Review of Fantastic Four (2015) by Ninthdoctorguy — 06 Sep 2015

"Dull and downbeat" and "woefully misguided attempt" are not the words to describe this film, at least to me. There are cons, though, because this and everything else that exists in the universe, is flawed. Doom is handled poorly and looks dumb, the film skips a year ahead when it's unnecessary, and the ending is no doubt rushed, nonsensical, and a colossal disappointment. To make up for these cons, though, I really enjoyed the performances and characters, which somewhat overshadowed the flaws with this film...except the ending.

The ending was ABSOLUTELY ridiculous! Rushed and predictable. Doom was the worst aspect of the film, no doubt. Toby Kebbell did a swell job on his acting part, but the writers did not know what the heck they were doing with him. The fight between him and the Fantastic Four must've been at least five minutes tops! Usually, the final conflict between the protagonist(s) and antagonist(s) lasts longer than at least ten minutes, in previous experiences. The best part of the ending was seeing the terrible villain being killed because I could finally be relieved (partially) of the torture I experienced watching this bland and poorly handled villain for the previous thirty minutes or so.

Though to try to forget about the ending, the first ten to fifteen minutes were great, with young Reed and young Ben beginning their friendship. The child actors were great, with a few minor slip-ups from Reed's child actor, but other than that small nitpick, those were easily one of the best segments of the entire film.

The most memorable performances came from Miles Teller (Reed Richards), Kate Mara (Susan Storm), and Reg E. Cathey (Dr. Franklin Storm). Michael B. Jordan (Johnny Storm) and Jamie Bell (Ben Grimm) were fantastic as well, but the previous three stood out to me more. The last thing I'll say before I conclude is that I wished that, besides getting a much better ending, they would've expanded on the arc of Susan's adoption. That was really intriguing and I hope that in the sequel (if they still decide to make it) that they'll expand upon it more.