Joinedby Storm's tearaway son Johnny (Michael B. Jordan), it's not long before Trank's team crack matter transportation - with Tim Blake Nelson's suit threatening to take it all to those Directedby Josh Trank on a script co-written by he, Slater and Simon Kinberg, the film received largely negative reviews from critics and audiences alike and was a box office bomb, only grossing $168 million against its $150 million budget. Beginningwith Teller and Jordan, who have done such promising early work, the cast is utterly wasted here with mostly rote explanatory dialogue and little conflict or nuance to work on a dramatic TheFour fight amongst themselves and take off for separate adventures, occasionally coming together for unbelievably convenient collisions. Ben's story is the most compelling, while the others' issues become repetitive. The film also includes its share of logical inconsistencies, as well as overly familiar and underdeveloped themes. Tweet S o appallingly dull that even a third-act parade of exploding heads can't rouse interest, Fantastic Four may be the most minor Marvel Comics film yet. And at this dispiritingly late date, that's saying something indeed. It also adds more grist for the mill to the notion that studios don't hit the big red "reboot" button in any OnRotten Tomatoes Fantastic Four has an approval rating of 28% based on 214 reviews with an average rating of 4.6/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Marred by goofy attempts at wit, subpar acting, and bland storytelling, Fantastic Four is a mediocre attempt to bring Marvel's oldest hero team to the big screen." [36] Thisfilm was atrocious. I can't believe how much they dropped the ball on this one Let me explain the positives/negatives. Positives: 1. The scene with Reed and Ben as kids was handled okay. 2. Ina genre that has become overstuffed with empty style-over-substance CGI spectacle, a grounded Fantastic Four film (with a heavy emphasis on characters instead of super-powered fights) could have been a welcome change of pace; yet, after the mid-way point, Trank struggles to payoff anything he intially setup, with melodramatic interactions, undercooked storytelling, and uninventive implementation of the powered foursome. Finally a good film about fantastic four. It seems a little bit boring t the start, but when the troubles start it become very incredible. The ending so amazing too, the death of inivisble girl and spider-man possibly entering the team caught me off guard. Thereare no people to watch in Fantastic Four, only collections of character traits and attitudes brought fitfully to life by actors who might've mistakenly thought they were hitching a ride on the superhero movie gravy train by signing up for this misfire. Read full review. 33. IndieWire Kate Erbland Aug 6, 2015. jS2tpp. Movie Reviews By Reviewer Type All Critics Top Critics All Audience Verified Audience Prev Next Trust me when I say this – reading about the movie is a lot more fun than watching it. Full Review Original Score Aug 20, 2022 All build-up and no pay-off, Fantastic Four attempts to reboot the popular Marvel superhero team with new actors, a fresh young director, and a studio whose rocky track record with Marvel properties doesn't promote confidence. Full Review Original Score May 29, 2022 Its talented cast is wasted in a big lead-up to a whole bunch of nothing. Full Review Original Score C- Aug 29, 2021 A horribly botched reboot that squanders a talented young cast. Full Review Original Score Jun 8, 2021 You've got to hand it to Josh Trank for making a movie that fails in almost every way. Fantastic Four is just frustrating because you can see hints of something interesting, but without the knowledge to build upon those ideas. Full Review Jan 14, 2021 What starts as a prime example of how not to construct an origins feature quickly turns into the perfect formula to avoid when making motion pictures in general. Full Review Original Score 1/10 Dec 4, 2020 The film is such an obvious set up for more that it watches like they forgot to write anything but the beginning. Full Review Original Score C- Jul 4, 2020 The worst thing of all is the bad taste in the mouth that stays because the movie is nothing more than a mess introduced to desperation to try to give the public what a superhero movie is supposed to give you. [Full Review in Spanish] Full Review Apr 22, 2020 It's here that the movie hits its stride, and although it takes a dark turn, it's fun in precisely the way the movies it's aping classically are. Full Review Apr 