Review of Fantastic Four (2015) by Owen G — 26 Jan 2017

After the critically acclaimed, dark and interesting semi-'superhero film' Chronicle, Josh Trank was hired for this Fantastic Four Reboot, and he clearly put some really good screenwriting and filmmaking efforts into this. However it seems that the studio decided after 90 or 100 % of the way through filming, that they actually wanted to make this film to be like Avengers Assemble and nothing like Chronicle. There are lots of good Josh Trank scenes left behind, they just don't fit together anymore. The film has possibly the worst pacing of any film ever. On top of this the studio decided to literally name the Dr Doom character "Victor Von Doom". They also seem to have added in an unnecessary big battle with him after the film has essentially already ended- including large amounts of flying debris and a *very original* apocalypse inducing skybeam.

The saddest thing is the complete waste of the acting talent, which is incredible. Michael B. Jordan and Toby Kebbell are excellent in everything, while Miles Teller recently had an impressive breakout performance in Whiplash. Kate Mara and Jamie Bell are also very solid and this is really a group of some of the best young talent in hollywood. And while none of them are bad in this movie, none get the chance to shine. It would have been "fantastic" to see this cast through several sequels drawing from the beloved comic series, but due to a complete and utter studio fumble, this may now never come to pass.