Film A Rushed, Fantastic Flop
This film had so much potential, it really did. Despite all the changes that were announced beforehand, like the Younger and Hipper casting or the "Darker and Edgier" approach, I still felt that I needed to at least give the film a chance. I thought to myself, "If they can at least make a coherent narrative and work with these creative liberties, it could be an okay superhero flick, at best." Alas, I was left disappointed.
So what's my main issue with the film? It's not the special effects or the mediocre acting, it's the pacing. My God, the pacing in this film is all over the place. As per the norm, the entire first act of the film focuses on the origins and backstories of our heroes and villain. Obviously, we need this introduction in order to care for these characters and witness their transition from everyday folks to super powered comic book characters. However, this first half started to drag after a while. It was almost like watching a mediocre teen sci fi, especially with the younger casting.
After sitting through this incredibly slow introduction, we finally see them transform into the iconic superheroes, in the quickest way possible. Seriously, the accident happens, they get their powers, a lot of Body Horror ensues, and then Time Skip! One year later, they're being used as super soldiers. No time is given for any of the characters to get used to their powers. It just... happens. "Well, that was rushed." I thought, "But it can't get any worse than that, right?" Ohhh, but it did.
Without spoiling anything, I will say that the final battle was the most rushed finale I have ever seen in any movie, period. Admittedly, despite his bizarre design, good old Dr. Doom is actually quite a menacing threat, and a lot of fun to watch. Too bad it doesn't last that long; simply put, Doom became the victim of what I call the "Venom Curse". A badass villain who undoubtedly becomes a major highlight of the film is sadly tossed away after a short period of time. In fact, I think that Doom has even less screentime than Venom, and that sure is saying a lot.
Overall, the final battle against Doom does not take very long. Like everything else in this film, it just happens. It was a disappointing climax for an overall disappointing superhero film.
Film Not horrible, but just not good.
Let me start off by saying I don't think this movie deserves the title of "worst superhero movie ever". Compared to stuff like Catwoman or Ghost Rider, it's not as terrible. Still, this movie just isn't very good. There's no feel towards it that makes it interesting. The story is pretty eh, the characters are forgettable and the effects are heavily questionable at best.
The best part of this movie isn't when they have their powers. I had the most enjoyment out of watching the four plus Viktor work on creating the teleporter in the first place. There's a little glimpse during the montage of the characters eating takeout together and laughing and it's a small showing of a good moment with even Doom looking pleased. But when they get their powers, it's all over the place. I hated the way they got said abilities, because I dislike the trope where "character is so fascinated by something obviously dangerous that they must stay to examine it instead of running to safety" as it is when Reed doesn't listen to Johnny and stays to watch the green power thingies (honestly have no clue what they are). They're kept in containment until Reed escapes and goes into hiding while the other three are trained to maintain their powers with Ben being involved in several successful operations.
The cast is pretty mundane. No one stands out, because these characters don't have anything of a character arc. With the Avengers, each character gets something of a spotlight and that's when there's near eight characters to focus on. No one has a story-line individually. We get touches of it, with Sue and Johnny apparently being distant which is rarely shown, Johnny feeling that his father wants him to be someone he's not, Ben and his disdain at Reed for being the reason he's like this and I can't think of what Reed's own arc is.
Somethings are good. Sue doesn't get any scene that exists solely to show some skin like Alba did in the original, and Franklin Storm as listed on this site is a highlight. But really, the film isn't bad, it's just...ordinary. It's not the Dark Knight Trilogy or most MCU films where I'm gushing when I walk out, I'm just 'eh' about it. Even the 2006 film had a nicer feel to it.
All in all, not awful, but really not worth a rewatch.
Film Worst Superhero/Comic Book Movie of the 21st Century
No seriously, this is the worst, absolutely no other worse SH/CB film out there. In fact, it’s so bad that it can be the worst SH/CB movie of the 20th century too, but now onto why...
Faithfulness: There is none and this one of the biggest faults of this movie ever since it was announced. You see, FF has never had a faithful adaptation on live action at all as of now. The FF are known for having grand stories that venture into the FANTASTIC, something that really hasn’t been done in any SH film yet, not even Got G. The fact this film went out of it’s way to be more grounded and “dark” shows how little anyone cared, and then the later half of the film became the most generic of SH films did not help anything either. Maybe a film like FF 2015 would have been interesting, but don’t make it FF. And even is this wasn’t called FF, the movie still be shit.
Acting: Existed, but mostly okay... until later when all the actors stopped caring.
Writing: Generic at best (mostly later half), cringe-tastic at worst (mostly early half).
