[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]There are bad films that were a bad idea from the start. Then there are bad films that started out as a good idea before stumbling over their own shoelaces and often falling flat on their faces somewhere on the path to the big screen. These are the kind of creative misfires that break your heart, because the filmmakers were so very close to creating something special.
Fantastic Four is that kind of disappointment.[/vc_column_text][vc_single_image image=”142″ img_size=”large” alignment=”center”][vc_column_text]
A large contingent of comic book fans had it out for Fantastic Four before the cameras even started rolling. The decision to cast an African American actor, Michael B. Jordan, as Johnny Storm (a.k.a. The Human Torch) — a character that had been white since his comic book debut in 1961 — was not well received. Rumors that the team’s iconic antagonist, Dr. Victor Von Doom, had been re-imagined as Victor Domashev, an anarchistic blogger operating under the handle ‘Doom’, caused an uproar of fan disapproval, so much so that his traditional name was later restored during reshoots (more on those later). And then Kate Mara, cast in the role of Susan Storm (a.k.a. The Invisible Woman), committed the cardinal sin of suggesting the film would not adhere to the source material.
Comic book fans are a notoriously tough crowd to please when it comes to the film adaptations of their beloved characters, and many have been sharpening their knives for Fantastic Four.
I was skeptical myself up until the first teaser trailer was released. After two cartoonish attempts at bringing the Fantastic Four to the silver screen, I was on board with a more grounded approach to adapting Marvel’s ‘First Family’. Just from the trailers it was clear that the filmmakers were drawing inspiration from Ultimate Fantastic Four, a modern comic book series that presented a re-imagined version of the famous superhero team. The most noticeable change was how the foursome came to be so fantastic. Instead of a mission to outer space and exposure to cosmic radiation, it became a fateful trip to another dimension via teleportation that would change their lives forever.
While others were rooting for it fail — either out of spite for a perceived lack of respect for the source material or out of some hope that the rights to the franchise would revert back to Marvel to be a part of their cinematic universe — I was crossing my fingers and hoping for the best.
Unfortunately, Fantastic Four is a tragic tale of two hairdos.
What the heck do I mean by that? See for yourself:[/vc_column_text][vc_single_image image=”149″ img_size=”large” alignment=”center”][vc_column_text]The image on top is Kate Mara with blond hair. The image on the bottom? That is Kate Mara in a blond wig. Allow me to explain. There have been reports that director Josh Trank had a tumultuous relationship with 20th Century Fox during filming. And their differences came to a head when the studio balked after previewing the first cut of the film and forced significant portions of the film to be re-written and re-shot. The actors were called back to Louisiana to complete the reshoots, and because she had returned to her natural red hair color and cut her hair in the time since filming initially wrapped, Mara was forced to wear a wig, and a painfully obvious one at that.
The problem? The best parts of the film are the ones without the wig.
The first half of the film, in which Mara is without the wig aside from one or two scenes, is by no means flawless, but it is a promising opening act. The performances are all top notch, the motivations for each of the characters make sense — even if we don’t get to know them quite as well as I would’ve liked — and their early interactions lay the groundwork for the team to come together later on. Once the team has returned from their unauthorized excursion to Planet Zero — the dimension that their teleportation machine links to — and each of them comes to discover the horrific consequences of their actions, the immediate aftermath is terrific. The stage is set.
And then, for some inexplicable reason, the film skips ahead a year, effectively bypassing the entire second act, and everything falls apart. This is the point in the film where the wig becomes a regular fixture, and you’re left to wonder how Trank, after such an engaging first act, could have possibly botched the rest of the film to the point where the studio felt it needed to step in. It is difficult to imagine Trank’s original vision being much worse than what the final product delivers.[/vc_column_text][vc_single_image image=”150″ img_size=”large” alignment=”center”][vc_column_text]Bizarre choices render much of the film’s second half inert. The characters are kept apart for much of the entire second half, and are never afforded the opportunity to build chemistry as members of a team, aside from a contrived final action sequence. The film neglects to show the characters coming to terms with their new abilities or even getting acclimated to their powers, and instead trots out an unimaginative plotline about the military wanting to weaponize each of them for combat purposes. Ben Grimm (a.k.a. The Thing), in particular, is relegated to a footnote throughout the film.
The most egregious offense in the entire film is the criminal underuse of Toby Kebbell in the role of Victor Von Doom. Kebbell is one of the most talented actors in the cast, and while he makes the most of what he has to work with, even he can’t redeem the character’s abrupt turn into a one-dimensional supervillain. Doom vanishes from the film after suffering a tragic fate during their initial trip to Planet Zero, but his return for the climax is nothing more than a plot device to send the team into action for the first time. Few of the character’s choices make sense once he has transformed into a full-fledged villain, and his motivations for wanting to annihilate Earth are even less clear.
Having not been present for all of the behind-the-scenes drama, all one can do is speculate what went wrong with Fantastic Four based on rumors and hearsay — and wigs, of course. As the negative reviews started pouring in, Trank responded with a Tweet that he deleted within minutes, lending credence to the idea that studio interference is to blame. But there were also rumors of Trank being difficult on set, including accusations of mistreating his cast and crew. We’ll likely never know the truth. Instead, what we’re left with is a disappointing film that left so much potential untapped it is difficult not to wonder what kind of film we would’ve seen under less turbulent circumstances.
*sigh*[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]