Fantastic 4 - Movie Review

Duration: 1h 47m
Supplied: Redbox

The Short
Do not bother. It is bad. As bad as you may have heard.

The Long
Regardless of whether or not you know anything about the Fantastic 4 is irrelevant going into this movie. This story takes a young Reed Richards and has him building a teleporter. He takes it to the Science Fair a little while later and proves it works with a live demonstration. Unfortunately, he gets disqualified but is noticed by Franklin Storm who is at a random school Science Fair for some reason. A full scholarship later and we have the start of our movie.

There are a few issues I have with this movie: The plot has very little to do with the source material. The characters are flat and given barely any time to develop as people(let alone become friends of any sort). The movie moves around a lot and left me wondering what was happening and why. The actual gaining of powers was extremely laughable.

Let's start with the first point. The lack of respect for the source material is kind of a shame. I am by no means an expert on the Fantastic 4 but I know this is not it. Does this mean I think this movie could not have worked? No. I think this movie actually could have been interesting. Perhaps not as a Fantastic 4 movie, but I think the premise could have absolutely worked as some kind of sci-fi horror theme. Too bad we got this instead, though.

Next up, the characters. Wow, did anyone else realize Ben Grimm was in this movie? I barely did. He is barely in any of it at the start and then they randomly bring him back when they are about to use the teleporter for the first time, for some reason. The rest of the characterization is done through montages and whiteboard exercises so we can all see they are smart and develop respect for one another. There is barely anything at all resembling team building and friendship. Johnny Storm's introduction is almost as bad as Ben Grimm's! Plus, did you know he can build anything? How do I know? His dad said so!

This movie moves around a lot and has very little in the way of explanation. I was wondering why we were where we were a few times and that is never a good sign.

Let us mention the actual gaining of super powers. Rocks piling on Ben, a fireball hitting Johnny, the power of stretch taking hold in Reed, and an EMP causing Sue to have invisible powers. What happened to Doom? Well, he was dragged into some green ooze and became a god. This was some of the stupidest depictions of power origins I have ever seen. Oh, but they got suits that let them control it, somehow. How did these get developed? Who made them? How? Do they need them while bathing? Why does Ben have no clothing at all? He's a rock eunuch?

The ending was really cheesy. The action-y part of it was fine. However, how they got there, and all the assumptions that are made, made me cringe. It was giving me City of Bones flashbacks. It all felt really shoe-horned in. Oh wait, it was? Through several reshoots? So that is why Kate Mara's hair looks terrible in so many shots!

Conclusion
I could talk about this all day but I think this is enough. The movie is all over the place in tone and the characters are uninteresting. The story is a mess and really feels like it has no overall point. It is evident that a lot of work went into making this as competent as it is.

I cannot even imagine the original cut of this. There is actually a really good breakdown and dissection of this movie and its history from Midnight's Edge: Trankgate. I really recommend at least the first 5 parts as it is quite interesting to hear what exactly went into making this monstrosity. The Tom Rothman part is extremely interesting(he is responsible for the Ghost Busters reboot btw).

Despite all the problems this is not the worst movie I have ever seen. It is bad, almost unwatchable, but is still viewable in a passive "it's on in the background while I cook dinner" sort of way.

Recommendation
Science no. This movie was terrible! If you want to see it, be warned, it is a bitter pill to swallow.