8, 2020 There is nothing fantastic about Fantastic Four. Full Review Dec 8, 2019 Similar to the upcoming third reboot of the Spiderman franchise, this Fantastic Four reboot feels unnecessary. The story has not changed, nor has the dynamic of the group. Full Review Original Score 2/5 Nov 19, 2019 Fantastic Four is a radically different approach to the franchise. While this version of the characters may work out in the future, their establishment is anything but stimulating. Full Review Original Score Nov 13, 2019 Fantastic Four won't leave you hungry for sequel; it will leave you desperate to forget what you just watched. Signs of greatness are there, but ultimately, this movie is little more than a mess and a crushing disappointment. Full Review Original Score 1/5 Sep 1, 2019 Fantastic in name alone, this film is far from it. Full Review Original Score 1/5 Aug 30, 2019 Creaks and groans along for a mercifully short hour and 40 minutes while neglecting the basic fundamentals of storytelling in a surprisingly cavalier way. Full Review Original Score Jul 5, 2019 Fantastic Four sets itself well for a sequel if turned off well before the final act. Full Review Original Score 2/5 May 4, 2019 It's an extremely rough film where there are a lot of edges that needed to be smoothed over. Full Review Original Score May 2, 2019 The story from start to finish was cliched and silly. Full Review Original Score D Apr 18, 2019 It takes itself too seriously, it's colorless visually and emotionally, and it dupes us by promising something "Fantastic" and instead delivering a lifeless black hole of an experience that'll ruin your day. There's no fun to be had here. Full Review Original Score Mar 7, 2019 It never reaches the glorious heights we have come to anticipate from Marvel's diverse universes. Full Review Feb 22, 2019 Prev Next Do you think we mischaracterized a critic's review? Fantastic Four’ Movie Review How bad is this reboot of Marvel's first superheroes? Worse than you can imagine The latest reboot of the Fantastic Four — the cinematic equivalent of malware — is worse than worthless. It not only scrapes the bottom of the Marvel-movie barrel; it knocks out the floor and sucks audiences into a black hole of soul-crushing, coma-inducing dullness. And, guess what, it’s an origin story. That’s right. A gifted young cast Miles Teller, Kate Mara, Jamie Bell, Michael B. Jordan has been hired to freshen the plot, like an old whore trying to pass as jailbait. No go. Trending Director Josh Trank Chronicle, who wrote the soggy script with Simon Kinberg and Jeremy Slater, takes forever to get things going. Reed Richards Teller, acting NAÏVE in capital letters is a science prodigy recruited by Dr. Franklin Storm Reg E. Cathey to join his rogue think tank. Storm’s adopted daughter Sue Mara is a willing participant. His car-crazy son, Johnny Jordan, not so much. Mara and Jordan are given nothing to act so you can only watch as they lose the will to try. Toby Kebbell as Victor Von Doom, Dr. Storm’s embittered pupil, overcompensates by overdoing everything. But he’s the bad guy. You can tell because he keeps giving shit to Reed’s BFF, Ben Grimm Bell. Everyone pretends to be excited by Reed’s invention, a teleporter which can transport a monkey into an alternate dimension. Since this movie has no dimension at all, everyone is envious of the monkey. So, of course, they jump into the teleporter and gets transformed into — spoiler alert! — the Fantastic Four. Except nothing about this misbegotten, cynical attempt at franchise-rebuilding is fantastic. That includes the crude, cheap-looking, unspecial effects that turn Reed into the stretchy Mr. Fantastic, Johnny into the Human Torch, Sue into the Invisible Woman and Ben into a pile of rocks called The Thing. Fantastic Four is a pile of something, too. You fill in the blank. Johnny Storm, the Human Torch Chris Evans flames out in "Fantastic Four," wondering what it would be like to shake hands with Aquaman. So you get in a spaceship, and you venture into orbit to research a mysterious star storm hurtling toward Earth. There's a theory it may involve properties of use to man. The spaceship is equipped with a shield to protect its passengers from harmful effects, but the storm arrives ahead of schedule and saturates everybody on board with unexplained but powerful energy that creates radical molecular changes in their return safety to Earth, only to discover that Reed Richards Ioan Gruffudd, the leader of the group, has a body that can take any form or stretch to unimaginable