All right, now that Fant4stic is over, I may as well go into some detail about it.
Well, we all know it was shit. Its problems stem from the fact that it exists in the first place. Seriously, it's pretty well-documented that this film only exists because Fox really, really, wanted to keep the rights to the Fantastic Four and needed to be on a deadline. They did their damnedest to try and get it out before their rights reverted to Marvel, up to and including doing special effects work mere WEEKS before release.
Naturally, the film that resulted is horrible: the script is utterly stupid (including the fact that Reed Richards' invention is shown off to a high school science fair and is disqualified as being fake the second it's shown to actually work), the actors were allegedly told to give as flat a performance as possible and it really shows, especially for Doctor Doom, the pacing is all over the place, and, well, let's just say that the character names are pretty much the only things that actually got taken from the original comics. I'm not even that much of a Fantastic Four fan, but even I can tell that.
There are occasional glimpses of a good film in there, particularly in the scenes where they're dealing with their new powers, and, of course, Philip Glass' score is easily the best part of the movie, but it's so bogged down in stupid shit that it's no wonder it got so much bad press. And, yes, the behind-the-scenes shit is infinitely more interesting than the film.
The film's troubled production is infamous for the fights between the studio and director Josh Trank. From what I've read, it looks like, while Josh Trank's behaviour didn't do the film any favours, the studio seems to have been even worse. The script was in a constant state of flux to the point where the film didn't even have a real ending until the RESHOOTS, and they had to outsource much of the special effects to a company they specifically chose as a cost-cutting measure, to predictable results.
A lot of people would oppose a darker and edgier reboot of the Fantastic Four on principle, but given the sea change in the perceptions of Batman between the Adam West series and Superfriends and the work of Frank Miller and Tim Burton, I think it could have worked if the people in charge knew what the fuck they were doing. You know, this is one of those films where I'd love to see the director's cut. I honestly doubt the version Josh Trank claimed to have made in his infamous pre-release tweet would actually be genuinely good, but if they somehow got the materials together for a Director's Cut of this film, I have no doubt it would still be at least 20% less shit than the version we have now. Well, maybe Fonzo will actually be good and Trank won't prove to be a total wash as a director. And maybe now that Marvel seems to have bought back the rights to the Fantastic Four (after Disney bought most of Fox' assets), there might actually be a genuinely good Fantastic Four film.
Well, we all know it was shit. Its problems stem from the fact that it exists in the first place. Seriously, it's pretty well-documented that this film only exists because Fox really, really, wanted to keep the rights to the Fantastic Four and needed to be on a deadline. They did their damnedest to try and get it out before their rights reverted to Marvel, up to and including doing special effects work mere WEEKS before release.
Naturally, the film that resulted is horrible: the script is utterly stupid (including the fact that Reed Richards' invention is shown off to a high school science fair and is disqualified as being fake the second it's shown to actually work), the actors were allegedly told to give as flat a performance as possible and it really shows, especially for Doctor Doom, the pacing is all over the place, and, well, let's just say that the character names are pretty much the only things that actually got taken from the original comics. I'm not even that much of a Fantastic Four fan, but even I can tell that.
There are occasional glimpses of a good film in there, particularly in the scenes where they're dealing with their new powers, and, of course, Philip Glass' score is easily the best part of the movie, but it's so bogged down in stupid shit that it's no wonder it got so much bad press. And, yes, the behind-the-scenes shit is infinitely more interesting than the film.
The film's troubled production is infamous for the fights between the studio and director Josh Trank. From what I've read, it looks like, while Josh Trank's behaviour didn't do the film any favours, the studio seems to have been even worse. The script was in a constant state of flux to the point where the film didn't even have a real ending until the RESHOOTS, and they had to outsource much of the special effects to a company they specifically chose as a cost-cutting measure, to predictable results.
A lot of people would oppose a darker and edgier reboot of the Fantastic Four on principle, but given the sea change in the perceptions of Batman between the Adam West series and Superfriends and the work of Frank Miller and Tim Burton, I think it could have worked if the people in charge knew what the fuck they were doing. You know, this is one of those films where I'd love to see the director's cut. I honestly doubt the version Josh Trank claimed to have made in his infamous pre-release tweet would actually be genuinely good, but if they somehow got the materials together for a Director's Cut of this film, I have no doubt it would still be at least 20% less shit than the version we have now. Well, maybe Fonzo will actually be good and Trank won't prove to be a total wash as a director. And maybe now that Marvel seems to have bought back the rights to the Fantastic Four (after Disney bought most of Fox' assets), there might actually be a genuinely good Fantastic Four film.
Comparing the Universal Oneness of All Life to Yo Mama since 2010.
I was born with the gift of laughter and a sense the world is mad.
I was born with the gift of laughter and a sense the world is mad.