Fantastic Four (2015)

[Jake2104]

Its Mid-December in Australia so props late November - Early December for US

[levcore]

I didn't think this was completely horrible to be honest. It wasn't amazing but it wasn't terrible, it just sits somewhere firmly in the middle. I preferred it to Iron Man 2 and most of the X-Men movies. If they hadn't cut all of the action out apart from the end i would've probably really enjoyed it. I thought Toby Kebbel was very good and the first hour was well done. It was a mistake to make the time jump but if the studio was desperately trying to reassemble a coherent movie from what they had then fair enough. The finale was a bitr rushed but i liked it. This is nowhere near the level of a lot of the reviews. It's a far superior movie to stuff like Batman and Robin and Battlefield Earth which is where it seems to be getting heaped.

[Dalekbuster523Bluray]

Originally Posted by kemcha

DisneyBlu kind of hit it on the head. This movie should never have been called The Fantastic Four. It felt more like four frat brothers and a girl and a night on the town. I was disappointed that they even called this movie The Fantastic Four. What was even more ridiculous is that this movie has 'Fantastic' in the movie name. I found the previous two Fantastic Four movies more enjoyable than this one. Just proves that Josh Trank should have stuck to making low budget, independent movies. That's what he's better at anyway.

After all, you don't see Michael Moore producing or directing big budget Hollywood films. He's better at documentaries. Josh should walk away from this. Lesson learned.

From what I've read, they should have called it 'Talking in a Lab'.

[toddly6666]

For such a popular thread, it's too bad the movie wasnt made better.

[Foggy]

Originally Posted by toddly6666

For such a popular thread, it's too bad the movie wasnt made better.

If this was a better film, it wouldn't be such a popular thread. I can think of one contributor who wouldn't frequent the thread so much.

[tob]

http://www.denofgeek.com/movies/fant...-off-seeing-it

[Foggy]

Originally Posted by tob

http://www.denofgeek.com/movies/fant...-off-seeing-it

Read that earlier, she did seem genuinely gutted the film wasn't better.

[Gizz]

It's not the worst film I have seen this year Fifty Shades of Grey/ Cinderella I am looking at you. I still think that the 2005 Fantastic Four film is better but this was not bad but it was not great either.

[kemcha]

The movie was bad enough with Josh Trank in control but it was made worse by the fact that Fox exes interfered with post production, changed the film and that even their director blasted the movie on social media.

Fantastic Four already had a massive amount of bad press going into the movie and that bad press was amplified 100 times over by the fact that Josh Trank even came out and blasted the movie. THAT is never a good thing when your creative talent on a movie yoou're producing and funding is also slamming the movie.

[Gizz]

Originally Posted by kemcha

The movie was bad enough with Josh Trank in control but it was made worse by the fact that Fox exes interfered with post production, changed the film and that even their director blasted the movie on social media.

Fantastic Four already had a massive amount of bad press going into the movie and that bad press was amplified 100 times over by the fact that Josh Trank even came out and blasted the movie. THAT is never a good thing when your creative talent on a movie yoou're producing and funding is also slamming the movie.

Trank blasted the film because of what Fox did. Fox kicked Trank out and made the film that we saw in the cinema that was not Trank's version . Yes it was a dumb move on Trank's part but Fox has to take most of the blame for the failure of the film.

[kemcha]

Fact is, Trank torpedoed his own movie and I guess the only reason he deleted it was because Fox execs probably demanded that he remove the tweet. I hate to play the card, but that Fox Studios was treading water ever since Michael B. Jordan was announced as Johnny Storm. Then, everything that came after continued to sink the movie. From "they're not superheroes but rather they're disabled people trying to adapt", John Trank's social media tweets and the backlash that fans threw in Fox's direction, it's a wonder that this movie pulled in anything at all.

But, let's not stop there. Don't forget that the only reason this movie got made in the first place was that Fox Studios had already given back the rights to Daredevil and Elektra and that they had to either return the rights to Fantastic Four back to Marvel or risk losing the rights to the Fantastic Four film franchise. They had a choice, either make the movie or return the rights back to Marvel. Not only did the movie tank, but that they lost money on the film in the end.