Story: Tried to “be different” at first (which a Superman comic already did with the body horror thing in their parody of the FF), then generic as all hell in later half.
Effects: Existed. Sometimes shit.
Production History: You can’t talk Fant4stic without talking about the history, but basically it was this. Fox wanted to make a quick buck, SH films are on the rise, FF needs to be made soon, gets young and upcoming director, director turns out to be a hard to work with dick, director wrecked shit up, film wasn’t finished, executives had to work wit the reshoot, controversy all around, actors are kinda dicks at first, actors pander more once the film is coming closer to release date, Fox prays to God, Trank/Director commits career suicide, Fox wants everyone to forget FF 2015.
But we should never forget Fant4stic. You see, this film is the ultimate example of fucking up, being unfaithful, trying to hard with too little budget, no foresight, not caring about the fans, the issues of modern-day big budgeted blockbusters, egos vs egos, rewrites, and not pulling the plug when it be best for everyone if it was.
Fuck this movie. 4/100
Film A Failure of Fantastic Proportions
I consider myself a pretty fair-minded guy. My opinion of most things are either great, good, average, or in the rare cases, So Bad, It's Good. As a movie buff, I've seen many films that most consider bad, such ad the 2005 Fantastic Four films.They weren't blockbusters, but you could tell that the writers were at least trying to capture the spirit of the comics, which is more than can be said for this film because I don't know what the hell Fox was trying to do with this film. Hope the rights were worth it, Fox, cause now you're stuck with a complete mess.
Pros: Yes, believe it or not, this film does have some good points.
- The moment the team gets their powers and the Body Horror that ensues is one of the most genuine moments of the film.
- Likewise, Doom's rampage through the Baxter institute is one of the few genuinely Creepy Awesome moments in the film.
- I give the actors some credit because they at least tried to be like the characters. Reg. E. Carthy, Toby Kebbel, Jamie Bell, and Michael. B. Jordan were the best performances in the film.
Cons:
- The fact that the characters only got their powers because they went to Planet Zero in a fit of alcohol-induced stupidity is the most insultingly moronic set up for a superhero film, to the point that it comes off as a mocking parody.
- Susan Storm gets so little screentime and is so inconsequential to the plot that it's almost sexist.
- The fight scenes are stilted, anticlimactic, and are hard to take seriously.
- The dialogue between characters is at times cringeworthy.
- All secondary characters are flat and unlikable.
- The overall tone of the film is oppressively dark to the point that you can't take it seriously.
- Johnny comes off as an unlikable dickhead, even more than his usual portrayal.
- Likewise, Reed abandoning his friends is completely out of character, especially since the whole thing was his fault. And the fact that he didn't seem to be trying to find a cure makes it worse. Speaking of out of character...
- ...This version of Dr. Doom is the worst iteration of the character to date. Say what you want about the 2005 films, but at least they kept Doom in character in those movies.
Overall, don't watch this film. It's not even So Bad, It's Good. It's a dull, lifeless, cringeworthy, pathetic film adaptation of a fun comic series that isn't worth the attention.
Film How Do You Make A Marvel Movie Boring?
Fantastic Four is ultimately one of the biggest examples of how not to make a superhero origin movie, let alone a Marvel movie.
Where do I even begin? First off, the movie has a run-time of 1 hour and 43 minutes (which isn't a bad thing in itself though) and it somehow takes most of it's sweet time for the characters to become the Fantastic Four. When they aren't being the team that people know and love, they're spouting out science jargon or wasting great actors like Dan Castellaneta as the teacher.
I remember there being 2 action scenes and one of them was at the climax when they were the team. The movie's sets are either ugly to look at or don't have enough variety. Victor Von Doom has a cool name that they thankfully didn't change and while I kind of get the decision behind his costume, I think it looks stupid anyways.
I honestly feel like this movie was so much wasted potential. The ideas for a Fantastic Four movie are there but they're hampered by the fact the people working on it wanted it to be darker when that's completely missing the point of what they are.
The Fantastic Four should be given back to Marvel. This was such a waste of time and I think it is not only one of the worst movies of 2015 but one of the worst superhero and Marvel movies I've seen in a long time. In fact, go watch the 2005 movie instead. Sure it's flawed but that was at least fun, silly and had plenty of action and 2000s cheese to keep you entertained. I thought that was a guilty pleasure by comparison.
Seriously, please don't watch this movie. Go watch something else.
Film Fantastic Four 2015
Good for what it is, but what it is isn’t good. It barely qualifies as a superhero movie.