Fantastic Four from Fox Studios (8/7/15) 1 1

[Prince Namor]

I just got back and took my 13 year old girl and her best friend. The best friend who doesn't know superheroes at all, thought it was really good and all the way home were trying to come up with superhero names.

 

I thought it was actually really good. Something I've wanted to see for a long time, an hour and a half origin story, that actually made sense followed by a fifteen minute "big fight" by somebody who actually had reason and motivation to be pizzed off.

 

I can see why others might not like it, if you want action followed by more action. It was also quite dark too.

 

Jim

 

So I just left the theater myself unlike my friends who were pissed Johnny Storm was black and the liberties that could be seen taken just by watching the previews. I was excited by the previews.

 

I would say the problematic reviews for this film is simply this film was not made for critics just like the Transformers films. This film was made with a young college to high school audience so this is a type of film critics just love to hate.

 

The film is essentially a remake of Real Genius with superheroes in it.

 

Overall simple, fun, and straight forward to watch. What I liked about this film no long drawn out character developments that extend the movie to over 2 and half hours.

 

The big fight sequence needs a little more time with Dr. Doom he came and went in the film fast.

 

Only other complaint I am not sure how long it is going to take me getting over seeing The Thing's big orange rock hard balls in the film.

 

This film is the best Fantastic Four film ever made and beats the first Avengers in my book.

 

Will I buy the film when it comes out? Sure

Would I see a sequel? Yes

 

Wait, what kind of film don't critics like? Cause they loved Real Genius, it got a 74% on RT.

 

And there are plenty of films made for young college to high school audiences that critics love:

The Duff this year got a 72%

Pitch Perfect 2 (a SEQUEL!!!) got 66%

The Hunger Games Mockingjay (The THIRD film in the series) even managed a 65%

 

even Paper Towns, which has gotten some pretty mediocre reviews still managed to hit 56%....

 

The FOURTH Transformers still managed a 35%.....

 

[Broke as a Joke]

I just got back and took my 13 year old girl and her best friend. The best friend who doesn't know superheroes at all, thought it was really good and all the way home were trying to come up with superhero names.

 

I thought it was actually really good. Something I've wanted to see for a long time, an hour and a half origin story, that actually made sense followed by a fifteen minute "big fight" by somebody who actually had reason and motivation to be pizzed off.

 

I can see why others might not like it, if you want action followed by more action. It was also quite dark too.

 

Jim

 

So I just left the theater myself unlike my friends who were pissed Johnny Storm was black and the liberties they could be seen taken just by watching the previews I was excited by the previews.

 

I would say the problematic reviews for this film is simply this film was not made for critics like the Transformers films. This film was made with a young college to high school audience so must critics will just hate.

 

The film is essentially a remake of Real Genius with superheroes in it.

So why not call it Real Genius instead of Fantastic 4? If this was a reboot of real genius it *might* get better reviews, but Fox in their infinite wisdom calls it the Fantastic 4. So of course people/critics/fans are gonna be pissed when they get RG instead of F4.

 

Oh wait so you want them to follow the same story every time with exact character representations from the comics. Why make a new film if your going to stick to the same -script?

 

They went with a fresh new take and I liked it. If you have not seen the film yet don't talk until you do.

 

But that is why we check for film critics reviews. And at 10% positive this doesn't seem to be one of those "on the fence" type movies...

[bronze_rules]

I just got back and took my 13 year old girl and her best friend. The best friend who doesn't know superheroes at all, thought it was really good and all the way home were trying to come up with superhero names.

 

I thought it was actually really good. Something I've wanted to see for a long time, an hour and a half origin story, that actually made sense followed by a fifteen minute "big fight" by somebody who actually had reason and motivation to be pizzed off.

 

I can see why others might not like it, if you want action followed by more action. It was also quite dark too.

 

Jim

 

So I just left the theater myself unlike my friends who were pissed Johnny Storm was black and the liberties that could be seen taken just by watching the previews. I was excited by the previews.

 

I would say the problematic reviews for this film is simply this film was not made for critics just like the Transformers films. This film was made with a young college to high school audience so this is a type of film critics just love to hate.

 

The film is essentially a remake of Real Genius with superheroes in it.

