Karen: I went into the theater to see Fantastic Four having read the reviews, knowing Rotten Tomatoes had the film at a 9% rating, and so I was not expecting anything. That's not true -I expected it to be terrible. And it wasn't, not entirely -the first part of the film was actually somewhat interesting, as the characters were introduced and the story began. But things went awry mid-way and really fell apart in the last 20 minutes or so. All the talk about how the studio had come in and taken the film out of director Josh Trank's hands and performed many reshoots was obviously true, as there were many shifts, thematically and stylistically. Were the reshoots for the better or worse? Who knows. As it stands the film is a mess, but I don't think it is is deserving of the 9% rating -but I couldn't give it a 'thumbs up' either. Karen: I realize it is based on Ultimate Fantastic Four, a comic series I never read. That's probably part of the reason it feels so little like the Fantastic Four to me. For much of the film it could be a generic science fiction film, and while that film might be mildly entertaining, that's not what I want to see when I go to see a Fantastic Four movie.
Karen: None of the characters are particularly likable or compelling. There's no chemistry between any of them -maybe between the very young Reed and Ben. Otherwise, everything feels cold and detached.
Karen: This film gets Dr. Doom even worse than the previous two Fox films, which I would have thought impossible. Honestly, if Marvel gets the rights back to the FF, I think it would be for the best if they avoided using Doom in the first film. He's as played out as Lex Luthor is in Superman films...
Karen: The film is already considered a huge bomb, but it's by no means clear that Fox won't try again, and hang on to the rights. I'd still love to see Marvel get the rights, but this feud between Marvel and Fox seems unlikely to end soon. I can see Fox hanging on almost out of spite.
Karen: If you saw the film, what did you think? Do you think critics are being too harsh? And here's a question: if Marvel Studios got the film rights to the FF back, what would be the best way to incorporate them into the movie universe?
