Theater Whore: Fantastic Four

Fantastic Four 7/10

There will be some spoilers. I managed to dodge all the spoilers about this new Fantastic Four movie but managed to hear about all of the terrible reviews that it was receiving. When I wrote about this movie before it came out I said they already had a leg up on the other films because I was interested in it because I am not a fan of the FF whatsoever. This film managed to actually get me interested in the characters by going in a very different direction than the comics or previous films did.

It starts with a young Reed Richards in his science class being told by his teacher that what he wants to be can not be done. Just like real teachers do! He ends up befriending Ben Grimm while stealing junk from the junk yard that Grimm's family owns. They blow out all the power in the neighborhood. Fast forward years later and they have made another version of the device and are discovered by Professor Franklin Storm played by Reg E. Cathey. He invites Reed to help him create this machine on a larger scale since they have been working on something like it.

An older Reed play by Miles Teller and Ben played by Jamie Bell part ways since Reed is on his way up. Reed meets Sue Storm played by Kate Mara and eventually her brother Johnny Storm played by Michael B. Jordan who is a screw up that lives in the shadow of his sister. Franklin brings Victor Von Doom played by Toby Kebbell on board since he was the one that originally started his own version of the machine.

After some testing Reed, Ben, Johnny, and Doom half drunkenly get in the device. The jacked up part is that Reed called Ben to do it! He was at home sleeping! They get to this other dimension and dick around until all hell starts breaking loose. They end up leaving Doom behind and come back all kinds of fucked up.

After this the movie doesn't seem to know which tone to take. It could've gone seriously dark and it does at certain points. There is a scene where Reed has to leave Ben in a cell that is so damned sad. It seems to be rushed because the training and learning how to use their powers flashes by way too fast. I would have saved going after Doom again for another film and focused more on the team. This was still a cool movie that is better than what I read about. I'd for sure watch a sequel.

Click here for previous Theater Whore.