 

Overall simple, fun, and straight forward to watch. What I liked about this film no long drawn out character developments that extend the movie to over 2 and half hours.

 

The big fight sequence needs a little more time with Dr. Doom he came and went in the film fast.

 

Only other complaint I am not sure how long it is going to take me getting over seeing The Thing's big orange rock hard balls in the film.

 

This film is the best Fantastic Four film ever made and beats the first Avengers in my book.

 

Will I buy the film when it comes out? Sure

Would I see a sequel? Yes

 

I find the concept of a dark real genius appealing. The trailer of Reed as a kid presenting his 'genius' ideas reminded me a bit of a young finch on persons of interest. Tonight I passed a second free invitation by the person who liked the first (unbiased non-comic fan adult) and went back for seconds. grrr

 

I have a feeling I'd like this better than Hunger Games. Of course, I also liked Lucy, and know I'm in the minority here on that.

[Goldeneye]

I just got back and took my 13 year old girl and her best friend. The best friend who doesn't know superheroes at all, thought it was really good and all the way home were trying to come up with superhero names.

 

I thought it was actually really good. Something I've wanted to see for a long time, an hour and a half origin story, that actually made sense followed by a fifteen minute "big fight" by somebody who actually had reason and motivation to be pizzed off.

 

I can see why others might not like it, if you want action followed by more action. It was also quite dark too.

 

Jim

 

So I just left the theater myself unlike my friends who were pissed Johnny Storm was black and the liberties that could be seen taken just by watching the previews. I was excited by the previews.

 

I would say the problematic reviews for this film is simply this film was not made for critics just like the Transformers films. This film was made with a young college to high school audience so this is a type of film critics just love to hate.

 

The film is essentially a remake of Real Genius with superheroes in it.

 

Overall simple, fun, and straight forward to watch. What I liked about this film no long drawn out character developments that extend the movie to over 2 and half hours.

 

The big fight sequence needs a little more time with Dr. Doom he came and went in the film fast.

 

Only other complaint I am not sure how long it is going to take me getting over seeing The Thing's big orange rock hard balls in the film.

 

This film is the best Fantastic Four film ever made and beats the first Avengers in my book.

 

Will I buy the film when it comes out? Sure

Would I see a sequel? Yes

 

I find the concept of a dark real genius appealing. The trailer of Reed as a kid presenting his 'genius' ideas reminded me a bit of a young finch on persons of interest. Tonight I passed a second free invitation by the person who liked the first (unbiased non-comic fan adult) and went back for seconds. grrr

 

I have a feeling I'd like this better than Hunger Games. Of course, I also liked Lucy, and know I'm in the minority here on that.

 

I liked Lucy as well that was very sophisticated film most people don't get. I actually had to stop watching the third Hunger Games film I was so bored besides Battle Royale in which the Hunger Games is based from so much cooler.

[Buzzetta]

Still have not seen the Hunger Games or the Harry Potter flicks...

 

Am I really missing out? HP I've been leaning toward since I continually hear good things about that from production all the way down to the portrayals of the characters.

 

Hunger Games I've avoided like I've avoided Twilight.

[TheLiamSturgess]

Okay, just got back from seeing it. With it fresh in my mind, here is my spoiler-filled review...

 

 

Not a lot of people are going to agree with me, but I enjoyed many things about this movie. More specifically, the first two thirds. Unfortunately though, the second you start to analyze the movie in the slightest, it falls apart.

 

Let's start with characters. Really, we're not dealing with the Fantastic Four here (or, in my opinion, even the Ultimate FF) - this is more like a selection of new characters who happen to gain the FF's powers. Reed and Ben have good chemistry and are funny together, and Johnny is fun in his scenes. Franklin is okay, but underwhelming as a father figure. Sue and Victor on the other hand are completely useless. Sue never smiled, and Victor was inconsistent in his dynamic with literally every other character, and by the time he became Doom, he might as well have been an Ultron robot duplicate with virtually all the early-film development shoved out the window. Reed and Sue have awful chemistry and the relationship is never developed, as with Sue and Victor's implied relationship. The one thing that I really enjoyed was the Mole Man's part (though he wasn't a supervillain, just a corporate goon. And he died, which didn't help anything.

