Review: Fantastic Four (2015)
Aug. 22nd, 2015 07:15 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rainwatersparkThis movie is nowhere near as bad as everyone says it is.
At worst, it's simply mediocre. But if we're talking about mediocre-to-bad superhero movies, that would place Fantastic Four on par with movies like Iron Man 2 and Thor: The Dark World, which are nowhere near 7-9% on Rotten Tomatoes. Also at worst, the movie deviates from the source material in significant ways—and I don't mean the F4 + Doom getting their powers through interdimensional travel rather than outer space (see the Ultimates version of F4 if you're unfamiliar with it), or Johnny Storm being black—and while I can't begrudge comics fans for getting upset over perceived lack of faithfulness to the source material, I do think using that alone to measure whether a movie is well-done or not can be unbalanced.
Obviously, this movie isn't perfect. As most people have pointed out, the second half of the film feels rushed, and the character development that was done so well in the first half just suddenly...fizzled out. It definitely would've been nice to have more character development, especially between Sue and Johnny, and Ben and Reed really need a resolution to their friendship problems. But, to be honest, a few small fixes would've gone a long way to correct the shortcomings of the second half: some kind of dialogue between Ben and Reed to resolve their friendship issues; a few more words to explain why Victor now wants to destroy the world; an explanation as to why the F4 want their own lab at the end of the movie (seriously, was I the only one confused by that?). Also, the quality of the dialogue seemed to tank in the second half of the film, which had Reed suddenly spouting clichéd superhero lines, and I'm still scratching my head about that.
The movie was not grimdark. There was a strong element of body horror in how the F4 and Victor got their powers, and there was angst over said body horror and Ben and Johnny being weaponized by the American military, but that was it. The musical cues alone (which were definitely reminiscent of themes from The Amazing Spider-Man 1 and CW's The Flash) convey the fact that the first half of the film was a whimsical science adventure. And there was plenty of humor throughout (some of my favorites: "Reed? You're insane." - "Thanks," most of Johnny's lines, and Reed and Johnny's failed fistbump). Ultimately, the movie was about teamwork and coming together—a theme that's obviously not new, and should have been more fleshed out, but the theme was definitely there, and it worked for the film.
A lot of people complain about the lack of action in the movie, other than the rushed climax. Personally, I was fine with the level of action in the film. I'm starting to get concerned that people are confusing "action scenes" and "narrative momentum." There were few action scenes in the movie, for sure, but there was always a sense of drama, tension, and narrative momentum. The major conflicts of the film, save for the F4 needing to come together to stop Victor, were more cerebral and emotional than physical: trying to finish the interdimensional transporter, trying to figure out a way to "cure" their conditions, and I never felt like there was a dull, boring moment in the film.
What about what the movie did well?
The movie did a great job establishing Reed and Ben's friendship, and also establishing the dynamics of the Reed-Sue-Johnny-Victor team. Sue's powers were really cool and she's never damseled—hell, she's not even a love interest in this film, which is quite revolutionary. Reed very much felt like he was on the autism spectrum, which made me pretty happy. The pro-millennial stance of the film was refreshing and very welcome. The actors were great, and the little moments in the film really made it shine—enough so that the flaws in the second half of the film didn't bother me as much as it seemed to bother other people. Because I cared about the characters and their relationships with each other.
*
To be honest, the widespread overreaction to this movie is what worries me. I do not want to see Marvel Cinematic Universe movies become the standard to which every other superhero movie is held, because "superhero" is not, strictly speaking, a genre with a set narrative structure. It's more of a setting, a premise, upon which a diverse array of stories can be built. The superhero "genre" of movies thrives on diversity, variety, and risk-taking—just as any other genre does. As soon as superhero movies start to become formulaic, they've lost the thing that made them special in the first place.
When people say they were unable to connect with the characters or their relationships, when people say Reed was a boring protagonist or that they didn't care for his relationship with Ben, I wonder about our capacity for empathy. I wonder about whether suddenly we're only able to empathize with characters if they're suave and charismatic and spout witty one-liners, and that worries me. It worries me because fiction should be a celebration of humanity in all its diversity, of characters from the smooth-talking to the shy, from the complex to the single-minded.
