Fantastic Four (2015)

[Michael*]

 

Fantastic Four (stylized as Fant4stic) is an upcoming American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics superhero team of the same name. It is the third theatrical Fantastic Four film to be distributed by 20th Century Fox and a reboot of the Fantastic Four film franchise. Directed by Josh Trank, the film stars Miles Teller, Kate Mara, Michael B. Jordan, Jamie Bell, and Toby Kebbell. Simon Kinberg and Jeremy Slater wrote the screenplay from a story conceived by Kinberg and Trank. In Fantastic Four, the team must learn to harness their abilities and work together to save Earth from a former friend turned enemy.

In August 2009, the development of the film was announced. In July 2012, Trank was hired to direct and Slater to write the screenplay. In October 2013, Kinberg was hired as a co-writer. By January 2014, Kinberg finished rewriting the script and casting began. Principal photography commenced in May 2014 and concluded in August the same year. The film was shot in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Fantastic Four is scheduled for release on August 7, 2015 in North America, in 2D and 3D theaters.
 
Premise
 
When four people teleport to an alternate universe, which alters their physical form and grants them new abilities, they must learn to harness their abilities and work together as a team to save the Earth from a familiar enemy.

Cast

Miles Teller as Reed Richards / Mr. Fantastic:

Teller said of the role, "When I read the script, I didn't feel like I was reading this larger-than-life, incredible superhero tale. These are all very human people that end up having to become I guess what is known as the Fantastic Four. So for me it was just a really good story and gives me an opportunity to play something different from my own skin."

Kate Mara as Susan Storm / Invisible Woman:

Mara said that she was supposed to read the Fantastic Four comic books for preparation. However, director Josh Trank suggested to her that it was unnecessary with writer Simon Kinberg adding, that the film is not based on a single issue of the Fantastic Four comic books. Mara has also said that she intended to focus on making her character "as real as possible".

Michael B. Jordan as Johnny Storm / Human Torch:

Jordan said of the cast, "We're more or less a bunch of kids that had an accident and we have disabilities now that we have to cope with, and try to find a life afterwards – try to be as normal as we can." Jordan previously worked with Trank for 2012's Chronicle and according to Trank, Jordan's character in Chronicle shared characteristics to Johnny Storm.

Jamie Bell as Ben Grimm / The Thing:

Trank said Grimm has a childhood element in the film who was an alienated kid from a "tough" neighborhood.

Toby Kebbell as Victor Domashev / Doom:

An anti-social programmer known as "Doom" online. Kebbell said that while playing the role, he concentrated the most on the voice of the character. He added, "on the animated series, they never got his voice what I imagined it to be when I read the comics as a little boy. What I spent the majority of my time doing was not just being a fan, but being a bit of pedant and making sure I got exactly what I always wanted to see.

[Michael*]

Official trailer. Very 'Interstellar'.

 

[Michael*]

What do we think about this one, then?
 
The whole furore surrounding Doom seems to made it fair game for an avalanche of hate and criticism, but whatever people might think about that, they've delivered a really impressive trailer. It appears to be doing everything possible to distance itself from the cartoonish and somewhat silly FF movies of a decade ago, and while some of the changes are going to be controversial, others look pretty refreshing. Overall, I'll reserve judgement until I see a bit more.

[Kevork89]

Everyone is ready to hate on this but not me. I think it's going to be great. DoFP was amazing and they are definitely heading in the same dark direction with the new F4. Also the director did Chronicle which was so good.

[Michael*]

Yeah, I thought 'Chronicle' was a little gem of a movie, albeit one that was hidden beneath the irritating and unnecessarily distracting 'handheld footage' format.
 
I really like the idea of Grimm emerging from rock, instead of just transforming into it. Should make for a great spectacle on the big screen. Obviously we don't have much to go on at the moment, but I get the feeling that if the trailer gives us an accurate feel of the tone and direction then we'll be getting, at very least, an enjoyable sci-fi flick.
 
Also, Kate Mara's patented 'antelope that knows there's a lion nearby' look in full effect.

[Kevork89]

New trailer. This just blew me out of the water. This will be amazing and to me looks much more exciting than BvS and even Ant-Man. I think Fox are doing something amazing with their comic book properties. People had already tarnished this movie and said they won't watch it. I hope they're all eating their words.

[Michael*]

Thanks Kev.

 

By the reaction online, it’s quite clear that many have made their minds up about the movie already. I’m not the biggest FF aficionado, but I see no reason as a comic book fan, not to go and see it. Saying that, I do think the second trailer was a slight step down from the first. This latest one seems to have more of a 'standard superhero flick' vibe to it, and I was excited about the hard sci-fi angle.