 

Moving on to powers... What lacked most is the scene(s) where they discover their powers and what they can do, and by that I mean there isn't one. They skip a year of development, which is where the movie lost me. Reed goes on the run before we see any real stretching of note, and the next time we see him use them is in the big final battle where he punches Doom once or twice. The 2005 movie did it SO much better. The Thing was a pleasant surprise for me - with the exception of the missing pants and the slightly strange face design, I thought they nailed his physicality and got the voice decently. His powers were (again) barely shown, so not much to comment on there - but his lack of sense of humour was a dealbreaker. The Torch's powers were excellent, though it occurred to me that they probably just reused the Sunspot CGI from DOFP because they looked identical. I was happy he threw fireballs, though. Doom's powers were actually pretty spot-on, as far as I understand them, but terribly underdeveloped. Sue's powers also were well executed, but used as a deus ex machina one two many times. And I still don't like her.

 

Plot? Well, the plot involves Reed and Ben wanting to reach the Negative Zone, which they do (with Doom and Johnny and help from Sue) but "something" goes wrong (the Negative Zone spazzes out for a truly unknown reason) and literally grabs Victor. The other three return, they have new powers, but for some reason Reed runs away... A year later, he comes back, Ben and Johnny are military weapons, Ben is emo, and they decide to go back to the Negative Zone to try to fix the four. Instead, they find Doom and bring him back, which pisses Doom off, so he kills everyone except the FF. At first he just wants to go back to the N-Zone, then decides it would be better to merge the two worlds. He opens up a wormhole, they all safely fly in (which definitely makes sense), they all attempt to hit Doom but he is too powerful, so they try just a tad harder and somehow are able to hit him this time. Reed punches him a few times, then Ben hits him hard and he is somehow disintegrated by his own timespace energy. They teleport home and then almost effortlessly acquire a military base out of which to conduct "research". Then comes the most cringeworthy scene, where they float around team names.

 

In conclusion, the reviews were (sadly) almost all spot on. The first two thirds (or maybe even just half) are/is pretty good and sets up a potentially great movie, but at some point the story just goes wrong. Someone screwed up, missed a deadline, pushed for some plot point that never made it in, something. I would say it's worth watching just to enjoy the first half and then be able to say you've seen it, and be able to form your own opinion.

 

Edited August 7, 2015 by Liaton-9000

[Bosco685]

Okay, just got back from seeing it. With it fresh in my mind, here is my spoiler-filled review...

 

 

Not a lot of people are going to agree with me, but I enjoyed many things about this movie. More specifically, the first two thirds. Unfortunately though, the second you start to analyze the movie in the slightest, it falls apart.

 

Let's start with characters. Really, we're not dealing with the Fantastic Four here (or, in my opinion, even the Ultimate FF) - this is more like a selection of new characters who happen to gain the FF's powers. Reed and Ben have good chemistry and are funny together, and Johnny is fun in his scenes. Franklin is okay, but underwhelming as a father figure. Sue and Victor on the other hand are completely useless. Sue never smiled, and Victor was inconsistent in his dynamic with literally every other character, and by the time he became Doom, he might as well have been an Ultron robot duplicate with virtually all the early-film development shoved out the window. Reed and Sue have awful chemistry and the relationship is never developed, as with Sue and Victor's implied relationship. The one thing that I really enjoyed was the Mole Man's part (though he wasn't a supervillain, just a corporate goon. And he died, which didn't help anything.

 

Moving on to powers... What lacked most is the scene(s) where they discover their powers and what they can do, and by that I mean there isn't one. They skip a year of development, which is where the movie lost me. Reed goes on the run before we see any real stretching of note, and the next time we see him use them is in the big final battle where he punches Doom once or twice. The 2005 movie did it SO much better. The Thing was a pleasant surprise for me - with the exception of the missing pants and the slightly strange face design, I thought they nailed his physicality and got the voice decently. His powers were (again) barely shown, so not much to comment on there - but his lack of sense of humour was a dealbreaker. The Torch's powers were excellent, though it occurred to me that they probably just reused the Sunspot CGI from DOFP because they looked identical. I was happy he threw fireballs, though. Doom's powers were actually pretty spot-on, as far as I understand them, but terribly underdeveloped. Sue's powers also were well executed, but used as a deus ex machina one two many times. And I still don't like her.

