Review of Fantastic Four (2015) by Kevin P — 27 Sep 2018

Strengths: The cast of this movie is mostly strong. When this was announced, I was intrigued by the leading names. Michael B. Jordan (Johnny Storm/Human Torch), Kate Mara (Sue Storm/Invisible Woman), and Miles Teller (Reed Richards/Mister Fantastic) are all great. They aren't at their best here, but they do give a decent effort.

Weaknesses: Literally everything else. The screenplay is abysmal, giving almost no depth to any of these characters and being so dreary it was nothing like the fun source material. The special effects are almost as bad. Everything looks cheesy and fake. Toby Kebbell (Victor Von Doom/Dr. Doom) was way over the top with his acting and "menacing" stuff. He tried too hard. Like the 2005 Fantastic Four movie, this took way too long to get going. It's nearly an hour before they're even in the alternate world, meaning there's little time for action. And that would be okay if the stuff before they got their powers was even remotely interesting. Instead, it's just dull. It's as if the people behind this had never paid attention to anything Fantastic Four related, because this was missing everything that made that work.

Overall: I thought there was no way this would be worse than the first two Fantastic Four films. The cast was too good for that. Yet, they managed to do it. The production issues are evident as this movie is a total mess. A giant waste of potential.