I love superhero movies, I love comic book movies, and the reactions to Fantastic Four and the cries for Marvel to take back the license make me worried about the future of this "genre."
At worst, it's simply mediocre. But if we're talking about mediocre-to-bad superhero movies, that would place Fantastic Four on par with movies like Iron Man 2 and Thor: The Dark World, which are nowhere near 7-9% on Rotten Tomatoes. Also at worst, the movie deviates from the source material in significant ways—and I don't mean the F4 + Doom getting their powers through interdimensional travel rather than outer space (see the Ultimates version of F4 if you're unfamiliar with it), or Johnny Storm being black—and while I can't begrudge comics fans for getting upset over perceived lack of faithfulness to the source material, I do think using that alone to measure whether a movie is well-done or not can be unbalanced.
Obviously, this movie isn't perfect. As most people have pointed out, the second half of the film feels rushed, and the character development that was done so well in the first half just suddenly...fizzled out. It definitely would've been nice to have more character development, especially between Sue and Johnny, and Ben and Reed really need a resolution to their friendship problems. But, to be honest, a few small fixes would've gone a long way to correct the shortcomings of the second half: some kind of dialogue between Ben and Reed to resolve their friendship issues; a few more words to explain why Victor now wants to destroy the world; an explanation as to why the F4 want their own lab at the end of the movie (seriously, was I the only one confused by that?). Also, the quality of the dialogue seemed to tank in the second half of the film, which had Reed suddenly spouting clichéd superhero lines, and I'm still scratching my head about that.
The movie was not grimdark. There was a strong element of body horror in how the F4 and Victor got their powers, and there was angst over said body horror and Ben and Johnny being weaponized by the American military, but that was it. The musical cues alone (which were definitely reminiscent of themes from The Amazing Spider-Man 1 and CW's The Flash) convey the fact that the first half of the film was a whimsical science adventure. And there was plenty of humor throughout (some of my favorites: "Reed? You're insane." - "Thanks," most of Johnny's lines, and Reed and Johnny's failed fistbump). Ultimately, the movie was about teamwork and coming together—a theme that's obviously not new, and should have been more fleshed out, but the theme was definitely there, and it worked for the film.
A lot of people complain about the lack of action in the movie, other than the rushed climax. Personally, I was fine with the level of action in the film. I'm starting to get concerned that people are confusing "action scenes" and "narrative momentum." There were few action scenes in the movie, for sure, but there was always a sense of drama, tension, and narrative momentum. The major conflicts of the film, save for the F4 needing to come together to stop Victor, were more cerebral and emotional than physical: trying to finish the interdimensional transporter, trying to figure out a way to "cure" their conditions, and I never felt like there was a dull, boring moment in the film.
What about what the movie did well?
The movie did a great job establishing Reed and Ben's friendship, and also establishing the dynamics of the Reed-Sue-Johnny-Victor team. Sue's powers were really cool and she's never damseled—hell, she's not even a love interest in this film, which is quite revolutionary. Reed very much felt like he was on the autism spectrum, which made me pretty happy. The pro-millennial stance of the film was refreshing and very welcome. The actors were great, and the little moments in the film really made it shine—enough so that the flaws in the second half of the film didn't bother me as much as it seemed to bother other people. Because I cared about the characters and their relationships with each other.
*
To be honest, the widespread overreaction to this movie is what worries me. I do not want to see Marvel Cinematic Universe movies become the standard to which every other superhero movie is held, because "superhero" is not, strictly speaking, a genre with a set narrative structure. It's more of a setting, a premise, upon which a diverse array of stories can be built. The superhero "genre" of movies thrives on diversity, variety, and risk-taking—just as any other genre does. As soon as superhero movies start to become formulaic, they've lost the thing that made them special in the first place.
When people say they were unable to connect with the characters or their relationships, when people say Reed was a boring protagonist or that they didn't care for his relationship with Ben, I wonder about our capacity for empathy. I wonder about whether suddenly we're only able to empathize with characters if they're suave and charismatic and spout witty one-liners, and that worries me. It worries me because fiction should be a celebration of humanity in all its diversity, of characters from the smooth-talking to the shy, from the complex to the single-minded.
I love superhero movies, I love comic book movies, and the reactions to Fantastic Four and the cries for Marvel to take back the license make me worried about the future of this "genre."
