Fantastic Four (2015)

[The Despondent Mind]

I thought that the least anticipated and most hated superhero movie deserves a thread around here.

• Miles Teller as Reed Richards / Mr. Fantastic:

Teller said of the role, "When I read the script, I didn't feel like I was reading this larger-than-life, incredible superhero tale. These are all very human people that end up having to become I guess what is known as the Fantastic Four. So for me it was just a really good story and gives me an opportunity to play something different from my own skin."^[3]

• Kate Mara as Susan Storm / Invisible Woman:

Mara said that she was supposed to read the Fantastic Four comic books for preparation. However, director Josh Trank suggested to her that it was unnecessary with writer Simon Kinberg adding, that the film is not based on a single issue of the Fantastic Four comic books.^[4] Mara has also said that she intended to focus on making her character "as real as possible".^[5]

• Michael B. Jordan as Johnny Storm / Human Torch:

Jordan said of the cast, "We're more or less a bunch of kids that had an accident and we have disabilities now that we have to cope with, and try to find a life afterwards – try to be as normal as we can."^[6]

• Jamie Bell as Ben Grimm / The Thing

• Toby Kebbell as Victor Domashev / Doctor Doom:

An anti-social programer. Kebbell said that while playing the role, he concentrated the most with the voice of the character. He added, "on the animated series, they never got his voice what I imagined it to be when I read the comics as a little boy. What I spent the majority of my time doing was not just being a fan, but being a bit of pedant and making sure I got exactly what I always wanted to see."^[7]

Now I will be seriously seriously amazed If somebody even convinces me to watch this movie, maybe it's slight Doom fanboyism (Does anybody really care about Reed&Sue Richards?)but it's taking these annoying back-story choices and mediocre casting. Yes it's not the first time we are having questionable casting in a superhero movie but so far I always found at least one or two good interesting actors or top notch casting but in this movie everything seems so meeehh at best.

I just can't find a single person tied to this movie that that's gonna make me think "But at least he/she is in, that's gonna count somehow!"


I can't say much about the director since I haven't seen his movie but judging the ratings and it's premise he seems like he's more about interesting ideas than about execution and like he's going to take A LOT liberty with the characters. Though take my words with a grain of salt since I haven't seen his movie, but I made a similar judgement about Gareth Edwards Godzilla and it turned out I had a good hunch.

But if you're gonna go with a genius doom then go all the way and make him "evil Iron Man with ten times the smarts" it's the only thing that makes him formidable and respectable. If he's just another scientist villain with powers he got on accident and can't even speak with an normal English accent with some basic back-story (dibs that he's a bullied nerd with an superiority complex) it makes him look so "whatever, move along". Actually I think I described the villain from IM2 who nobody gave a about.

I guess they could make up for the genius part if he himself somehow "engineers" his powers but I seriously doubt that's gonna happen.

P.S.
Damn it the only reason why I might watch this movie is if they tie it in to a promising X-Men movie and the FF storyline has a essential part in it. Damn you Fox!

EDIT :

 

[Knight of Heaven]

As i said in other thread i dont realy expect or particulary want this movie... but who knows maybe they do something interesting with it.
They have a nice cast aparently, and they are deviating a bit from the comics, wich imo is actualy a good ideia.

However, Lately my attention as expectation goes, is more on the DC/WB and Marvel studios film universe... recently and especialy when rumor has it, the upcoming Suicide squed movie, is realy becoming interesting as they aimed for talented actors with Jared leto reported casted as the Joker and Margot Robie as Harley quinn. Not yet confirmed though. But awesome if it happends to be true.

Spoiler

 

[The Despondent Mind]

Yeah for now we can only trust DC(WB) and Marvel(Disney).

I'm still mixed about the Man of Steel but they really seem like they are trying and giving their best to give us interesting stories and character while being faithful to the source material. They casting is controversial but keep thinking that it really has some kind of purpose (though not all of it is bad), the only major problem I have with DC right now is giving so much power to Snyder and Gal Gadot (she really has nothing go for her).

While Sony seems like they suffer from a slight case of Amnesia and Dementia(How can you allow the creation of a second Spider-Man movie with the same exact problems that were in the worst movie when your franchise is facing decline).

Than 20ct Fox comes in with it the X-Men Franchise, but sadly it seems that is the jewel that belongs to Bryan Singer and Mathew Vaughn and it's simply a mere coincidence that they are shooting those movies for Fox.

There is one major thing that still confuses me Marvel does a great Job, DC can do a Great job and seems to pay attention to it's victories&defeats and sees what works for other studios, but Sony and Fox, dear god when will they learn?
Are they completely oblivious to the fact that Marvel and DC are kicking their asses both at the box office and at the critical ratings, this year Marvel made money with a talking racoon shooting stuff in space than Sony with the freakin' SPIDERMAN or Fox with the biggest and best X-Men movie!

