The first reviews of 'Fantastic Four' are out and they're not very good
Most of the criticism centers around an underwhelming story that takes too long to build to its climax and an underutilized cast.
Here's a roundup of four of the first reviews to hit the web:
"All of this takes at least an hour and it's build-up to...nothing at all. A sense of heaviness, gloom and complete disappointment settles in during the second half, as the mundane set-up results in no dramatic or sensory dividends whatsoever. Even if lip-service is paid to some great threat to life on Earth as we know it, the filmmakers bring nothing new to the formula, resulting in a film that's all wind-up and no delivery. If the writers couldn't think of anything interesting to do with these characters in this first series reboot, they do nothing to inspire the viewer to expect they could do something exciting with a sequel."
"It's one thing for a movie to leave you wanting a sequel and quite another to make you wish you were watching that sequel instead."Fantastic Four" - the second attempt by Fox and the third by Hollywood in general to bring Marvel Comics' popular superteam to the big screen - offers glimmers of good things to come in its final moments, but only after the audience has slogged through yet another dispiriting origin story and yet another Earth-rescuing battle in a bland, CG-created nowhere land."
"If the original comics were defined in part by the interaction of the characters - from Ben's depression at having become a "monster" to the budding relationship between Reed and Sue to Johnny and Ben's squabbling - those dynamics emerge only fitfully. And while comicbook aficionados will likely welcome the seriousness of tone, the near-absence of humor and lengthy emphasis on building the interdimensional portal largely handcuffs the cast, with only a hint, for example, of the ebullience Johnny gleans from his newfound powers."
"The biggest mistake here seems to have been trying to marry a dark and realistic tone with the story of four teenagers whose superpowers include transforming into rock, generating force fields and becoming very stretchy. While far from the unmitigated disaster some had predicted, Fantastic Four feels unlikely to kick-start a new franchise, barely sustaining the narrative steam to power itself through its modest 90-minute running time."
As bleak as all that sounds, maybe don't abandon all hope yet? There have been a few other screenings so far, and fan buzz on Twitter from them is pretty positive.
"Fantastic Four" premieres Friday, August 7, 2015.