Fox Studios definitely has a lot of explaining to shareholders on why they are holding onto the Fantastic Four rights when it lost money in the end. It's an old story but that Fox is trying to hold onto the few licenses they have left, given that the only properties they have left are the Aliens franchise, Prometheus series, Avatar, X-Men and limited rights to the Star Wars films (five of the films are due to reverted to Disney).

[trans8010]

Originally Posted by spectre08

you folks are completely missing the point. It really doesn't matter how good the movie is or isn't, because it's a release title on a long long long overdue new format people will buy it.

People watched Hitch and Godzilla (1998) on Netflix like mad when they came out in UltraHD. Are you going to tell me that people saw those and were like "oh yeah, this is totally what I wanted to watch right now."

I WATCHED SMURFS 2!

Sorry to jump on this one a a lil less than a month after it was posted but I had to say this. Godzilla 98 is actually a very popular movie. Toho and Godzilla fans alike despise it but it was very popular during it's initial release, and VHS and DVD sales were strong. I was a kid when it came out and I loved it. I'm sure there were other kids like me that are 20 somethings that just saw it on Netflix and watched it because they were revisiting their childhood and could care less if it is UltraHD. As for Hitch it too was very popular back in the day. Regarding Fant4stic, there is no audience, the film failed, it was bashed by the general audience on twitter, people I know that saw the travesty hated it. If people watch it in UltraHD it's going to be on Netflix first.

[Patricier21]

Originally Posted by StevenHarvey1990

BEWARE THE RANT and not the kind you might think, so I'll preface this by saying, I'm not trolling. I'm genuinely being serious, totally 100% cotton! <Just a little Scream 3 joke for ya

Ready...? Here. We. Go.

THE OVER-REACTIONARY HATRED OF THIS FILM IS A JOKE!! There I said it. Let me clear things up right away. I am by no means saying it didn't have plenty of problems but 9% on Rotten Tomatoes and 4/10 on iMDB? Piss right off! This movie got slaughtered by critics, and audiences... like ripped in half with a chainsaw. THAT'S JUST BULL!!! Sorry but it is. That type of lambasting is solely reserved for Uwe Boll IMO

I don't think it's THAT bad. In fact I don't even think it's bad, period! Well, okay, some of it definitely is, but I'll talk about that later. I think critics and audiences have been extremely unfair to the movie. I know the movie doesn't have feelings etc but it is totally, 1000000% the studio that should get the flack here!

I think the movie is getting such an excessive amount of vitriol for a few big reasons that aren't the movie's fault:

1. People are carrying over a negative attitude from the other two films, which are much worse in almost every department... plot, direction, script, casting, tone, music (well, actually the music sucks in this one). You get the point.

2. Most importantly! I genuinely believe people got swept up in how much drama surrounded this movie, from the very moment the reboot was mentioned, not even announced... mentioned, (all because of the aforementioned steamy piles made a decade ago). People were on the 'hate' bandwagon from day one. Even myself to an extent. I was one of those that had a problem or two, *cough*a black Johnny Storm*cough* but even I can put all my predispositions behind me and look at the film objectively. I don't think many other people did, even critics, pretty much everyone had a preconceived notion they stuck to. They were going ready to hate, almost looking for an excuse to hate... I get it I do. I did the same thing with the Scream TV show. Things is, the first people to see it went in with that attitude and came out cursing the movie to such an extent more people went in with an even worse attitude and so on... and the rest is history.

Now that's out of the way. I'll talk about the movie itself. Oh yeah, also, don't for one second think I don't know that my expectations were lowered so much that I'm pleasantly surprised or was predisposed to liking it. I knew that going in, and I went with neutral expectations, albeit a little tempered by the negativity and caning the movie received, but generally, neutral.

Right!

First thing's first. Anyone complaining that the movie didn't have the 'fun' factor needs to STFU! Why? Because it was clear from day one that was the case! The argument is a little redundant now. It's like being told you're getting pasta for dinner, coming to terms with that fact then still being shocked when there's no juicy steak on your plate. You know? BTW I'd rather the movie had more 'fun' in an ideal world but come on, we all knew it didn't going in so...

