Early Buzz For Josh Trank’s ‘Fantastic Four’
The first reviews for Josh Trank’s Fantastic Four reboot have arrived online … and they’re not pretty. Emma Dibdin of Digital Spy, who provided the kindest review of the bunch, calls it a “harmless and endearingly cartoonish throwback to more simple comic book movie times.” She then goes on to say it’s basically a muddled, undeveloped mess. Unfortunately, the other reviews echo the overall negative sentiment. On that note, please check them out below.
The film hits theaters on Friday. FANTASTIC FOUR, a contemporary re-imagining of Marvel’s original and longest-running superhero team, centers on four young outsiders who teleport to an alternate and dangerous universe, which alters their physical form in shocking ways. Their lives irrevocably upended, the team must learn to harness their daunting new abilities and work together to save Earth from a former friend turned enemy.
The Wrap: [Fantastic Four] offers glimmers of good things to come in its final moments, but only after the audience has slogged through yet another dispiriting origin story and yet another Earth-rescuing battle in a bland, CG-created nowhere land.
Variety: Where many recent superhero movies have risked overstaying their welcome, “Fantastic Four,” at 100 minutes, actually feels a tad rushed at the end, with a hasty climax that nevertheless produces some solid moments — at least a few of which, given the slow pace initially, probably should have come at least a half-hour sooner. Instead, filmgoers are treated to a lot of science, with the central characters gazing intently into computer screens.
THR: Beginning with Teller and Jordan, who have done such promising early work, the cast is utterly wasted here with mostly rote explanatory dialogue and little conflict or nuance to work on a dramatic level. And the visual style is in a dark, unattractive, gloomy mode that infects every aspect of the film.
Digital Spy: In the face of such bad buzz, it’s hard not to feel a little sorry for the finished product, which is a harmless and endearingly cartoonish throwback to more simple comic book movie times. But whatever strengths Fantastic Four has, it does not feel like a movie directed by Trank (who made such a striking debut with 2012’s bold anti-superhero fable Chronicle) or for that matter by anyone. It’s a muddled and underdeveloped origin story which segues jarringly from light-hearted adventure to heavy-handed grit, grasping for a gravitas that it hasn’t earned.
Related Posts:
cinemavine says:
SHAME! ... fixed.
Thomas says:
No still of the final shot of the trailer = FAIL
Maz00 says:
Could Ryan Gosling WALK any slower Looks fine. Surprised Deakins...
Adam says:
Agreed. Every time Tarkin was on screen I cringed.
Paul Smith says:
Just comment that watching the Rogue One movie, is very correct...