Starring: Miles Teller, Michael B. Jordan, Kate Mara, Jamie Bell, Toby Kebell and Reg E. Cathey
Director: Josh Trank
Genre: Superhero, action
Running time: 100 minutes
Now showing at Cinema Magic, Metroplex Mall Naalya and Century Cinemax, Acacia Mall, Kisementi
Does anyone else feel like this Fantastic Four reboot came too soon? The memory of the Silver Surfer and the camaraderie he developed with the Fantastic Four in The Rise of the Silver Surfer is too fresh not to think of the latest Fantastic Four as a third installment. But it isn’t.
In this Fantastic Four, we meet Reed (Teller) and Ben (Bell) as young boys. The two are working on what they hope will be a teleporter. As children, it doesn’t go as planned but as young adults, they attract Professor Storm (Cathey)’s attention. Professor Storm runs the Baxter Foundation which nurtures young scientists. At Baxter, Reed and Ben join the professor’s children, Sue (Mara) and Johnny (Jordan) to help Victor (Kebell), the professor’s protégé finish up a Quantum Gate. Victor is not too happy about the setup since the QG is his baby but he plays nice because he has a thing for Sue.
The group succeeds but don’t get a chance to go on an expedition to the parallel universe, Planet Zero. The five are not deterred and they get into the QG and set off for Planet Zero. Something goes horribly wrong, changing Reed, Ben, Sue and Johnny’s DNA. Reed has elastic abilities; Ben is like a rock version of the Hulk, only that he cannot turn human; Sue can become invisible and move things with a force field, and Johnny is a human torch with the ability to fly. Victor’s fate remains in the balance. The team has to deal with their new abilities and the consequences that come with it.
There is a little more pizazz in the way the Four get their abilities, but can’t help being nostalgic for the team we last saw in 2007 –Ioan Gruffudd, Jessica Alba, Chris Evans and Michael Chiklis … even Kelly Washington before she became a gladiator. But that’s just me. For the guys watching the movie for the first time, it is entertaining, in that ‘let me pass the time with a movie’ way.
But it is no blockbuster. Even before the movie was out, Trank, the director ranted via Twitter that he had not taken part in the movie’s final cut. And to think that a second part is in the works despite the low ratings!
