Thereis an awe factor that is inherent to a good superhero film and Fantastic Four is utterly lacking in that sense. Tim Story, the director of the film, is a promising talent; but didn't have the Joinedby Storm's tearaway son Johnny (Michael B. Jordan), it's not long before Trank's team crack matter transportation - with Tim Blake Nelson's suit threatening to take it all to those x6viK7u. Fantastic Four Maybe "Fantastic Four" is a cursed property, or maybe just one that shouldn't be turned into a film? In any case, this new version, directed by Josh Trank, is the third major big screen attempt to tell the story of Reed Richards, Sue and Johnny Storm, Ben Grimm aka The Thing and Dr. Doom, the core characters in one of Marvel Comics' most durable properties. The good news is, it's short. The bad news is, it feels longer than an afternoon spent at the DMV—and at least at the DMV, you can pass the time by people-watching. There are no people to watch in "Fantastic Four," only collections of character traits and attitudes brought fitfully to life by actors who might've mistakenly thought they were hitching a ride on the superhero movie gravy train by signing up for this misfire. The movie starts off on an intriguing note, with 11-year old Reed Richards and his buddy Ben Grimm meeting for the first time when Reed sneaks into Grimm's family's junkyard to steal a transformer he needs to build a tiny teleportation device. Then the movie flashes forward to the present day, with Reed, now played by Miles Teller, and Ben, played by Jamie Bell, wreaking havoc with their invention at a science fair. Although the machine browns-out the power and creates an unnerving rumble and shatters a backboard in the gymnasium, it's an impressive enough display to cause Dr. Franklin Storm Reg E. Cathey to hire Teller to work at the Baxter Institute, which has been trying to solve the mystery of Planet Zero, the place where Reed's teleported objects always end up. The next hour of the film is another superhero origin story, introducing the doctor's two kids, the super-intelligent, science-minded Sue Storm Kate Mara and her juvenile delinquent brother Johnny Michael B. Jordan, who's introduced in a street race that feels like an outtake from a "Fast and the Furious" movie. The comic's arch-villain Dr. Victor von Doom what a name; wonder if he changed it from "Vahndüm"? is also part of the team, and if you know even a little bit about the source material, you wait for the other iron boot to drop and turn him into an all-powerful megalomaniac. Doom used to be Sue's boyfriend and doesn't take kindly to the way she and Reed banter over keyboards and monitors. He's played by Toby Kebbell, who, to borrow a line from Andrew Sarris, looks like half the waiters on Melrose Avenue, but is quite good. His world-weariness and punk-Byronic glowering contrasts appealingly against the blandness of the other characters—even Jordan's Johnny, who's supposed to be a hot-rodding bad-boy a la Han Solo but reads, rather like Chris Evans in the last "Four" films, like a muscular male ingenue who occasionally quips and a while, anyway, "The Fantastic Four" seems to be re-conceiving the superhero movie as a scientific mystery-adventure about how to solve the puzzle of the teleportation gate, send a manned mission to Planet Zero, and see what's there. This is only a partially effective approach, though, because the characters are so flat that not even this gifted cast can fill them with life, and because we're waiting for the characters to gain superpowers and figure out how to master them and then become a team. The latter is the whole point of an origin story, which has been rightly rapped as an overdone and mostly unimaginative movie template, but that still provides basic satisfaction when properly executed. You don't put the "getting powers" part an hour into a movie, as this one chose to, for some cockamamie reason, postponing the inevitable disastrous manned mission to Planet Zero, which is filled with body-warping cosmic radiation, until long past the point when anyone particularly cares about it. And after you've given your heroes and your bad guy their powers, you don't then suddenly veer off in another direction and make, essentially, "Fantastic Four, Part II," pitting the foursome which now includes the orange, rock-skinned super-tough-guy Ben against Doom in a series of battles that are packed into the space of about fifteen minutes, look and sound and feel unoriginal and cheap, and don't even explore the characters' abilities, and their emotional response to those abilities, in compelling ways. Ben in particular is ill-served. He doesn't have any of the personality demonstrated in the comics and even in previous film versions. He's just a quiet, nice guy, a stick figure, even when he's transformed. And once he is transformed, the film doesn't spend one minute asking what it's like to suddenly be a giant, rock-encrusted monster with stony Muppet lips. Ben just seems to be all right with it. I've heard of easygoing, but this is ridiculous. He acts like somebody gave him a haircut he didn't like. Oh, bummer, I wish this could grow blame for a disaster is always a tricky thing in reviews. Unless critics have intimate inside knowledge of everything that happened during a production, they end up citing other people's reported articles, which might or might not be accurate, depending on who's supplying them