‘Fantastic Four’ Movie Review: Reboot Far From Fantastic

The Fantastic Four reboot has been an anticipated for months now and when it hit theaters over the weekend many made an effort to sit through it, unfortunately we soon realized that we waited for nothing.

Fantastic Four Reboot Movie Review

The cast of the new Fantastic Four are young, fresh, and the best in their class. Rooney Mara, Michael B. Jordan, Miles Teller and Jamie Bell comprise up Marvel’s first superhero family. Fans, including myself, were head over heels with this cast. They are making serious waves in Hollywood. Michael B. Jordan cast as The Human Torch, despite the character typically being depicted as a white male, made headlines for months after it was announced. Miles Teller was going to prove his chops as an action hero. Mara’s character on Netflix’s House of Cards made us yearn for her presence on a big screen and Bell’s role on AMC’s TURN had us recognizing his talent. There was no way this couldn’t be a big success. Until, of course, news of problems with production surfaced, and it seemed that the movie would suffer for it.

As a fan of each of these actors, and a huge fan of the Fantastic Four comics, I still had a lot of hope in me for a movie that would wow. Unfortunately, I can easily say that I walked out of the film unphased, unmoved and ready to see Ant-Man.

There was just nothing memorable about this film. There is talk about the awful CGI and lack of action scenes, and I understand backstory is important, but there was just too much of it. Had the film been sped up a scene or two it might have given us something to root for. We already know Dr. Doom will be defeated with the power of the Fantastic Four. We already know what this wonderful world of Doom looks like, sending us in a whirlwind of blue light for 10 minutes was a further waste of our time.

The film was way too serious for this generation to connect with. Reed’s character was an important part of the story development, but he’s missing in action for a chunk of what develops the Fantastic Four. We don’t even get to really see what he’s been doing hidden away in a shack. 

After seeing Fantastic Four, I didn’t say, “Wow that was bad.” Or even, “Man, they could have done so much more.” I literally walked out of the theater and rushed to watch Ant-Man.

Movies are meant to entertain. They need to get their audience involved. We want to be so deep in emotion that when we walk away we are amazed, frightened or simply in awe. Sadly, Fantastic Four did none of this. While the cast gave us as much of their talent as they could, it just seems that this franchise will always be more doomed than fantastic.