My worst fears have come true. This reboot truly is DOOMED. "Change is coming"? Give me a break. You think that after we were unsatisfied with the two Fantastic Four movies from 2005 to 2007, there would have been some miracle with the super-powered foursome. Shame that it couldn't live up to the REAL superhero blockbusters of 2015: Avengers: Age of Ultron and Ant-Man. As much as found-footage superhero movie Chronicle was such a breakout hit in early 2012, Josh Trank's vision for a "David Croenenberg sci-fi horror type" of a superhero movie unfortunately didn't quite work for the more colorful heroes that can stretch, turn invisible, burst into flames, and get rocky or strong. The overall tone shouldn't be all dark and somber just because it "worked" in other fresher reboots since Batman Begins. It kinda makes the Fantastic Four lack any joyfulness and any feel that it's fun being a superhero! The flatlined, dreary atmosphere makes this 2015 reboot like Hulk 2003/Green Lantern 2011 bad when there is like too much quietness and all of that! But wait! Not only was the tone completely off for the team that should get along pretty well with the Avengers, the movie feels a bit... incomplete. It's no wonder the pacing is a bit completely forced the moment it shows the "one year later" caption. It has TOO MANY SCENES CUT OUT that would have properly developed the characters and the story! This is exactly what happened with The Last Airbender and Priest! You don't make the movies so abruptly short when they could have worked better as 2-hour long movies to provide a more coherent story! The third act of course could have had some proper changes to make it less anti-climatic! Guess that would explain the complications between Josh Trank and the studio when the reshoots were made. Was kinda hopin to see the Fantastic Four don their blue costumes like Miles Teller promised us! Ah. Guess he must've lied. Still want Ben/Thing to wear pants so that we don't mock his "nakedness". I highly recommend the Ultimate Fantastic Four comics, which the FAILED reboot was based on, more than what was brought to life on the big screen! Least they had a story despite the so-so illustrative comic book designs.
For the overall cast, they seemed pretty decent. But sadly, not for the four main characters. Miles Teller acts like he's not a worthy leader of the Fantastic Four. Since when did he just run off and then not come back to his friends after for a year just because the powers they were bestowed with are a "disease" to them? That should have been Ben Grimm's! And he calls himself "Mr. Fantastic". For the young Reed Richards, other than being scornfully dismissed by the teacher (voice of Homer Simpson, everybody!), I think there should have been more of those scenes where we see how he was treated by his father after trying out the interdimensional transporter prototype in the garage (like in the 1st Ultimate F4 comic book issue). Those of you who hated Ioan Gruffudd's REAL Mr. Fantastic (blame the mediocre script for the poor acting or the outdated stretching effects!) should reconsider their opinions! Kate Mara, prettier than she looks compared to her sister Rooney Mara or former Invisible Woman star (sex symbol is more like it) Jessica Alba, looked like she should've been promoted as Fantastic Four leader because of how bold she acts in her following scenes after receiving her invisibility/force field powers. And here is what I now call my least favorite F4 character of this so-called "superior reboot": Michael B. Jordan. No offense to non-racist purists, but I like Johnny Storm better when he is white, which truly makes it look like that Sue and Johnny ARE brother and sister, adopted or no! Making the Human Torch (name not said onscreen sadly) a black person feels completely... forced. He apparently lacked the hot shot maverick attitude that makes us like him more unlike how we feel towards Chris Evans, the REAL Human Torch. And one minute, he was feeling devastated as his newfound ability to go all flame on, then later he just immediately goes along with it like it was no problem. Completely forced. The "sibling" chemistry between Kate Mara and Michael Jordan (not the basketball player) doesn't strike me that they are related! Just like M Jordan doesn't appear to have a positive father-son bond with the monotone-voiced Dr. Franklin Storm, ANOTHER white character played by an "excellent" black actor! Again, it feels very forced unlike Michael Clarke Duncan's Kingpin, Idris Elba's Heimdall, and Kerry Washington's