lengths. Call him Mr. Fantastic. Ben Grimm Michael Chiklis develops superhuman powers in a vast and bulky body that seems made of stone. Call him the Thing. Sue Storm Jessica Alba can become invisible at will and generate force fields that can contain propane explosions, in case you have a propane explosion that needs containing but want the option of being invisible. Call her Invisible Woman. And her brother Johnny Storm Chris Evans has a body that can burn at supernova temperatures. Call him the Human Torch. I almost forgot the villain, Victor Von Doom Julian McMahon, who becomes Dr. Doom and wants to use the properties of the star storm and the powers of the Fantastic Four for his own purposes. He eventually becomes this point in the review, are you growing a little restless? What am I gonna do, list names and actors and superpowers and nicknames forever? That's how the movie all setup and demonstration, and naming and discussing and demonstrating, and it never digests the complications of the Fantastic Four and gets on to telling a compelling story. Sure, there's a nice sequence where the Thing keeps a fire truck from falling off a bridge, but you see one fire truck saved from falling off a bridge, you've seen them Fantastic Four are, in short, underwhelming. The edges kind of blur between them and other superhero teams. That's understandable. How many people could pass a test right now on who the X-Men are and what their powers are? Or would want to? I wasn't watching "Fantastic Four" to study it, but to be entertained by it, but how could I be amazed by a movie that makes its own characters so indifferent about themselves?The Human Torch, to repeat, can burn at supernova temperatures! He can become so hot, indeed, that he could threaten the very existence of the Earth itself! This is absolutely stupendously amazing, wouldn't you agree? If you could burn at supernova temperatures, would you be able to stop talking about it? I know people who won't shut up about winning 50 bucks in the after Johnny Storm finds out he has become the Human Torch, he takes it pretty much in stride, showing off a little by setting his thumb on fire. Later he saves the Earth, while Invisible Woman simultaneously contains his supernova so he doesn't destroy it. That means Invisible Woman could maybe create a force field to contain the sun, which would be a big deal, but she's too distracted to explore the possibilities; she gets uptight because she will have to be naked to be invisible, because otherwise people could see her empty clothes; it is no consolation to her that invisible nudity is more of a metaphysical concept than a condition. Are these people complete idiots? The entire nature of their existence has radically changed, and they're about as excited as if they got a makeover on "Oprah." The exception is Ben Grimm, as the Thing, who gets depressed when he looks in the mirror. Unlike the others, who look normal except when actually exhibiting superpowers, he looks like - well, he looks like his suits would fit The Hulk, just as the Human Torch looks like The Flash, and the Invisible Woman reminds me of Storm in "X-Men."Is this the road company? Thing clomps around on his Size 18 boulders and feels like an outcast until he meets a blind woman named Alicia Kerry Washington who loves him, in part because she can't see him. But the Thing looks like Don Rickles crossed with Mt. Rushmore; he has a body that feels like a driveway and a face with crevices you could hide a toothbrush in. Alicia tenderly feels his face with her fingers, like blind people often do while falling in love in the movies, and I guess she likes what she feels. Maybe she's story involves Dr. Doom's plot to ... but perhaps we need not concern ourselves with the plot of the movie, since it is undermined at every moment by the unwieldy need to involve a screenful of characters, who, despite the most astonishing powers, have not been made exciting or even interesting. The X-Men are major league compared to the really good superhero movies, like "Superman," "SpiderMan 2" and "Batman Begins," leave "Fantastic Four" so far behind that the movie should almost be ashamed to show itself in the same theaters. Roger Ebert Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, he won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism. Now playing Film Credits Fantastic Four 2005 Rated PG-13 for sequences of intense action and some suggestive content 106 minutes Latest blog posts about 8 hours ago about 11 hours ago about 12 hours ago 1 day ago Comments