Years after Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer flopped at the box office, a new man, Josh Trank, with the help of writers Simon Kinberg and Jeremy Slater, took up the reins on a new project following the trials and tribulation of the fantastic people led by Reed Richards (Miles Teller). An entirely new group of young actors were cast to play these exciting superheroes. Jamie Bell (Ben Grimm), Michael B. Jordan (Johnny Storm), Kate Mara (Sue Storm) and Toby Kebbell (Victor Von Doom) were chosen to work with Teller and tell a new and compelling story. Each of these actors have become big names in Hollywood since this film (with maybe the exception of Toby Kebbel) and for good reason. They all possess the type of talent necessary to take on lead roles and to be successful for years to come in Hollywood. However, like with Story’s films, Tranks new rendition of this origin story was riddled with issues that were hard to overlook. Julian McMahon’s performance as Doom was one of the biggest issues in the previous films. Casting director Ronna Cress should have been aware of the issues that had taken place in the past and should have made it a point not to repeat those mistakes. Kebbell was a terrible mistake that played a pivotal role in this film’s failure. While Kebbell possesses talent, this role was wrong for him. The character should be intimidating and domineering; he should, throughout the course of the film, be the person that makes audiences uncomfortable and has them wanting more from his twisted mind. This rendition of the character was nothing more than cranky. He seemed selfish, contemptuous for the silliest of reasons and, in many cases, too friendly to be a villain. The acting, as a whole, is a shame. Something about the dialogue did not allow these talented actors the chance to shine. The conversations between characters were short and lacked the ability to reach an audience on any level. It is fair to say that nearly nothing happened until the final twenty minutes of the film when a group of truly juvenile characters came together in an attempt to defeat the evil Doom. Their lack of emotion, undeveloped conversations and underwhelming fighting abilities made for a lackluster climax. The finale was a perfect representation of the terribly boring story. Trank claims that his version of the story was edited beyond repair and that the final product did not represent his vision for the film. One can only hope that the man who was able to produce such a delightful film like Chronicle (2012) did not feel that this was in any way a complete film. As the time approaches for Disney to begin its attempt at the Fantastic Four storyline, everyone hopes that they learn from the mistakes of Story and Trank’s failed versions of the team. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1502712/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_8
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