In cinemas 6 Aug
Fantastic Four hasn't been treated well cinematically. First there was the unreleased Roger Corman-produced disaster and then the two insipid films from a decade ago. In 2015, Fantastic Four rebooted again to hopefully break the trend.
This is a new origin story for Reed Richards (Miles Teller), Ben Grimm (Jamie Bell), Sue and Johnny Storm (Kate Mara and Michael B. Jordan respectively) as they come together to develop the technological means to travel to another dimension. Things go wrong, leaving them with disparate powers and their fifth member becomes the evil Dr Doom (Toby Kebbell), who threatens safety of Earth.
Is this a good reboot? No, resoundingly. After beginning with ok promise, establishing strong intentions (via a slow first half) based on deeper character development/story, the film betrays the audience and nosedives halfway unlike anything in recent memory, becoming lacklustre trash.
The script goes from bad to worse, especially by the woeful end. The pacing is atrocious, action incredibly bland and the tone erratic. The talented cast is wasted on this tripe, looking like bewildered fools by the climax. Worst of all, it fails to establish an identity at all memorable. Producer Simon Kinberg and director Josh Trank truly dropped the ball.
This is a travesty that fails to improve on what's come before and somehow feels worse for what was wasted.
