A decade after the first Fantastic Four feature, Marvel’s Fantastic Four gets a cinematic reboot from writer-director Josh Trank, his follow-up to 2012's Chronicle. Miles Teller (Whiplash) leads the squad as Mr. Fantastic; Kate Mara (127 Hours) is The Invisible Woman; Michael B. Jordan (Chronicle) is The Human Torch; Jamie Bell (Snowpiercer) is The Thing; and a drastically different Dr. Doom – a hacker named Victor Domashev – is played by Toby Kebbell (Koba from Dawn of the Planet of the Apes).
This is produced by 20th Century Fox (makers of the X-Men films), and falls outside the Marvel Universe of The Avengers movies.
Less
9%261 reviews
I could easily say that this new Fantastic Four outstretches its welcome, that its plot vanishes without a trace, that the action fails to ignite, or that the script could have used a good clobbering. But I’ve got a simpler statement: this is a bad movie. I know what many of you are thinking: “Can it really be as bad as those campy previous two films?” It’s a photo finish, even (and especially) with its bold shift to a serious/humourless tone.
Full review
All told, the movie feels like a protracted teaser for a more exciting follow-up that, depending on whether audiences warm to this relatively low-key approach, might never happen.
Full review
Trank's origin story brings nothing new to the party, apart from a rather muted, real-world aesthetic that counters the colourful worlds dreamed up by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in the original Marvel comics.
Full review
The drama is laughable, the attempted humour is strained and the script simply never allows the special effects crew to do anything particularly inventive.
Full review
A really good film, shorn of glib know-all theatrics, faux profundity and the spangly CG that's usually ushered in as dramatic short hand for, "we got nuthin'." It is, as the old saying goes, a proper movie.
Full review
A sense of heaviness, gloom and complete disappointment settles in during the second half, as the mundane setup pays no dramatic or sensory dividends whatsoever.
Full review
While it never quite becomes a bad film, it can never quite make you forget it is a botched film.
Full review
As an origin story that’s all origins and no story, there’s a hollow, stale feeling to this occasionally admirable attempt to Nolanise Marvel’s dysfunctional family.
Full reviewFantastic Four is available to stream in New Zealand now on Google Play and Apple TV and Disney+.
Get to your watchlist.
Or sign in with your email
Don’t have a Flicks account?
Keep track of the movies and show you want to see + get Flicks email updates.
Or sign up with your email
Already have a Flicks account?
Don’t have a Flicks account?
Remembered your password?
To post ratings/reviews we need a username. This is what will appear next to your ratings and reviews.
