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    The Fantastic Four

    Reviewed by
    adamwatchesmovies@

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    The word is out now on this 2015 version of “Fantastic Four” and the word is not good. I understand people’s disappointment, but call me a biased fool if you wish… I liked it. I don’t think it’s anything to do with people jumping on any kind of bandwagon, it’s just that this picture has a single, giant flaw that for most people will overshadow everything that’s good about this new film. The flaw is that there’s not a whole lot of action present. In fact that is nearly no action until the very end where we get a very quick climax. This movie wants to tell the origin story of the Fantastic Four first and foremost, and it’s like at the very end decided to include a bit of action to show off what kind of enemies they might face in the future. I knew this going in and now that you do too, is it possible that you can set aside the disappointment that you’re not going to see a whole lot of fighting and just appreciate what’s good about this film?

    Based on the “Ultimate Fantastic Four” comic book run, the film follows Reed Richards (Miles Teller) who has been developing a teleporter since childhood. When he attracts the attention of Professor Franklin Storm (Reg E. Cathey) he is recruited to take his project to the next level. As the project advances, he meets Prof. Storm’s children: his adopted daughter Susan Storm (Kate Mara), a young woman who specializes in pattern recognition and his son Johnny (Michael B. Jordan) a thrill-seeking mechanic. Joining them is Victor von Doom (Toby Kebbell), a bright but pessimistic computer technician, and a body of engineers to complete the machine. When Reed and his friends (which also includes Jamie Bell as Ben Grimm, who has been there with Reed building prototypes from the beginning) learn that they will not get to reap the fruits of their labor once the teleporter is finished, they decide to set up a clandestine experiment.

    I suppose I now find myself in the position of having to defend why I liked the movie and also why I think that it’s flawed, I not necessarily bad. To begin, I think a “Fantastic Four” movie is a very tricky project to pull off. You have to establish four characters, Sue, Johnny, Ben and Reed as regular people. Then, you have to establish them as the same people, with their powers. You also have to tell us what kind of group dynamics they have, give us a plot that establishes how they get their powers and give us a villain. Then the villain needs to have his own story, with some kind of means to create havoc and all that. Considering how much material there is to handle in a story like this, I think it’s well handled here. I felt like I got to know all of the individual characters. I liked seeing Reed, the joy he gets from having his teleporter be recognized as viable. I like seeing the relationship between all of the characters and the changes they go through as the story unfolds. When executive meddling threatens to take away the project from the young inventors it doesn’t feel like we get one of those cartoonish executive fat cats thrown in just for us to have someone to hate. It’s the kind of thing that probably happens all the time with scientific breakthroughs so it feels organic. I also like the fact that when our heroes get their abilities, they act like real people would. When you think about it, Reed Richards’ abilities are a little bit eerie and he reacts accordingly. I guess what I’m trying to say is that I admire the fact that this feels like a story about characters that will become a team. The focus here is on the characters, and on what they will contribute in later adventures.

    I like “Fantastic Four” far better than the other films starring Jessica Alba, which I think were downright embarrassing. There are some undeniable flaws though. For instance, the look of the villain that eventually shows up, it’s not great. Also, despite the fact that I was forewarned about the general lack of action, I do wish there could have been more super-heroic scenes throughout the film. To me, this movie feels a lot like “The Amazing Spider-Man”. I felt lukewarm about the film initially, but with the sequel that came out, the series overall got better. Some of the themes and ideas introduced in the first one were followed up on or further defined and I came to appreciate it more. I see a lot of potential for a franchise built around the characters introduced here. There’s not a whole lot of humor, but that could emerge as the characters become more comfortable with their situation. We could see more of the good actors present in their roles and because we see so much character development and establishing traits in this first film, a sequel would be able to focus on a special effects heavy, fast-paced plot with ease. A sequel’s been confirmed, so I say consider this not as it’s own movie, but as part 1 or 2.

    From what I heard about this film before I went into the theatre, I had lowered expectations and I knew what I was getting into. Maybe that’s why I enjoyed the film. If you only go to superhero movies to see people punching each other amidst explosions, yeah you’ll find it dull. I don’t know what else to tell you. I guess I don’t necessarily find it to be absolutely necessary. I was interested in the scientific breakthroughs and the character dynamics that were on-screen. The 2015 “Fantastic Four” film is not the disaster you have been led to believe it is, but it is also not a superhero movie like the rest. (Theatrical version on the big screen, August 18, 2015)

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    adamwatchesmovies@  27.8.2015 age: 26-35 2,867 reviews

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