Fantastic 4 Review: There Is No Fun, Only Gloom

Now that the original Human Torch has upgraded to the rank of Captain, and with Marvel Studios endeavouring to regain all their lost and sold off characters rights, it was inevitable that Fox Studios would conjure up a reboot to keep the snapping hounds of Marvel from the Baxter Building doors.

The plot for this Fantastic 4 movie is definitely an origin story as we get to fully see the disastrous event, brought on by a young Reed Richards’ recruitment into a scientific program that is trying to build a pathway to another dimension, which enables our 4 protagonists to get their monstrous and spectacular abilities.

Being an origin story it is obvious that the films events aren’t going to be full action packed chaos from the get go as the powers that enable for such chaos haven’t been acquired yet; however this doesn’t warrant the sloppy and disconnected pacing the film has. Unlike its origin telling predecessor this film takes an absorbingly long time to actually get to its fantastical premise. While many may abhor the very slow lead up this film employs, with the set up for getting the powers taking up 2/3rds of the movie, I actually found this time very interesting. While it was not full of the mind blowing action we have come to expect from a superhero blockbuster, it was a great exploration of characters, showcasing their individual skills and laying the ground work for great and intriguing dynamics. However this ground work was never taken full advantage off, and any interesting prospects brought up early in the film were either completely left unfulfilled or rushed to completion in the final act.

While the majority of the movie is a slow paced introduction to characters once the final act of the film is entered the film becomes a messy sprint to the finish with unbearably cheesy dialogue, plot elements completely and stupidly skimmed over with almost insulting exposition, and none existent character growth that all culminated into a final action scene that left a lot to be desired; making the ending setup for further films not only slightly painful to watch through its cheesy execution but also irritating as we are now stuck with a team of under developed characters not really yet worthy of the fantastic title.

However while the ending condition of these iconic characters is a confusing and unrealistic mess the initial set up of the characters is a fairly impressive and interesting interpretation. This is in no small part due to the acting that is being put into these interpretations. In the first 2/3rds of the movie every actor puts their impressive talents into making layered and fresh portrayals of the characters. From Toby Kebbell’s egotistical and wholly pessimistic Doctor Doom to Miles Teller’s likeable and genuinely incredibly smart and innocent turn as Reed Richards, all the movie’s early performances were an absorbing thing to witness as you saw the inner workings of each Character.

But as the quality of the film vastly degraded so too it seemed did the acting. Where as before each character seemed like a believable real human being, in the final act of the film they became cringe inducing, unemotional caricatures of themselves as they no longer delivered lines but simply said words off the page in an unconvincing and disappointing manner. A disastrous turn most painfully felt in the ‘emotional high points’ of the closing act that just felt rushed and flat as I was no longer interested or connected to anything going on onscreen.

Another very disappointing element of the film was the CGI used throughout. Thanks to the more grounded nature of the first 2/3rds of the film this wasn’t felt as painfully in the opening but any time the hulking Thing was onscreen a further feeling of shame filled my mind. In an age when a talking Racoon and his tree best friend can look as realistic as their actual human co stars of the film and even at some points bring out more emotion through their performances than seen in many other real life performances, it was disheartening to see this obviously CGI block unconvincingly interact with his team mates and his environment. This painfully obvious fake felling of the CGI can also be said for its other utilisations in the movie, from its stagnant and plain presentation of the other dimension, to the strange realisation of the Human Torches powers; which were somehow worse than those used in the comparatively realistic presentation used for Chris Evans’ flame on moments.

Another problem for the film, that is highlighted even further when looking back on the original 2005 film, is it just isn’t fun. From its lacklustre action scenes, dry dialogue and drained and muted aesthetic design the film feels like an all too serious look on the first family of Marvel. Where as the older movies were full of bright unabashed colour, design and dialogue; this films drab and uninspired interpretation of its characters and normally fantastical setting, from their dark and boring suits that only Reed’s really sparks any hint of interest, to Doctor Doom’s genuinely terrible and plastic appearance; this film feels like its had all the fun and energy, needed for a ridiculous concept such as this, completely sucked out if it leaving in its wake a dull and grim realisation of the Fantastic 4.

Overall while this film starts out as an interesting and new take on the iconic team of four, it never really fully utilizes the intriguing concepts and dynamics it sets up. This and the fact that the film only really gets going too late into the game, creating a super condensed and sloppy final act full of emotional voids, ill-explained circumstances and boring action scenes. All this left me not really convinced that this team would work, or even want to, leaving me with a sour taste for their future.

Fantastic 4 = 5/10