Review #945: 'Fantastic Four' (2015)

Unless you have been living under a rock these past few months or pay little attention to online chatter, Fantastic Four arrived with the heavy stigma of delays, on-set bust-ups, last minute re-shoots, and overwhelmingly negative reviews from both critics and the few people that actually paid to see it. Sadly, the film is every bit as bad as you've heard. The Fantastic Four have had a troublesome history, with Roger Corman's infamous 1994 film never being released at all and Tim Story's colourful but soulless 2005 effort getting a panning from the critics, and Josh Trank's follow-up to the excellent anti-superhero flick Chronicle (2012) carries on this trend, getting lost amidst a forced darkness and a tug-of-war of control between director and producers.

The ambitious Reed Richards (Miles Teller) struggles to get backing for his new teleportation device despite the assistance of his dim but loyal best friend Ben Grimm (Jamie Bell). At a science fair, he is finally noticed by Dr. Franklin Storm (Reg E. Cathey) and his adopted daughter Sue (Kate Mara), who are also working on a similar device but are struggling to perfect it. Teaming up with rebellious technician Johnny Storm (Michael B. Jordan) and morbid hacker Victor von Doom (Toby Kebbell), Reed and his crew set out to develop a 'Quantum Gate' which will transport them to another dimension. Fearing their limelight will be stolen by NASA, Reed, Johnny, Ben and Victor suit up and are travel to a mysterious planet covered by a strange energy source. When they return, they are transformed forever.

The young cast do their very best with their often cringe-worthy material, with Teller and Jordan in particular proving charismatic stand-outs. But they are kept apart for the majority of the film and given very little time to bond as a group both before and after the accident that turns them into superheroes. Instead, we get a lot of lonesome brooding and superficial angst during a frustratingly drawn-out build-up, with Mara and Bell given little attention at all. Then the film decides to skip over what is usually the most part of a superhero origin flick - the heroes learning to use their powers - as Reed escapes the compound now controlled by shady supervisor Dr. Allen (Tim Blake Nelson) and the team spending an extended period trying to track him down. After all the procrastinating, the foursome struggle to generate any chemistry at all.

The producers were apparently unsatisfied by Trank's final cut and ordered heavy re-shoots for the film's climax. Never has behind-the-scenes tampering been so obvious in a finished product, as we are given a rushed and confused final set-piece and a film that feels somehow overlong despite a slim 90 minute running time. In a hastily deleted tweet, Twank informed fans that there was a final cut that would have garnered good reviews and improved its terrible box-office return, but we will never know if this is true or not. What we are left with is a limping and unnecessarily grim experience that will hopefully allow the film rights to be passed back to Marvel, who seem to be the only company capable of doing their characters justice. Fantastic Four will no doubt be a irremovable stain on the careers of its talented cast and director.


Directed by: Josh Trank
Starring: Miles Teller, Michael B. Jordan, Kate Mara, Jamie Bell, Toby Kebbell, Reg E. Cathey, Tim Blake Nelson
Country: USA/Germany/UK/Canada

Rating: *

Tom Gillespie

Review #577: 'Chronicle' (2012)

Barely a week goes by these days without another superhero film. They are no longer simply movies for pale-skinned nerds still living with their mothers, but complex, emotional character studies, complete with high-octane action and some of the best special-effects that money can buy. Yet for every The Dark Knight Rises (2012), there's a Jonah Hex (2009), proving that such a luxury in abundance is not necessarily a good thing. You can not simply give a character powers, dress him in a silly suit, and expect box-office millions - something that especially Marvel have realised, who place serious consideration into their output and making some left-field production choices in terms of cast and crew. Clearly aware of this, director Josh Trank and screenwriter Max Landis created a superhero film with a twist, incorporating that other popular sub-genre, the found-footage movie, and with Chronicle, we have something very familiar, yet deceptively fresh.

Teenager Andrew (Dane DeHaan), starts to videotape his life, documenting everything from the domestic abuse he suffers from the hands of his father, his dying mother, and his unhappy school life. His only real friend is his cousin Matt (Alex Russell), who he was close to growing up, but drifted away from as they both got older. After being attacked and thrown out of a party, Andrew is approached by the popular Steve (Michael B. Jordan), who asks Andrew to capture something strange he and Matt have found, which turns out to be a tunnel hiding a glowing crystalline object. As a result, the trio start to develop telekinetic abilities that cause their noses to bleed when they overreach themselves, but working like a muscle, getting stronger with practice. But after Andrew pushes a rude driver into a ditch, almost killing him, they agree to limit the use of their powers, especially when used against other humans, which proves difficult as Andrew's psychological unbalance begins to reveal itself.

Chronicle's plot naturally put a lot of faith into the character of Andrew. Everything is viewed through his 'eyes', with his ever-present camera placing a psychological boundary between him and the real world. He is an often pathetic, unlikeable protagonist, but in the hands of Dane DeHaan, Andrew is simply fascinating to watch - an unconventional, multi-dimensional anti-hero. I predicted big things for DeHaan after his portrayal of gay, angry teenager Jessie in HBO's excellent In Treatment, where he even managed to overshadow Gabriel Byrne, and his terrific performance here will surely allow him to go on to bigger and better things (although so far I have only seen him in small roles in Lawless and Lincoln (both 2012)). Watching Andrew slowly lose his grip on reality and lose himself in the idea that he is an apex predator is like watching the birth of a great comic-book villain.

The found-footage approach works surprisingly well, giving a realism to the various scenes of (often brutal) violence, and some entertaining light-touches as they record themselves playing with their powers in Youtube style. The 'problem' with someone having to hold the camera is rectified when Andrew realises he can use his telekinetic abilities to operate the camera, leading to an inspired scene where the trio play football in the clouds, having discovered they can fly. The slightly underwhelming climax over-reaches itself, abandoning the found-footage technique completely and losing itself amongst all the special effects and the film doesn't have anything new to say about the damning effects of power, but this is a minor quibble in what is an exciting, well-acted, and strangely believable superhero film.


Directed by: Josh Trank
Starring: Dane DeHaan, Alex Russell, Michael B. Jordan
Country: USA

Rating: ****

Tom Gillespie