Why don't they learn something from more successful studios or even more bafflingly why isn't Fox learning from a guy in their own backyard ? Don't get me wrong I don't want copy-paste material but give your characters the time and respect they deserve, that they gained over the decades in comic books. that's the essential really, give focus and breathing space for your characters and you can do whatever you want after that as DC and even more so Marvel has proven.

 

[brandbll]

I watched probably twenty minutes of the second of the Fantastic Four movies and then turned it off. Absolutely awful! Why are they bringing this series back??? Invisble Woman, Rockman, guys who yells, "Flame on!" and Super Stretch Armstrong are the weakest group of super heroes you could ever create a movie around.

 

[The Despondent Mind]

Why are they bringing this series back???

Ahem, maybe just maybe because they want the sweet green stuff ?

 

[Påsan]

Never been even slightly impressed with this bunch. With the plendora of comic book movies coming out, this one is one of the most "care"

 

[Manco]

Ugh, I hate the Fantastic Four. Well, actually, it's just Mr. Fantastic I really hate, the others are just meh.
They don't fit in the larger marvel universe in my biased opinion, they're so... wholesome.

I don't like stretchy being considered the smartest guy in the universe either. All the other super geniuses are a lot more interesting. Stark is a womanizing alcoholic, Banner has extreme psychological issues even if he didn't turn into a monster, Pym has self-esteem issues, McCoy is a blue furry, Cho's upset his GF's hair keeps hissing at him,... And then we have Richards... yawn.

 

[The Despondent Mind]

I kind of like Richards and Stark rubbing of each other personalities though FF as a whole seems so boring... The only way to make a FF movie interesting is to give R.Richards and Victor Doom a bromance like Thor&Loki and Professor X&Magneto. You can sort of see what would bind them together and split them apart, however how do you fit in the rest of the team in there is beyond me.

The original two FF movies gave us only two good things. Hot Jessica Alba and a few badass Silver Surfer (He passes through Sue's force field as if it doesn't exists) scenes now I really wonder can the new movie top that.

 

[the_mango55]

I don't like stretchy being considered the smartest guy in the universe either. All the other super geniuses are a lot more interesting. Stark is a womanizing alcoholic, Banner has extreme psychological issues even if he didn't turn into a monster, Pym has self-esteem issues, McCoy is a blue furry, Cho's upset his GF's hair keeps hissing at him,... And then we have Richards... yawn.

Also his wife's unbreakable force fields cause her to be one of the most deadly beings in the universe (forcefield in someone's brain).
Her brother can incinerate whole continents with a nova blast
His son is probably the most powerful mutant ever with reality warping abilities above Celestials
His daughter is 3 years old and potentially more intelligent than he is
etc, etc, etc...


It's just a horrible mary sue family. I prefer to pretend they don't exist when I'm reading comics.

 

[The Despondent Mind]

I also often pretend or like to belive that Doom, Silver Surfer&Galactus, Ronin and some other awesome villains have nothing to do with FF and are more opponents of the Avengers or X-men.

 

[Påsan]

Wait was Doom in those GI Joe movies?

 

[Kamos]

Poor Doom, the FF really don't deserve him.

 

[The Despondent Mind]

Poor Doom, the FF really don't deserve him.

Indeed.

Wait was Doom in those GI Joe movies?

No. Why would he ?

 

[Soviet]

Probably the worst casting I've ever seen, but then again Batman vs Superman still exists. I'm torn as to which is worse

 

[Påsan]

DC seriously needs Avegers-like success with their Supes vs Bats movie yet their casting so far have been from weird to bad. Strange.

No. Why would he ?​

​

I was thinking about this guy for whatever reason.

 

[Knight of Heaven]

Isnt that Cobra? i dont know... im not realy into GI joes... i was when i was 5 or 6 though.

But this is Doom..

 

[The Despondent Mind]

Isnt that Cobra? i dont know... im not realy into GI joes... i was when i was 5 or 6 though.

But this is Doom..

Although the voice actor is horrible, the writing is cheesy and the animation is beyond horrible (look at the DC's opening), Doom can still pull it off and be awesome there is simply so much weight and legacy behind him that you can take seriously all of his lines, for 's sake he slaps Uatu like a with a power that is supposedly far beyond human comprehension.

And they took that Doom away from us and will probably give us this.

Maybe at best, this.

But then again if that's the best, ugh...

One thing is sure, Lex Luthor who is perhaps the closest equivalent to Doom in DC is gonna get far more justice and respect to the original character from WB and Jesse Eisenberg.

 

[Kyriakos]

Doom doesn't look like The Cobra Commander. You possibly meant Destro instead. (don't know if Destro was in the movies cause of course i did not see them ).

 

[Captain Jin]

Looking at the cast of this movie just has me shaking my head. I don't find the FF very appealing to begin with but these casting choices just leaving you scratching your head (while shaking it ruefully as mentioned). It's really hard to understand.

