Fantastic Four

Comic books were a big part of my young childhood. But i did not read everything, i collected several numbers of The Hulk. You could say i was madly happy about watching The Hulk on cartoons, renting the VHS collection at the video stores, and watching The Hulk on tv, with Lou Ferringo. After a while i switched completely and beginned to read Conan The Barbarian, the comic book version instead. I suppose that changing comic books is not a bad thing, because we all can get tired of reading the same thing. Like if you read a novel that you enjoyed, and read it several times, eventually you will be ready to try something else. I did try and read some Superman comic books, and if i remember correctly some Spider Man also. Marvel have some of the greatest comic book characters out there, and we have a lot of film adaptations out there based on the characters. I have seen almost all the film adaptations released within a wide period of time, and i have to say that many of these film adaptations are really good. One of my personal favourites from these releases is Thor, where both films so far managed to deliver solid comic book action, brought to the cinema screens. Maybe its because i am swedish, and may have some viking blood in me. There are plenty of Marvel characters that have been made into films, and most of them have turned out really well. In 2005, director Tim Story ( who directed the funny film Barbeshop in 2002 ), was chosen to direct Fantastic Four, based on the comic book characters. The film may have been successfull at the box office, but both critics and fans of the comic books was not pleased with the film adaptation. Since the film did pretty good in tickets sales, a sequel was released called Fantastic Four: Rise Of The Silver Surfer. The critics were a bit more positive, but the fans were not very pleased with the final result. So, after almost 8 years, 20th Century Fox decided to bring back Fantastic Four with a brand new cast, and much younger also. When i watched the trailer for this latest version, i had some hope that it would be a different, and more serious tone of Fantastic Four than the previous versions. Is this latest film adaption exactly what we were hoping for, or is this even worse than we could ever have imagined ?

Reed Richards and Ben Grimm are two young boys, who together work on a prototype teleporter. After many years of developing the prototype machine, Reed ( Miles Teller ) and Ben ( Jamie Bell ) hope to show their project to Professor Franklin Storm ( Reg E. Cathey ). They finally get his attention, and it seems that Professor Franklin need their idea at the Baxter Foundation, a government-sponsored research institute for young prodigies. Reed is recruited to join, since Professor Franklin wants to make a bigger prototype teleporter of Reeds version. To make this work, they need a team. Scientist Sue Storm ( Kate Mara ) is also hired, including technician Johnny Storm ( Michael B. Jordan, and " Quantom Gate " designer Victor Von Doom ( Toby Kebell ). An experiment to use the Quantom Gate is successfull, and the facility's supervisor, Dr. Allen ( Tim Blake Nelson ) plan to send a Group from NASA into a parallel dimension known as " Planet Zero ". Reed and his team are dissapointed, that they are not chosen to do this mission. So, they decide to go anyway, without permission from Professor Franklyn. Reed, Ben, Johnny and Victor agree to all go over to the parallell dimension, as Sue stays to mak sure everything works. The mission works, and they get a chance to explore Planet Zero. When Victor touches green-lava like substance, the surface they are standing on collapses, and the ground erupts. Reed, Ben and Johnny manage to survive, but they can´t save Victor. Sue manage to send them back to Earth, but the machine explodes and altering Reed, Sue, Johnny, and Ben on a molecular-genetic level, affording them super-human conditions and abilities. Reed can stretch like rubber, Sue can become invisible and generate force fields of energy, Johnny can engulf his entire body in flames and fly, and Ben becomes bigger and develops a rock-like hide which gives him enhanced strength and durability. The whole team is placed in government custody, and are not allowed to work on any more projects. One year later, Reed is a fugitive, is located in South America by Sue. All of the team members still have special Powers, so they need to make sure they are only used if necessary. Reed is brought to Area 51, to help Dr Allen, who needs his help again to open another gate to Planet Zero, so they can do more research. As the team of Dr Allen arrives, they suddenly see that Victor have survived, but who has been fused to his spacesuit. Victor have special telekinetic abilities, and can control elements. He is now known as Doom, and he have plans to destroy humanity, so he can rebuild Planet Zero. Reed and his team realise that they have to stop him, in any way they can.

Never trust a trailer!

That is one thing i learned after having expectations from the Fantastic Four trailer, released earlier this spring. I was hoping that this would actually be a film, that would get things right, since the 2005 film, and the 2007 film did not manage to please me. When i heard that director Josh Trank, ( who directed the suprisingly good film Chronicle ), was chosen to direct the reboot of Fantastic Four, i suddenly felt hope. This was going to be the Fantastic Four film that changed these classic comic book characters into a good film adaptation.

That did not happen........

I have heard director Josh Trank, is blaming the film studio, that this is their version, not his. Is this true ? I am not sure, but he did direct this film, so i see no other way around than to blame everyone involved in this film. I know that there was a good idea behind the film, to make it more serious than the previous films. It could have worked, if they really wanted to give us what we deserve. Instead, we get an film adaptation, that does not feel completely finished, like they tried to mix up a story, with the character Dr Doom included, but not with passion or enough heart for the respect of fans. Considering that the comic books is loved worldwide with Fantastic Four, you would expect that someone finally pick up the right feeling of the comic books, and make them look the right way. The problem with this latest film, is that you really don´t care about the characters, even though they are supposed to be super heroes. I will say that the beginning of the film, is at least more interesting. We get to know some of the characters, from an early age. Once they become older, and the story tries to become more serious, i just feel pretty bored. I think one very important thing about comic book films, is you really need to find a way to make the characters feel alive on screen, and this is something that is missing here. Once we are introduced to the new Fantastic Four with their super powers, you just don´t feel very excited. A few CGI effects looks ok, but the look of Dr Doom may not look what you expect. The acting is one problem, not many of the actors feel good enough to take on these characters. Miles Teller as Mr Fantastic, may be one of the few actors here that at least give some kind of performance. Kate Mara as Invisible Woman does have some interesting scenes, but i know she can do better, considering her good performances in the past. It is such a shame that Fantastic Four did not give us much more, because there is an interesting idea here. In a few scenes we get to taste what could have been good, but it all falls later on with predictable action scenes. I am close at giving this film the lowest rating, but what saves this film is the few scenes that have some potential to deliver some interesting details. I doubt we will see the same duo come back as Fantastic Four since the box office numbers are bad, but if they do, they need to make things right.

Rating: DD