Alicia Masters! Reg E. Cathey, a good actor as he is, seems better off as a separate character specifically made for the movie. He may be a respectful (adoptive) father to Kate Mara's Sue Storm, but it's too bad that the way he speaks is not how I picture the REAL Dr. Franklin Storm in the comics, who I know cares so much of both Sue and Johnny. I feel like Jared Harris would have been a better Dr. Franklin Storm if Johnny Storm is changed back to white! And with him dead, there goes our only chance to see more of Cathey's Dr. Storm supporting the Fantastic Four along the way like his comic book counterpart does in the Ultimate comics! Among the quartet, Jamie Bell I feel deserve better! He feels like he's not part of the movie the way there is too much focus on Miles, Kate, Michael, and Toby in a few scenes prior to the interdimensional transportation experiment gone wrong part. I was so looking forward to more the Thing clobbering part, but instead of the said clobbering part that I was promised by the trailers, they were sadly only seen in the military footage after the abrupt "1 year later" transition. SERIOUSLY! With the excellent and more realistic motion-capture CGI on the Thing (in my opinion, way better than the obviously fake Thing makeup and costume worn by Michael Chiklis), there would have been a nice character arc for us to see Ben Grimm feeling tragic with his rocky form. And last but not least, Toby Kebbell as Dr. Doom. He is the one character I feel that Fox is NOT doing him justice besides Galactus! While he was not who I imagined him to be, least he was a lot more scary than the weak and miscast Julian McMahon. But I believe that this whole once-friend-now-enemy thing is getting old. He doesn't need to always be friends with the Fantastic Four and then get involved in their origin that involves them receiving their powers for the first time! Doesn't Fox understand that Doom is supposed to be the RULER OF LATVERIA instead of a young Latverian computer technician, once beloved by Dr. Franklin Storm, and having a crush on Susan Storm!? Then by the time he was brought back as the archenemy of the Fantastic Four that we know, his transition to a villain is obviously rushed without any buildup. And his evil motivations need to be much more clearer for us to admire him. Even if Dr. Doom was able to put up a fight with the four heroes unlike what Julian McMahon is SO BAD AT, he is unfortunately taken out too quickly! Come on Fox! You can't just introduce our favorite F4 villain and then kill him off immediately when there could have been at least some indication that should leave it open for his possible return as he is the most recurring villain of the Fantastic Four comics! This is exactly why Dr. Doom is better off in Marvel's hands if the Disney XD Ultimate Spider-Man/Avengers Assemble cartoons were able to use him!
And since this week's Fantastic Four failed to achieve the desired box office results like the studio had hoped, this is starting to feel like The Amazing Spider-Man 2 all over again. Maybe it was a bad idea to slate the June 2017 date for their yet-to-be-made sequel before the movie even came out this month! Despite Josh Trank wanting to make a "more edgier and grounded science fiction horror" Fantastic Four film, apparently his direction just doesn't satisfy us comic book fans. Regardless of his "unusual behavior" towards Fox for "meddling" with the movie based on his promising vision. Those of you who want Marvel's First Family to come back to the Marvel Cinematic Universe should hear this: Fox domestic distribution chief Chris Aronson had this to say about these numbers: "While we're disappointed, we remain committed to these characters and we have a lot to look forward to in our Marvel universe." I'm sorry, what? Fox still wants to keep the Fantastic Four rights until the end of time no matter how disappointing their F4 movies are becoming!!? Uh uh! Don't think so! If the movie bombs, then there shouldn't be a sequel coming already! How about make the same kind of deal with Marvel that Sony made to allow Spider-Man join the Avengers while the former retains control over him! Forget mixing the freakish X-Men mutants and the well-loved Fantastic Four together in one big movie! Once Fox had done so, Marvel could finally do the Fantastic Four, Dr. Doom, Silver Surfer, and Galactus done justice! The studio heads at Twentieth Century Fox should change their minds about permanently keeping the FF team away from Marvel!
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