The
EDITORIALLY INDEPENDENT. EST. 2010 26th August 2015
theheythroplion.co.uk
thelion@heythrop.ac.uk
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Lion
Fantastic Flop
Fantastic Four - an Utter Disappointment With a name like Victor von Doom we all knew he’d be the bad guy... the comics helped too, I guess, and those other films...
Run time: 1hr 40min
Certificate: 12a
Director: Josh Trank
Megan Skingsley Editor-in-Chief
A
fter seeing the trailer for the new Fantastic Four (2015) film I was sold (I should mention that I have not seen the early Fantastic Four (2005) films so cannot make a comparison to them in this review). I thought it looked pretty decent: lots of action, some good actors, and above anything else - it’s a Marvel story. In the last couple of years I have been converted into a huge Marvel fan due to their incredible films. The likes of the Avengers, Thor, and Iron Man series have shown the film industry what it means to make a good sci-fi film. My love for Marvel really has grown out of these films. Now, I know the rights to Fantastic Four are owned by 20th Century Fox, and that the film wasn’t going to be produced solely by Marvel, but I (naively) thought it could have the potential to be incredible like X-Men: Days of Future Past (20th Century Fox was also the lead production company on that film, with Marvel entertainment taking a smaller role). From this mental process I went through before seeing the film, I certainly had high expectations for it. Moving on to the actual film… and I can’t think of a single good thing to say about it. They cast a few actors who I quite like from other films, namely Toby Kebbell (RocknRolla and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes) playing the role of Victor von Doom, and Jamie Bell (Jumper and King Kong) playing Ben. Although, I am sad to say that in this film the acting was not special,
in fact it was very forgettable. The film did not devote that much screen time to developing the characters, it lacked depth and was incredibly one-dimensional. The writing was poor and exceedingly basic; and for a film about ‘new science technology’ it’s kind of expected that you at least attempt to explain how the technology works, something this film entirely forgot to do. So, the writing was bad and the acting was unremarkable, you may be thinking that the special effects may have been good at least, but no. They were not. Compared to recent sci-fi films it under delivered on the effects. If you don’t know anything about the plot, it concerns four young scientists who develop the technology to travel to another dimension where they undergo drastic physical changes. Travelling to another dimension, just
stop and think about all of the amazing effects they could have included at this point in the film. In reality it felt like they were not actually that concerned with this alternate dimension - nor the big epic fight scene that ends nearly every sci-fi film, as it must have lasted only 10 minutes, if that.
Starring: Jamie Bell, Michael B. Jordan, Toby Kebbell, Kate Mara, Miles Teller
What the film essentially did was tell you about every development in the plot rather than showing it; this is the Release date: August 6th main problem that I had with it, that there was little progression that you actually witnessed. As you watched the film it felt like it was rushing to get to the fight scene at the end, and when it got there it failed to deliver anything special devoting barely any screen time to it. The film was an utter disappointment in every way. It’s certainly not worth paying any money to see and I wouldn’t recommend anyone watching it. It’s not even worth watching for the hilarious edge that some terrible films have, it is just terrible. I can’t think of a single element of the film that makes it worth watching. Please spare yourself no matter any intrigue you may have in seeing how bad it is, it’s not worth it; it truly is a waste of time. The verdict: it’s an interesting story executed terribly in every possible way.
“because they did at least manage to produce a film”
0.5/5