Okay.

Despite some 'iffy' editing/minor disjointedness the first 50/55 minutes or hour we're not just good, they were great IMO. I got a real Fantastic Voyage, Journey to the Centre of the Earth, 20'000 Leagues Under the Sea vibe. It clicked with me A LOT. I love that sort of thing. The writing and directing was solid, actually everything up until we see Reed escape the military bas was fantastic, pardon the pun! I felt the appropriate sense of wonder for something as grand and adventurous as inter-dimensional travel. I felt their pain, and the horror of their situation when they come back and have their powers, it was rather creepy in all honesty. There was a The Fly type "what the hell is happening to me" Body Horror going on. I was thoroughly enjoying the film! I was sitting there like this is great, I want some of what everyone else is smoking

Then, it went off the tracks...

You could tell things went haywire behind the scenes, it was so obvious. The few bits of 'iffy' editing became more frequent, like almost every scene. The more the movie went on, the worse it became. It certainly was not Josh Trank directing in the last act, to me at least. A lot of the dynamic's set up were forgotten about, Ben hating Reed felt incredibly forced, the good writing in the first hour suddenly became incredibly suspect, and the Doom stuff was just plain corn on the cob (though I loved him walking through the base just killing everyone in sight) but it wasn't set up well enough, and finally the big set piece (if you could call it that) was bland in the extreme. It just became a different movie and it brings down my score, which was going to be pretty high.

Ultimately the movie is a miss. But nowhere close to being the shitshow it's being made out to be. The last act is a calamity no doubt but I think the movie itself, as if it has feelings LOL, does need to be cut some slack. There is pretty good movie in there, it's just the studio ****ed it up royally! I'd love to read the script Trank was set to do initially, before the three big set pieces were cut etc, because I think THAT movie would have been something special.

Sorry for the length of this post

I give it a 3/5! rounded up from 2.7 just because I was loving all the stuff before it went off the tracks. It could have really good, but it ends up being decent because of the interference.

I implore everyone who hated it so much to try it again without wearing their hate-tinted spectacles. Come on, Uwe Boll's House of the Dead has 4% on RT, this movie has 9%. That's harsh. I think Terminator Genisys is far worse but it's still not Uwe Boll bad

Agree this movie continuity deserves another chance and should not be integrated into the overrated tiresome MCU: http://moviepilot.com/posts/2015/10/...xternal,manual

[motorheadache95]

LOL-- what a weird rant.

"This movie isn't bad! Okay, maybe it's kind of bad, but you were just expecting something that was fun, like getting pasta! The other movies were worse! Okay, maybe some of this movie was just as bad as those, but not all of it! Okay, maybe the second half is pretty bad, but... uh... it's not a Uwe Boll movie!


P.S-- I'm just poking fun, I actually get your point-- It's a problematic mediocre film that is maybe getting over bashed by other factors than how bad the movie actually is. I have yet to view it to decide for myself but I'm actually looking forward to it.

[Voltaire53]

Originally Posted by motorheadache95

I have yet to view it to decide for myself but I'm actually looking forward to it.

Same here; I'm not expecting much but maybe that will help!

[Adam_ME]

Watched this last night. It's pretty bad. In that boring, nothing happens kinda way. I'm amazed this was ever greenlighted by Fox. I guess they really were desperate to hang onto the rights and just threw something into theaters. But even Sony managed to make a coherent(and IMO entertaining) Spider-Man reboot in 2012. This was just a complete mess.

I do think the actors were miscast, but they were still talented, capable performers. They shouldn't have been THAT boring and lifeless in the roles. I can only guess the constant rewrites and reshoots plus the rumored insanity by Trank onset(or via a monitor if that's to be believed) led to their mediocre work in this flick.

Also, the plot(if there was one) was weak. It takes half the film before they get their powers, there's almost no character development or interaction leading up to that point, there's very little exploration of their powers after they get them, and then we jump ahead a year and rush into a showdown with Dr. Doom before the movie abruptedly ends after one final scene setting up a sequel that ain't ever happening.

