Be careful what you wish for. I’ve always wanted to see a serious movie based on The Fantastic Four. Now it’s here, and it takes sitting through its seems-longer-than-100-minute running time to realize that the material probably isn’t meant to be anything more than silly fun. Fun is definitely missing from this Fantastic Four. It’s like a Marvel superhero movie made through the dark, abstract lens of DC (The Dark Knight, The Man of Steel). It’s not a good combination.
Even so, that’s not what disappoints me about Fantastic Four. I’m disappointed because I hoped director Josh Trank would successfully deliver his dramatic, character-driven version of the story. His 2012 movie, Chronicle, was one of my favorites of that year and remains the best found footage movie I’ve ever seen. It happens to also be about adventurous kids that receive powers as a result of their curiosity. Trank may turn out to be a one shot wonder, at least with this genre.
He and fellow screenwriters Simon Kinberg and Jeremy Slater take great liberties with a familiar story and it works pretty well… up until the point the four young scientists become fantastic. After that, though, the movie actually becomes lifeless even as the action ramps up and spins out of control. Characters that were interesting and somewhat compelling stand limp in the face of danger and have absolutely no joy in taking advantage of their wonderful gifts.
Fantastic Four kicks of in Oyster Bay, New York, in 2007. Reed Richards is a grade school nerd who enlists the help of unlikely buddy Ben Grimm to build a matter transporter in his garage. Seven years later they’re actors Miles Teller and Jamie Bell, who demonstrate their invention at the science fair. It’s not exactly a hit, but Reed gets the attention of Dr. Franklin Storm (Reg E. Cathey) who runs a fancy school for the best and brightest students at the Baxter Building in New York.
With Storm’s adopted daughter, Sue (Kate Mara), his son Johnny (Michael B. Jordan) and the brilliant but dark dropout Victor Von Doom (Toby Kebbell), the team works tirelessly to send the transporter into another dimension, a place that will later inexplicably, and only momentarily, be called “Planet Zero.” It’s here that, after a night of drinking, the kids call up Ben and take an ill-considered joy ride. Their trip ends in disaster, sending Victor to meet his fate and giving the others their powers.
Fantastic Four is full of half-baked lessons and morals… you can do better if you apply yourself, you can accomplish anything when you work together, etc. None of the ideas are fully explored and are usually delivered as lip service by the hovering Franklin Storm. The same goes for any romantic tensions among Reed, Sue and Victor. You can tell Victor used to have a thing for her and that Reed may now have a thing for her, but nothing develops.
In fact, any developments between the characters that forge their relationships are missing. Their absence makes the story sterile. There may be hints of a rivalry between Ben and Johnny, for example; however, nothing demonstrates that. Not only do the characters not have personalities, but neither does the movie itself. It may not be possible to make a good Fantastic Four movie, but I have an idea. Throw them into The Avengers. It worked for the Hulk.