 

[The Despondent Mind]

The trailer is out.


EDIT:
Well.
I'll give them one thing, it looks more like a serious Sci Fi than a superhero movie, and it most it definitely isn't generic. It seems like they actually really want to tell a different story in the superhero genre. If it wasn't for "What's coming" cliche, the trailer would be really un-superhero-ish.

 

[Ramashan]

Re: Fantastic Four (2015) - First Teaser is Out.

I honestly care less for the actor choices than I do for the director, the story, and how it's told.

They put together a nice trailer, but these things are meant to drum up excitement. Give me two hours of footage and some music and I'll make anything look interesting. It's how the entire project comes together in the theater that matters.

Over all the actors seem competent and the writer gets the genre, what with relaunching the X-Men franchise as well writing for Star Wars rebels he gets enssamble action adventure. The director is a wild card. This is his second time out of the gate. Chronicle did really well with some great action sequences, so he can do the super hero bit, but with a young, green, director you have to wonder how much control the producers take which is generally, in my opinion, ruins the project. Just look at Tera Nova.

I personally like the fresh take on the FF franchise since I could never really get into the comics. To me, the FF were always these background sort of gods in the Marvel world that the characters I really liked, Jamie Madrox, Speedball, and the Run Aways always talked about as they struggled through just surviving on a day to day basis, which I always found more interesting.

I hope to the gods that the final image with the cessna in the shiny portal doesn't tie in anyway into the Burmuda Triangle.

We shall have to wait and see. So far Marvel/Disney seems to be the only ones getting the formula right and I know that the other studios are coming to that trough to lend out their characters as is seen with the Spider-Man/ Captain America deal they were trying to hammer out.

 

[Knight of Heaven]

Re: Fantastic Four (2015) - First Teaser is Out.

So far Marvel/Disney seems to be the only ones getting the formula right...

I dont think that is fair. Not every marvel movie is a good movie. In fact only a few are actualy considered good movies imo.
But of course we tend to see it as MCU, as a whole, wich helps to put things in perspective.

If the measure is box office success, it is another matter.

Besides i dont think fox has been doing terrible things with the X-men franchise overal speaking ( safe for that last stand film).
It is just a different formula. I dont think is a wrong one necessarly. Days of future past, was interesting, apocalypse is promising, then there is deadpool, gambit, and wolverine standalones coming in as well, besides This fantastic 4. And as i understand the intention is to crossover at the Apocalypse film.
And DC is incomparable, because they only just begun with its shared universe. so it is too soon to compare it properly.

At anycase i have no doubt, as hollywood is concerned this particular genre is gaining form, and we have in its golden age atm. And this leaves room for everything realy, for good and the bad. But there is always very interesting things stuff in the mix of all this.
Birdman is a fantastic film. Not a super hero film, but inspired on the genre historic.

 

[Ramashan]

Re: Fantastic Four (2015) - First Teaser is Out.

I'm honestly not saying the formula that Marvel/Disney has is right in regards to the quality of the movies, just that they are doing a great job of tying the movies together the that the super hero movies are all part of one big world and don't exist in separate vacuums, which I personally like.

If you like what Fox has done with the X-Men franchise, which I do except for killing off half the characters between movies, I think then that the FF remake may have some legs since it has some of the same creators involved.

We shall have to wait and see.

 

[sabaku_no_gaara]

Re: Fantastic Four (2015) - First Teaser is Out.

I never liked the Fantastic 4, they suffer the same problem superman does: too good, too 1950's nuclear perfect goody two shoes ideal Americans.

 

[the_mango55]

Re: Fantastic Four (2015) - First Teaser is Out.



Looks fine I guess but I hate when they give Doom the same kind of natural superpowers from the same accident that the F4 get their powers.

I guess it's easier to explain than "He's just really smart and good with both technology and magic" but whatever kind of electric powers bull**** Fox always tries to give Doom just doesn't do it for me.

 

[Påsan]

Re: Fantastic Four (2015) - First Teaser is Out.

What is this? Trailer week?

 

[saxdude]

Re: Fantastic Four (2015) - First Teaser is Out.

man, the thing looks sooooo CGI.

 

[sabaku_no_gaara]

Re: Fantastic Four (2015) - First Teaser is Out.

why is the human torch black? Isn't he supposed to be the brother of white invisible/force field girl?

 

[the_mango55]

Re: Fantastic Four (2015) - First Teaser is Out.

why is the human torch black? Isn't he supposed to be the brother of white invisible/force field girl?

She's adopted

Their father is the head scientist guy

 

[sabaku_no_gaara]

Re: Fantastic Four (2015) - First Teaser is Out.

Hm, I've seen the cartoons back in the 90's and I'm pretty sure this is bs. The Human torch was a white all American if memory serves me right. So they just made this up for the movie? Why?