Fantastic Four (2015)

2015’s “Fantastic Four”, directed by Josh Trank.

Starring Miles Teller, Michael B. Jordan, Kata Mara, Jamie Bell, Toby Kebbel, Reg E. Cathey, and Tim Blake Nelson.

The comic book cinematic revolution is fraught with peril. For every Avengers and X-Men series that gross billions, we also get orphans and fiascoes. It’s a stretch to call a franchise that has had 3 previous movies an orphan, but considering 2015’s “FF” is the third reboot of the comic franchise, you would hope that there is some improvement after so many attempts…

We’re taken back to a duo of teenagers (Teller and Bell), competing in science fairs. Teller and Bell attract the attention of E. Cathey, who is the head of a government sponsored program for teenage prodigies. The duo meet Mara, B. Jordan, and the wayward Kebbel, as they work on a Quantum Gate, a portal into a parallel dimension called “Planet Zero”. The 5 of them travel there, and are impacted by the dimension’s strange radiation. Kebbel initially gets left behind, only to show up later with a serious axe to grind. While B. Jordan (who can now fly and become engulfed in flame), Mara (who can become invisible and create force fields), and Bell (who now resembles a rock and is super strong and invincible) fall into the military as special soldiers, Teller (who can stretch his body to amazing lengths) flees into South America to hide, searching for a cure to the team’s powers while learning how to use them. When Kebbel returns, Teller is reunited with the group to combat Kebbel’s doom inspired powers. 

Those that claim they are tired of the formulaic structure of the majority of comic book movies could be rewarded by a viewing here, as “FF” takes at least an hour before getting into action, and has 2 (at the most) action sequences. Unfortunately, the clunky expositional dialogue that takes the place of superheroes fighting, leans heavily on the teenage angst variety. Sure, that’s the relative headspace of the characters’ respective ages, but the moods of the entire cast are one long brooding note, creating basically interchangeable characters. Ironically, this version of the group is more attuned to the reality of their respective situation than in the tepid 2005 and 2007 versions, but also lack the (minor) differences in characters that those versions had. I was a fan of director Josh Trank's 2012 "Chronicle", as it felt fresh and distinctive, a low budget audition reel for teenagers growing into adulthood with super powers schtick. Here, the adolescents who develop super powers theme is misused as they are recruited by the army to fight missions in the name of national security, but never in the name of  young adulthood.

It’s unfortunate that this version of “FF” could be the best of the series, as it’s strengths of straying from the tired comic book structure of rising and falling action every 25 minutes are disregarded due to one note characters doing baffling things with powers that aren’t really that inspiring. A stand alone film by accident, hopefully the gap between now and when an inevitable Hulk vs The Thing debut will be enough time to make the CGI convincing.

2.5/5

Trailer: Click Here.