with facts, or "facts," and what their agendas are. We do know that Trank got fired off one of the "Star Wars" spin-off films, that he a producer on both that film and "Fantastic Four" don't like each other, that his enemies have painted him with the dreaded adjective "difficult", and that "Fantastic Four" underwent extensive re-shoots in the months leading up to release and Trank was not present for them. All of this complicates typical sentences in film reviews that treat the director as the captain of the cinematic ship rightly or wrongly. That's why I've said "the film" does this or that rather than "Trank". I have no idea why this movie is so terrible, only that it is terrible, and there is no joy in noting the terribleness of a film. A lot of people spent a lot of time and energy on "The Fantastic Four" and the result just sort of lies there. The tone and structure of "Fantastic Four" should be studied in film schools as an example of what not to do. It's as if somebody took two pretty-decent feature length movies, broke them into pieces, and re-edited them into one film, but without any discernible plan beyond "get this down to 90 minutes." This is not a shortness issue, though. It's an everything issue. I'm not convinced that the movie's problems could have been solved with more scenes. Better scenes, definitely. And better characters. And better dialogue. Teller and Mara and Jordan and the rest are excellent actors; we know this from seeing them in other movies. If you encountered them here for the first time, you'd wonder what anyone saw in them. There is a whorishness to the big-budget superhero genre right now, a palpable sense of opportunism and greed that gives even the most earnest entries a faintly cynical veneer. Movies like this one, which show no outward evidence of having been created for any reason except to make money, do nothing to dispel that. The Marvel factory is indeed a factory, stamping out pre-sold intellectual property widgets with movie stars and the best visual effects that money can buy, but even their least ambitious products work. This one doesn't. It's defective, a discard, a huge ball of metal and plastic and spandex, all fused together. It's impossible to tell what it was supposed to be. Matt Zoller Seitz Matt Zoller Seitz is the Editor at Large of TV critic for New York Magazine and and a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in criticism. Now playing Film Credits Fantastic Four 2015 Rated PG-13 for sci-fi action violence, and language 100 minutes Latest blog posts about 1 hour ago about 4 hours ago about 5 hours ago 1 day ago Comments Movie Reviews By Reviewer Type All Critics Top Critics All Audience Verified Audience Prev Next Trust me when I say this – reading about the movie is a lot more fun than watching it. Full Review Original Score Aug 20, 2022 All build-up and no pay-off, Fantastic Four attempts to reboot the popular Marvel superhero team with new actors, a fresh young director, and a studio whose rocky track record with Marvel properties doesn't promote confidence. Full Review Original Score May 29, 2022 Its talented cast is wasted in a big lead-up to a whole bunch of nothing. Full Review Original Score C- Aug 29, 2021 A horribly botched reboot that squanders a talented young cast. Full Review Original Score Jun 8, 2021 You've got to hand it to Josh Trank for making a movie that fails in almost every way. Fantastic Four is just frustrating because you can see hints of something interesting, but without the knowledge to build upon those ideas. Full Review Jan 14, 2021 What starts as a prime example of how not to construct an origins feature quickly turns into the perfect formula to avoid when making motion pictures in general. Full Review Original Score 1/10 Dec 4, 2020 The film is such an obvious set up for more that it watches like they forgot to write anything but the beginning. Full Review Original Score C- Jul 4, 2020 The worst thing of all is the bad taste in the mouth that stays because the movie is nothing more than a mess introduced to desperation to try to give the public what a superhero movie is supposed to give you. [Full Review in Spanish] Full Review Apr 22, 2020 It's here that the movie hits its stride, and although it takes a dark turn, it's fun in precisely the way the movies it's aping classically are. Full Review Apr 8, 2020 There is nothing fantastic about Fantastic Four. Full Review Dec 8, 2019 Similar to the upcoming third reboot of the Spiderman franchise, this Fantastic Four reboot feels unnecessary. The story has not changed, nor has the dynamic of the group. Full Review Original Score 2/5 Nov 19, 2019 Fantastic Four is a radically different approach to the franchise. While this version of the characters may work out in the future, their establishment is anything but stimulating. Full Review Original Score Nov 13, 2019 Fantastic Four won't leave you hungry for sequel; it will leave you desperate to forget what you just watched. Signs of greatness are there, but ultimately, this movie is little more than a mess and a crushing disappointment. Full Review Original Score 1/5 Sep 1, 2019 Fantastic in name alone, this film is far from it. Full Review Original Score 1/5 Aug 30, 2019 Creaks and groans along for a mercifully short hour and 40 minutes while neglecting the basic fundamentals of storytelling in a surprisingly cavalier way. Full Review Original Score Jul 5, 2019 