FANTASTIC FOUR
By Gary Murray
Miles Teller, Kate Mara and Michael B. Jordan
Directed by Josh Trank
Written by Simon Kinberg, Jeremy Slater & Josh Trank
Running time 100 min
MPAA Rating PG-13
Selig Film Rating Cable
Another month –another super hero flick…
Isn’t that the way it has felt this summer? Just about every other week, we are bombarded by another man in Spandex running around, trying to save mankind. The latest to take on the super hero mantle is a re-boot of the classic comic book. It is Fantastic Four.
The film starts with the origins of a super hero or the origins of a quartet of heroes. When we first see the young Reed Richards, he is giving a report about how he wants to be the first person to teleport. This piques the interest of fellow student Ben Grimm. Flash forward a few years and Reed (Miles Teller) and Ben (Jamie Bell) are showing off their invention at a science faire.
The experiment catches the attention of Dr. Franklin Storm (Ben E. Cathey) who offers a scholarship at his institute. It seems that Reed did not teleport into another part of the world but in another dimension.
Sue Storm (Kate Mara) and Johnny Storm (Michael B Jordan) are brother and sister and also on the project. Dr. Storm then seeks out Victor Von Doom (Toby Kebbell) his brilliant student who was also working on teleportation. There are the major players in our little drama.
The film takes off with a bang, literally. The four men decide to take the teleport machine on its maiden voyage into the other dimension. They plant the American flag. Walking around the surface, they irritate the ground which causes a series of explosions.
Three teleport back but get caught without Von Doom. Due to the explosion the trio of explorers are changed on a molecule level. Ben becomes a rock creature called The Thing, Johnny can flame up and fly. Reed has the ability to stretch his entire body and Sue Storm has invisibility.
A military head (Tim Blake Nelson) decides to use these individuals as weapons. Reed is trying to fix his rock friend as he once again tries to get to what has been dubbed “Planet Zero”. When a group of explorers get on the planet, they find that something is alive
Miles Teller has been in a bunch of films but truly broke out as an actor in last years Whiplash. There is this flippant attitude that he brings to the role that is refreshingly different than most super heroes. The audience wanted more of Michael B. Jordan and much more of Jamie Bell. He does get to say the line “It’s clobbering time!”
Kate Mara is given much to do other than look pretty but she does it with a certain flair and grace. She may not be given much to do in Fantastic Four, but she does so with a bat of those big dark eyes. The love triangle between her and Reed and Von Doom is one of the weakest elements of the work.
Ben E Cathey justa jumps off the screeen in a performance that commands attention. His voice just shivers the timbers to the back row of the theater. He's a guy to watch.
The film is directed by Josh Trank, the man who helmed Chronicle. He does a great job with his young cast and handles the special effects with a deft touch. The problem is that watching Fantastic Four, one feels like they are watching Green Lantern but not in a good way. Also, without giving away the ending, there is not much of a Third Act. The film never builds to that moment and the moment does not deliver. It more just ends.
Fantastic Four is an okay re-boot of the franchise. In some ways it is better than the 2005 version. It is much better than the 1994 version..mILDE
