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Generally I am referred to a crumdgeon when it comes to my views on films. You know that 85 year old crusty grandfather, with an ultra bad attitude. It get it from father, Grumpy, himself. So people expect me to shred "bad" movies. In many cases I get very frustrated because film makers have decent concepts and ideas but the follow through on them fails.
I understood what Tim Story was tasked to do back in 2005 for the "Fantastic Four". He was supposed to make a family friendly superhero movie with a limited budget under the constraints that the CGI was not able to keep up with the concepts from the comic books.
Josh Trank, Simon Kinberg, and the rest of the production staff were tasked with creating more realistic grounded version of the elder superhero group that brings both old and new viewers to the theater.
Much like Brett Ratner and Gavin Hood, Josh Trank is going to be skewered for this film, the only difference I think, if any of the rumors are even partially true, Josh Trank deserves to be cashiered. The revisioning of the Fantastic Four doesn't work. The 2015 movie is currently the worst reviewed film of 2015, and when additional reviews roll in I expect its whooping 9% rating to take a nose dive.
The movie had the potential to be a decent Sci-Fi film, if it would have changed its title and the than removed any reference to the Fantastic Four. It is an interesting concept and the first 75 minutes of the film are okay, a little slow but not bad. The film falls apart however as the film transitions from an interesting sci-Fi film to superhero film. It lacks the action, the comedy, the inside jokes, and what is expected from good superhero film.
The film clearly lacks pacing, whether that issue is from the script, directing, cinematography or editing I will let you choose. I lean on the first two and think the latter two were brought along for the ride.
There are problems with the acting, or is it directing through out the film. Clearly the principal characters were put in boxes and they ended up forcing many scenes with the score attempting to create the emotion rather than the actors. Having seen these actors in other films I know they have the ability so I again lean towards the direction as the issue.
The question for the critics, both professional and amateur alike, is whether you are looking at this as a independent film, or a Fantastic Four film based upon the comics. I never once bought these actors as Fantastic Four and I doubt the audience will either.
