Fantastic Four,Josh Trank's reboot of the not-exactly-beloved Marvel cinematic sub-universe, comes at a time when we seem to have reached 'peak remake'. From Star Trekto *Spider-Man,*Hollywood is hooked on its own ability to regurgitate old hits.
The first problem for*Fantastic Four,*however, is that the original was barely a hit in the first place; the 2005 film and 2007 sequel were not flops, but never really had the same mainstream resonance as Marvel's biggest movies. So who's actually demanding to see them on the big screen yet again? It all feels like a familiar trip down a muddy memory lane, and the returns for the audience seem to be quickly diminishing.
In this atmosphere of approximately zero demand for a new superhero team, it's to its credit that the latest attempt to bring the supernaturally-powered foursome to life isn't afraid to take a few gambles. Sadly, that's where it falls short.
The film begins as a kind of pre-sequel (sprequel?), taking us back to the origins of our protagonists as childhood friends, in the innocent days before being gifted with their accursed superhuman strengths. We see wunderkind Reed Richards (played by Owen Judge) dream of one day being teleported through space, to the mockery of his teachers and fellow classmates, with only his friend Benn Grimm (Evan Hannemann) sticking around for moral support.
Fast-forward seven years and Dr Franklin Storm (Reg E Cathey) and his adopted daughter Sue (Kate Mara) enlists the two boy outsiders (now morphed into Miles Teller and Jamie Bell) to help them crack the secret of inter-dimensional travel. But after their short stay in another dimension, the intrepid gang -- completed by Franklin's son Johnny (Michael B Jordan) and Viktor (Toby Kebbell) -- return to Earth irrevocably transformed, and spend the rest of the film coming to terms with their powers.
The expansive scope Trank seems to be aiming for seems much better suited to a TV series, but squeezed down into a running time of 98 minutes it ends up feeling oddly thin and undeveloped. The back story, which no doubt could have been interesting if unfolded over several episodes, Daredevil-style, swallows the rest of the action up, leaving you constantly wondering when the film is really going to begin.
Fantastic Four is largely untroubled by the kind of attention-grabbing special effects and high-energy action we've come to expect from big-budget reboots -- and yet the handful of big 'setpiece' scenes on offer are the parts that really work. It's precisely where the film tries to be different that it fails: the chemistry between the characters often seems forced or unconvincing, and the film flounders in its attempt to conjure up more gravitas than it deserves or needs.
Therein may lie the problem with the whole franchise nostalgia trip that the big studios are currently stuck on; no matter how beloved your characters, solid their legacy or long-awaited their return, what audiences at the very least expect is a well-plotted, competently written, visually interesting piece of entertainment. Without that, you're pretty much left with an exercise in branding. That's not cinema, that's just a fantastic recipe for disappointment.
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