I get that there was a ton of meddling by Fox(probably out of necessity), but I can't imagine Trank's original cut(assuming he ever got to complete one) was any better than this. It may not have been worse, but based on how dull that first half was, it was likely just as bad. The one redeeming aspect of this film is that it's mercifully short. Around 95 minutes sans credits. If you're gonna get stuck watching a crappy comic book movie, that's how you want it(i.e. Daredevil's theatrical cut).

[Dreamliner330]

I don't know why Fox just doesn't get Matthew Vaughn or Bryan Singer to kick off Fantastic Four.

Superheroes franchises have such high potential you would think they would pull out all the stops on a first movie to make sure they get it right.

I think Trank got a bit steamrolled by Fox's interference because there was quite a bit that got pulled out that has been documented.

It's sad, had the studio just stayed out of it and not tried to cut 20% of production costs or whatever off the back end it probably would have been successful. The talent was there.

[Adam_ME]

Originally Posted by Dreamliner330

I don't know why Fox just doesn't get Matthew Vaughn or Bryan Singer to kick off Fantastic Four.

Superheroes franchises have such high pretty potential you would think they would pull out all the stops on a first movie to make sure they get it right.

I think Trank got a bit steamrolled by fox's interference because there was quite a bit that got pulled out that has been documented.

It's sad, had the studio just stayed out of it and not tried to cut 20% of production costs or whatever off the back end it probably would have been successful.

Fox clearly didn't give a sh-t about the finished product. They wanted to retain the rights. If by some miracle, the movie itself turned out good, that would be an added bonus.

I think the potential of superhero franchises is a bit overstated. Sure, Marvel can do seemingly no wrong(although Ant-Man wasn't a massive success), but other studios have had their share of failures. Green Lantern was a financial and critical dud. Amazing Spider-Man 2 did make around 700 mil, but cost so much to produce and got such a mixed response from audiences that Sony abandonded the franchise. So if you don't do a decent job with the actual film, moviegoers can and will stay away.

Trank was probably in over his head, but based on that first act, his entire approach to the material was wrong. I have no problem with a more serious take on the Fantastic Four, but it's still a superhero movie. Where was the fun? Where was the team coming together? Where was the team, period?! Nobody wants to watch a comic book flick where half of it takes place in a lab. Especially if it's boring. At least in Iron Man, it was entertaining watching Stark creating the new suit in his basement and then once he was done he actually took the thing for a test flight. Imagine if half that movie was him sitting at his desk staring at a monitor and talking to JARVIS.

[Dreamliner330]

Originally Posted by Adam_ME

Imagine if half that movie was him sitting at his desk staring at a monitor and talking to JARVIS.

It was called Transcendence.

If Fox truly didn't care from the outset they would have picked a way smaller budget. I think they did try but got cold feet somewhere in the middle. All I can say is the first couple trailers I saw looked amazing.

Fox definitely makes some odd decisions, they do this to fantastic four and then they spend $100M+ on the new Gambit movie with the wrong actor, Channing Tatum.

I will laugh if Deadpool makes more than Gambit which is probably super likely even though the production costs will be completely opposite.

Heck, if they really wanted to they could've just introduced the fantastic four characters in an X-Men movie.

[Adam_ME]

Originally Posted by Dreamliner330

It was called Transcendence.

If Fox truly didn't care from the outset they would have picked a way smaller budget. I think they did try but got cold feet somewhere in the middle. All I can say is the first couple trailers I saw looked amazing.

Geez, don't remind me of Transcendence. That was a truly horrendous movie. And even more inexcusable than Fantastic Four. That one had a reportedly great script and the cast was terrific.

The budget for FF is what really has me confused. It's been reported as costing $122 million(and that may not include the reshoots) and I have no idea how. The cast couldn't have demanded much. Neither could Trank. The special FX were weak. The lab set was massive, but half the damn movie took place there. The Planet Zero "set" was likely a bunch of greenscreen and fake rocks. Where the hell did all that money go?