue Storm with a lot to be imagined. There’s a lot going for the character, but amidst the rapid story development and editing, her layers reduce to a mere singularity.
Michael B. Jordan (Chronicle, Friday Night Lights) plays Johnny Storm. For a role Chris Evans played so well, almost perfectly, I was pleasantly surprised that Jordan filled those shoes left behind by Evans and then wore those shoes like it was senior prom. But like a really drunk prom date, Fox threw up all over those shoes.
Fortunately, there is some redemption in the character Ben Grimm, also known as The Thing, portrayed by Jamie Bell (Jumper). Bell Brings the depth – real angst, not that faux teenage angst Fox seemed to be going for with the incredibly young cast, but like I mentioned before, this is good future proofing for the sequels. And for the sake of Jamie Bell, there better be more than one.
It all comes together just a little too nicely. It’s hard to believe there will be sequels. But the good news here is that there’s only one way to go and that’s up. Shouldn’t be hard with the room they’ve left for improvement. All I can do now is wholeheartedly believe that the characters will be expanded upon and Fox finds the missing depth that seems to be lacking here. There’s so much potential, but very little kinetic energy.
A true fan won’t hesitate to see this movie. And you wouldn’t regret seeing it. Who knows? Maybe I’m overthinking it and it’s actually the best movie ever. Go see it for yourself and you be the judge. At least there’s some good fringy cg. Watch the awesome trailer below:
For an even longer trailer, go see the movie.
