http://www.moviescene.nl/p/142501/fantastic_four_reborn_krijgt_releasedatum
Unlike the recent reboot of Spider-Man, in the case of the Fantastic Four a rebot is actually warranted, considering the lackluster quality of the previous pair of FF flicks (2005, 2007). Though not bad per se, they were surely disappointing next to their superior (in both plot and general execution) superhero counterparts like X-Men (2000) and Spider-Man (2002). To say they were cheesy would not be far off the mark. Casting decisions, vital for making Marvel's First Family come alive, were rather poor in some cases: both Ioan Gruffudd (Mr. Fantastic) and Jessica Alba (the Invisible Girl/Woman) lacked the necessary gravitas and chemistry to make their characters as compelling as their comic book counterparts. Likewise, Julian McMahon has unfortunately set his mark as one of the lamest super villains in the realm of comic book adaptations, playing a very unconvincing Dr. Doom that missed all the signs of intimidation and intelligence that ought to come with the character. However, both Michael Chiklis and Chris Evans did a decent job as the Thing and the Human Torch respectively. The latter in fact went on to play Captain America, both in his own film and in the superior ultimate superhero film The Avengers, so at least Evans proved himself as an actor capable of successfully bringing comic book characters to life. But it's clear two adequate bits of casting didn't make up for a good team of four, and the movie suffered from it.
Of course rebooting the Fantastic Four will also mean we'll be treated to the whole origin story all over again. Considering 20th Century-Fox's intentions to create its own Marvel shared universe (not an entirely original concept, granted, but still not something to dismiss), having the FF eventually join forces with the X-Men (and possibly Daredevil) on the big screen, a retelling of the group's history may not be such a bad idea, even though it will come as a redundancy to many fans, but undoubtedly not to most general spectators who are likely to have forgotten all about both existing FF films. It may sound harsh, but perhaps it's better to indeed forget about the previous two installments entirely in favour of establishing such a new cinematic corner of the Marvel Universe. Such a tactic worked for the Hulk, also a Marvel character that witnessed a revamping in order to bring it more in line with the upcoming Avengers movies. Fox better take a note from the result, The Incredible Hulk (2008), on how to stay true to a character without unnecessarily dishing out the whole origin story, instead telling us enough about it to understand the characters involved while delivering a wholly new story with an entirely different cast.
There's certainly room for improvement where the Fantastic Four are concerned. We have yet to see a movie about them that lives up to that first adjective after all. Can 'almost rookie' director Josh Trank pull it off? Chronicle showed us that he has an affinity for special effects but he also takes his time to tackle his characters' plight, though he's not afraid to cover ground already covered before (an abused kid going bad when superpowered, how original...). Given the subject matter and its previous history at the movies, seems exactly what we need then!
200th post by the way. Nice! Here's to at least as much posts in 2013!
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