[Michael*]

Poster reveal.

 

[Kevork89]

I actually am digging the casting. I know some people had issues but I always felt the F4 team were a bunch of dorks and weren't the sexy glamorous types. So I like they casted more regular looking relatable actors for the roles. The trailer was a tad comicy but I'm looking forward to see how the story will be shown on screen.

[Michael*]

Yeah, the cast are all wonderful young actors, probably some of the most promising of their generation.
 
My fingers are still very much crossed for this, I only hope they're not trying too hard to squeeze the FF into a franchise that can rival the Avengers, because they were indeed a bunch of dorks. You can't go to town on showcasing their cool powers because, with the exception of Torch, they don't really have any. The key to writing them is grasping that they're more like adventurers than superheroes, it's a soap opera and an underdog story with homely characters that you can recognise and root for.

[jj3]

[Pregxi]

Trailer looks fine to me. I have been on the fence about this movie. Thing, Sue and even the Torch look well conceived. I cannot buy that as Reed Richards and that is not Victor Von Doom. I can accept that they are going for the Ultimate Fantastic Four vibe with younger characters, but I am especially not feeling Reed. Maybe that will change after the movie.

 

[Kevork89]

We haven't got long for this. I'm hoping this gets in good with the critics. There has been a lot of negativity around the production, cast, director etc and who knows what's gonna happen. But I'm very positive towards it.

[Kevork89]

So this has been thrashed by critics and is really really low on rotten. Like Catwoman, Batman & Robin, Elektra low. Oh dear.

[katchitup]

Even the director of the movie thinks its bad.   Though this article seems to say he did have alot of interference from the studio.  

 

http://comicbook.com/2015/08/08/fantastic-four-fox-reportedly-cut-3-action-scenes-days-before-jo/

 

It's too bad, I really liked Chronicle and this cast is pretty stellar, alot of young new talent. 

[Kevork89]

From what I've heard the studio got involved because of Trank's erratic behavior on set. A lot of reshoots, Fox kicking him out of the editing room which showed in the movie. Josh has been an absolute mess going all over Twitter and what not. This production was troubled from the beginning. Such a shame because it had potential.

[Michael*]

If the rumours are to be believed, Trank and Fox clashed so catastrophically over the content that Matthew Vaughn was drafted in to direct the re-shoots, although Trank has of course denied that.

I've yet to see the movie, but it appears Trank has struggled with the success of 'Chronicle', and after losing his 'Star Wars' gig, his light has dimmed somewhat. Fox probably didn't do anything that most big studios wouldn't have, but somewhere along the line made a mistake, either in trying to power through what they knew was a very troubled project or realising way too late in the day that it was going to miss the mark.

[Michael*]

Has anyone braved watching it yet, then?

 

My curiosity got the better of me last night and I had a look. I wouldn't say it was an abomination by any means, certainly not a flop on the level of Batman & Robin or Elektra, just underwhelming and very, very pedestrian. The pacing is dreadfully misjudged, it spends ages exploring the backstories of the four leads, which I wouldn't usually consider a bad thing, except that it doesn't do enough to make any of them engaging. The only real drama happens about a quarter of an hour from the end when Von Doom (despite what Toby Kebbell originally stated, he's never referred to as 'Domashev', which I'm guessing was one of the main bones of contention between Josh Trank and Fox) returns from 'Planet Zero', but by that point it's difficult to care what happens next. It's far too little, far too late.

 
All of which is a great shame, because I was really rooting for them to get it right. To waste such a talented young cast is bordering on criminal.

[Cult Icon]

^^^

 

Kudos to you Michael for the insight in your report and for engaging into your hobby.  You had all the evidence that this could be worse than useless yet you still partook in it!  I understand all that.  I have done the same with ETO military history- sometimes I look at the trashcan comics out of morbid curiosity eg. Battlefields/war stories/uber.

[Michael*]

Glutton for punishment, I guess.
 
Truth be told, I went into it hoping against hope that there might be at least some fun to be had. Unfortunately, the one thing that really stood out about it was just how aggressively dull it was. When a superhero story gets less interesting after the lead characters get their powers, you know you're dealing with something problematic.
 
It looks like the public have pretty much shunned the film en masse, too. Not surprising I suppose, audiences like to be entertained and there are a ruck of other comic book movies out there that offer more excitement. I even saw a post online claiming that the overall takings, when adjusted for inflation, have been lower than for the notoriously dreadful 'Howard The Duck' so far. Can't vouch for the accuracy of that, but what a thought it would be for Fox if true.