Fantastic Four is a comic that I grew up with. Still, I wouldn’t claim to own tons of Fantastic Four comics. However, I do maintain that these particular superheroes were my favorites growing up. There have been several films already — two released in recent years, and one that wasn’t even properly distributed. A film that, if I remember correctly, was made just to retain the rights. None of the earlier movies really lived up to the magic of the comics, so naturally, I was excited when I heard about this one.
That said, it took me a while to actually tear off the plastic and pop the disc into the player. That tends to happen when you own far too many movies and can’t quite decide what to prioritize at any given moment. Anyway, a few days ago I finally managed to carve out the time to Fantastic Four.
It didn’t take long before I was confused. Admittedly, I don’t recall any childhood backstory from the comics, which this film proudly leans into. It’s not necessarily a bad thing to see their upbringing and background, but it doesn’t need to be taken to extremes either. I’d say this movie contains so much backstory that it actually suffers because of it. Just when the film ends is when the real adventure seems to begin. It’s as if they already knew in advance that they were going to make a sequel with the actual adventure in it.
So Fantastic Four ends up being neither fish nor fowl. Entertaining enough in the moment, and with decent (though certainly not fantastic) CGI effects. Maybe it’s the high resolution that makes some scenes look blatantly fake, or maybe they were just sloppy in the execution. I don’t know. What I do know is that I’ll watch a potential sequel with great interest — even if I’m not expecting much from it. I’ve made it a goal to see all superhero movies, or at least the easily accessible ones. And when it comes to the heroes of my childhood, I’m willing to make the effort — despite the potential for disappointment.