 

Plot? Well, the plot involves Reed and Ben wanting to reach the Negative Zone, which they do (with Doom and Johnny and help from Sue) but "something" goes wrong (the Negative Zone spazzes out for a truly unknown reason) and literally grabs Victor. The other three return, they have new powers, but for some reason Reed runs away... A year later, he comes back, Ben and Johnny are military weapons, Ben is emo, and they decide to go back to the Negative Zone to try to fix the four. Instead, they find Doom and bring him back, which pisses Doom off, so he kills everyone except the FF. At first he just wants to go back to the N-Zone, then decides it would be better to merge the two worlds. He opens up a wormhole, they all safely fly in (which definitely makes sense), they all attempt to hit Doom but he is too powerful, so they try just a tad harder and somehow are able to hit him this time. Reed punches him a few times, then Ben hits him hard and he is somehow disintegrated by his own timespace energy. They teleport home and then almost effortlessly acquire a military base out of which to conduct "research". Then comes the most cringeworthy scene, where they float around team names.

 

In conclusion, the reviews were (sadly) almost all spot on. The first two thirds (or maybe even just half) are/is pretty good and sets up a potentially great movie, but at some point the story just goes wrong. Someone screwed up, missed a deadline, pushed for some plot point that never made it in, something. I would say it's worth watching just to enjoy the first half and then be able to say you've seen it, and be able to form your own opinion.

 

What??!! Some positives mixed in with the justified negatives of this movie. That will not work!

 

 

Thanks for the extensive review. What a shame after all these years.

 

[Bosco685]

I just got back and took my 13 year old girl and her best friend. The best friend who doesn't know superheroes at all, thought it was really good and all the way home were trying to come up with superhero names.

 

I thought it was actually really good. Something I've wanted to see for a long time, an hour and a half origin story, that actually made sense followed by a fifteen minute "big fight" by somebody who actually had reason and motivation to be pizzed off.

 

I can see why others might not like it, if you want action followed by more action. It was also quite dark too.

 

Jim

 

So I just left the theater myself unlike my friends who were pissed Johnny Storm was black and the liberties they could be seen taken just by watching the previews I was excited by the previews.

 

I would say the problematic reviews for this film is simply this film was not made for critics like the Transformers films. This film was made with a young college to high school audience so must critics will just hate.

 

The film is essentially a remake of Real Genius with superheroes in it.

So why not call it Real Genius instead of Fantastic 4? If this was a reboot of real genius it *might* get better reviews, but Fox in their infinite wisdom calls it the Fantastic 4. So of course people/critics/fans are gonna be pissed when they get RG instead of F4.

 

Oh wait so you want them to follow the same story every time with exact character representations from the comics. Why make a new film if your going to stick to the same -script?

 

They went with a fresh new take and I liked it. If you have not seen the film yet don't talk until you do.

 

Unfortunately, if you found even a glimmer of something you liked in this movie (you did - I realize that), your likes will be challenged due to the desire for mass hate of this film.

 

Meanwhile, it sounds like the majority will not like the extensive deviation from any source material. Even with the Ultimate Fantastic Four.

[fantastic_four]

Learning how to accept criticism and disagreement without our feelings getting hurt would be a tremendous benefit.

 

If someone disagrees with you, it's not the end of the world. Really, it's not.

 

Wow. Who's the director for this radical new RockMyAmadeus reboot?

[Bosco685]

Learning how to accept criticism and disagreement without our feelings getting hurt would be a tremendous benefit.

 

If someone disagrees with you, it's not the end of the world. Really, it's not.

 

Wow. Who's the director for this radical new RockMyAmadeus reboot?

 

Indeed.

[fantastic_four]

These tomato ratings are a little misleading

 

The main Rotten Tomatoes score is an indicator of how many critics overall enjoyed a film. For the more absolute indicator of reviewer quality you have in mind, look at the "average rating" score directly beneath the overall score. The current quality rating of FF is 3.6 out of 10.

[fantastic_four]

Damn. That didn't take long. Opening night and Trank is already talking smack...