Fantastic Four sets itself well for a sequel if turned off well before the final act. Full Review Original Score 2/5 May 4, 2019 It's an extremely rough film where there are a lot of edges that needed to be smoothed over. Full Review Original Score May 2, 2019 The story from start to finish was cliched and silly. Full Review Original Score D Apr 18, 2019 It takes itself too seriously, it's colorless visually and emotionally, and it dupes us by promising something "Fantastic" and instead delivering a lifeless black hole of an experience that'll ruin your day. There's no fun to be had here. Full Review Original Score Mar 7, 2019 It never reaches the glorious heights we have come to anticipate from Marvel's diverse universes. Full Review Feb 22, 2019 Prev Next Do you think we mischaracterized a critic's review? It is a good film, even that after the middle the quality gets down, it doesn't deserve your bad opinions!!! Besides it's better then the two first movies. 20 of 221 users found this helpful20201 Fantastic Four 7/10 STARS! PERFECT- Directing, Pace, Acting, Script, Cast & CGI. ISSUES- Runtime, Editing, Character & Plot, Middle & Finale. The ENDING leaves you wanting more! ‪‎Fantastic Four‬ 2015 is a successful reboot. Let the ‪F42‬ conversation begin! Suggested Ticket Price $ Four 7/10 STARS! PERFECT- Directing, Pace, Acting, Script, Cast & CGI. ISSUES- Runtime, Editing, Character & Plot, Middle & Finale. The ENDING leaves you wanting more! ‪‎Fantastic Four‬ 2015 is a successful reboot. Let the ‪F42‬ conversation begin! Suggested Ticket Price $ & Below Matinee Only. Many nods to Man of Steel! Don't let those paid haters critics keep you from watching it at least once on the BIG SCREEN. Lastly, you should already know this but NO Post-Credit Scene. However, the End Credits Song is... NBD! Rewatchability Factor 8/10 STARS! If you love the Fantasic Four... You'll watch this again and again... and again! Adding it to the ‪Black Friday‬ Blu-ray list. Fingers crossed for ‪F4‬2! China can save this franchise if domestic Box Office numbers come up short just like it will save Terminator Genisys in a few weeks. ***Blame any errors on the ZzZzZzZ's***… Expand 2 of 22 users found this helpful220 It's hard to emphasize just how fast this movie sputters out. I had a good time watching the first hour or so, it was a bit overdone, borrowed a lot from Spiderman, but it way enjoyable. Then with half an hour to go it just feels like someone gave them the "wrap it up" signal and the filmIt's hard to emphasize just how fast this movie sputters out. I had a good time watching the first hour or so, it was a bit overdone, borrowed a lot from Spiderman, but it way enjoyable. Then with half an hour to go it just feels like someone gave them the "wrap it up" signal and the film rapidly melts into a rushed mess. The dialogue loses all its flair, the action feels disjointed, and even the special effects seem to get worse with every passing moment. It really is a bizarre experience.… Expand 0 of 0 users found this helpful00 Man, what a mess of a movie. The most boring and uneventful comic book movie i have ever seen. It's like they were doing the same thing all movie OVER AND OVER AGAIN. The villain was just horrible, they wasted Dr. Doom so bad, plus he looked horrible. I was honestly relieved when the movieMan, what a mess of a movie. The most boring and uneventful comic book movie i have ever seen. It's like they were doing the same thing all movie OVER AND OVER AGAIN. The villain was just horrible, they wasted Dr. Doom so bad, plus he looked horrible. I was honestly relieved when the movie finished. Overall it's just a mess of a movie that takes a **** on the fantastic 4 name, as if the previous 2 movies didn't do that properly.… Expand 0 of 0 users found this helpful00 How could this movie all of a sudden get so bad so quickly? Honestly I would say the first half was terrific, it made me say to myself 'Why does everyone hate this?' and then BOOM a half hour towards the end we have a rushed superhero battle with over-explained plot lines, a villain who isHow could this movie all of a sudden get so bad so quickly? Honestly I would say the first half was terrific, it made me say to myself 'Why does everyone hate this?' and then BOOM a half hour towards the end we have a rushed superhero battle with over-explained plot lines, a villain who is more laughable than villainous, overall acting and even worse special effects. The director was right to try to get his name off this hunk-o-junk.… Expand 3 of 4 users found this helpful31 Generally I can take a comic-book movie and see some positive light in it, even if it doesn't deliver what it should have. This however, you just can't. From start to finish you're given an extremely boring movie, with dull pacing and a gloomy tone. Not even an action sequence to look up to,Generally I can take a comic-book movie and see some positive light in it, even if it doesn't deliver what it should have. This however, you just can't. From start to finish you're given an extremely boring movie, with dull pacing and a gloomy tone. Not even an action sequence to look up to, nor even a drop of humor to keep us enlighted. Just pure trash.… Expand 0 of 0 users found this helpful00 It's a poor movie but I'm more concerned with the Thing's pants. Has anyone managed to find them? Also, where did his penis go? I looking for that too. 0 of 0 users found this helpful00