Second Look - Fantastic Four (2015)

Following the failure of the second Fantastic Four film, Rise of the Silver Surfer, Fox would later announce a reboot of the series (seemingly for the purpose of holding onto the rights as the MCU was taking off), simply titled Fantastic Four (2015) (Fant4stic). This film, directed by Josh Trank of Chronicle fame, would be the subject of an infamously troubled production that exposed the limitations of studio secrecy regarding comic book films, resulting in a box office disaster that I witnessed firsthand in the theater. Although I did not like the movie when it first came out, enough to believe it made the 2005 film look like a masterpiece by comparison, I decided to revisit it alongside the original duology, opting to stream it through Max. Needless to say, my opinion did not change much in the decade since my first viewing.

In grade school, Reed Richards (Owen Judge) has been working on a teleporter, which fascinates his classmate Ben Grimm (Evan Hannemann) enough to assist him in this endeavor, resulting in a somewhat successful test run. In their teenage years, Reed (Miles Teller) and Ben (Jamie Bell) have perfected the technology and enter it into a school science fair, which somehow gets them disqualified, but attracts the attention of Professor Franklin Storm (Reg E. Cathey) of the Baxter Foundation, along with his adopted daughter Susan (Kate Mara). The two are given the opportunity to aid in the development of a larger-scale version to explore an alternate dimension, with help from Johnny Storm (Michael B. Jordan) and Victor Von Doom (Toby Kebbell), the latter of whom came up with the original design for the teleporter.

In an attempt to not sound overly harsh, I will say that I got what the film was trying to do in its depiction of Reed Richards and Ben Grimm’s childhoods, showing how they bonded as kids despite their differences. However, there is some seeming influence from the divisive Man of Steel, including a needlessly darker tone, such as depicting The Thing’s iconic line “It’s Clobberin’ Time” stemming from bullying from Ben’s older brother and a teacher dismissing the life-altering discovery of teleportation as a parlor trick. On top of that, despite being close friends, Ben doesn’t stay with Reed when the latter moves to New York City for the experimentation, making his involvement later feel a little less organic. The Man of Steel influence permeates the rest of the film as well, with the most extreme example being that The Thing now has a body count (43 confirmed on-screen, possibly more).

 

Zack Snyder would be proud.

 

The biggest detriment to the story, however, is the odd pacing, which makes its 100-minute runtime feel almost like an eternity. Certain plot points feel like they take too long to get going, the biggest being that it takes roughly 46 minutes for the team to get their powers, as well as Dr. Doom not showing up again until about the last 25 minutes and the final battle not occurring until about the last 17 (counting when the team step foot back on Planet Zero). Although I am trying to look at Fant4stic on its own merits, I can’t help but think about how much more efficient the 2005 film was, with the theatrical cut giving the team their powers in roughly 14 minutes and giving Dr. Doom some much-needed additional screentime to properly understand his motivations. On top of this, Fant4stic follows the “beam of light” final boss trend in superhero (and some non-superhero) films at the time and has some additional questionable developments (ex. If Victor is able to create a portal between dimensions on Planet Zero, why didn’t he do that sooner to get back home?).

One thing the movie does get credit for is the quality of the visual effects, in that they are much better on a technical level in comparison to the 2005 version, with Mr. Fantastic and The Human Torch in particular looking much more realistic. It’s a shame, however, that there was not enough screentime left for the team to actually use their powers very much, leaving very little of the technological advancements to actually show off. I will also say that, although I think the CG used for The Thing is really good, I still find the practical effects used for the 2005 iteration to hold up better due to how impressive they are even today. While I generally don’t mind costume design changes between interpretations, one can’t help but notice how the team don’t wear anything even remotely resembling their iconic outfits from the comics and that The Thing is oddly naked the whole time. On that note, I can’t unsee, nor disagree with, the criticism that Dr. Doom’s design looks more like a hobo wearing a trash bag.

 

Not the best costume designs for the team.

 

As far as the casting is concerned, the actors do a pretty good job with the film’s interpretations of the characters, though some like Jamie Bell and Tony Kebbell don’t get as much of a chance to do anything. From what I’ve seen of his filmography, Michael B. Jordan is not a bad actor by any means, however I felt that he was simply not a good fit for Johnny Storm; while his characterization wouldn’t exactly fly today, I thought Chris Evans had a more memorable personality in the Tim Story films, reinforced by his more recent portrayal in Deadpool & Wolverine.

Of the Fantastic Four films released so far, Fant4stic is easily the worst from a storytelling standpoint, even on its own merits. Even for hardcore fans of the comics, I would not recommend this movie at all unless you want to see why it was so heavily panned and/or want to form your own opinion.