 

https://www.yahoo.com/tv/s/fantastic-four-director-swears-hes-021200954.html

For real? Already trying to distance himself from this before it even opens in all theaters is a hell of a bad sign. I mean shouldn't he wait at least till after the weekend box office numbers are in? I mean it being the american public this abomination could still rake in big box office bucks, unless he knows something we don't.

 

Holy hell, what a trainwreck.

[Jeffro.]

Furthermore who are these critics anyway?

 

 

Christy Lemire

ChristyLemire.com

 

Josh Terry

Deseret News, Salt Lake City

 

Brad Keefe

Columbus Alive

 

Bruce Bennett

Spectrum (St. George, Utah)

 

Robert Roten

Laramie Movie Scope

 

Those are all Chuck Gower.

 

This thread has moved on.

 

Did you get permission to revisit this issue?

 

[Bosco685]

Josh Trank still breathing: offended Fantastic Four fans wonder why

 

Obviously, many will see Trank’s statement as an attempt to save face; at present, Fantastic Four stands as one of the worst-reviewed comic book films of all time. Critics have tended to highlight the film’s muddled, conflicting, or simply divided tone and attitude – lending credence to those who suspected Trank’s efforts to tell an unconventional superhero origin story had smashed head-on into Fox’s plan for rebooting a franchise (with talks of an X-Men crossover confirmed).

 

We will never know who is telling the full truth, but there’s no way to argue that the first trailer for Fantastic Four managed to turn the conversation from the team’s last big screen outing. Promising a story that was more science-fiction and horror than superpower-filled action, it seemed the mind behind Chronicle and a band of misfit mutants was a perfect fit. According to Trank, it was, believing he had a film that critics would have applauded.

[Wally's Comics]

I hope the studios at Fox either get a clue or sell the rights back.

 

A movie that could build this franchise is a solo movie on the Thing

and how he deals with it.

 

Almost like a Movie based around FF 51.

 

Once this character is solidified then maybe a FF movie could hold any weight.

 

but I hope there is no more reboots!

 

 

 

 

 

[Bosco685]

Furthermore who are these critics anyway?

 

 

Christy Lemire

ChristyLemire.com

 

Josh Terry

Deseret News, Salt Lake City

 

Brad Keefe

Columbus Alive

 

Bruce Bennett

Spectrum (St. George, Utah)

 

Robert Roten

Laramie Movie Scope

 

Those are all Chuck Gower.

 

This thread has moved on.

 

Did you get permission to revisit this issue?

 

 

 

'He asked me how come I wanted the movie to bomb!'

[Bosco685]

Reviews: FANTASTIC FOUR Is Not Quite As Bad As You've Heard

 

It's honestly, seriously that rushed and haphazard, with no emotional impact or engaging team dynamics whatsoever. If it turned out they fired Trank halfway through production and hired someone straight out of film school to complete the movie, along with a bunch of equally inexperienced editors, it wouldn't be surprising in the slightest. It's such a shame too, because this film had so much potential. The biggest casualty is probably Toby Kebbell as Victor Von Doom, who really makes for a fine bad guy - even when he returns looking rather silly as his supervillain alter-ego, he still gets a few badass (and surprisingly violent) scenes.

 

Bad? Sure. A complete disaster? No. A pretty good first 40 minutes or so, then you still get the feeling there's a much better movie struggling to break free from the somewhat tedious middle section, before just giving up and allowing the wretchedness to completely engulf the finale. A wasted cast, a wasted opportunity - but not a total write-off.

 

2.5/5 Stars

[Gatsby77]

I'm intrigued that several sources (including the "Weekend Forecast" article on BoxOfficeMojo's front page) are reporting that Matthew Vaughn was brought in as secondary director to help save this film via re-shoots, etc.

 

Prior to this week, I'd just read that it was primary writer/producer Simon Kinberg who was given the reshoots / editing duties.

[Bosco685]

This may be why the last couple of reviews noted the movie started one way, and then at some point the direction changed. Two different directors leading the production.

[Rawhide]

Haven't read many posts on this thread, so don't flame when I ask this question.

 

Is it "kid" friendly"?

 

The few posts I have read referenced it being dark. My kids are 10 and 7, just wondering if they might enjoy it.

 

Thanks