Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		4.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		2.0

Fantastic 4 Blu-ray Movie Review

Well. . .fantastic might be a bit of an overstatement.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman December 21, 2015

At the risk of inviting the umbrage of untold fans who will no doubt be dismayed at mixing comic book label metaphors, has Marvel finally met its Kryptonite? If The Fantastic Four proved anything, it’s that the onslaught of Marvel entries featuring the company’s iconic roster of superheroes is not automatically impervious. Marvel’s superhero outings have been such a regular feature in the blockbuster ranks for so long that it almost seems unbelievable when any given Marvel film fails to ignite at the box office, whether or not that entry has a flammable character like the Human Torch. While there is no lack of reasons as to why this particular Fantastic Four failed to please either critics or audiences, part of the problem may simply be the fact that the gaping maw of the production line has required such recurrent Marvel features for so long that creatives are having to struggle more and more to fill the void. This is especially evident in the at least questionable tactic of revisiting various characters or franchises that have already seen their exploits transferred to the big screen. While some Marvel aficionados will harumph loudly at any suggestion that reboots are in and of themselves problematic, at least some viewers may still question why, mere years after the Tobey Maguire Spider- Man Trilogy, audiences were greeted with a new if perhaps not all that improved The Amazing Spider-Man (and its follow-up The Amazing Spider-Man 2). Similarly, both Hulk and The Incredible Hulk arrived within just a few years of each other, though neither of these ever rose to the web slinging heights of any of the many Peter Parker adventures. In this regard, it’s at least somewhat more understandable that this particular Fantastic Four took the better part of a decade to arrive in the wake of 2006’s Fantastic Four and 2007’s Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, but perhaps ironically the length of time spent in coming up with this particular reboot ends up paying precious few dividends.

There’s an almost maddening predictability to much of Fantastic 4 (as its orthography tries to set it apart), beginning with the very first scene which offers childhood versions of Reed Richards (Owen Judge) and Ben Grimm (Evan Hannemann), two kids who are dealing with one of those naysaying “teachers” who are typically only found in films. When the tyke version of Reed starts going on about a teleportation device he’s working on, his teacher of course shuts him down, hoping to stamp out any vestige of creativity and/or scientific inquiry. When the film segues forward several years to find Reed (Miles Teller) and Ben (Jamie Bell) as high schoolers demonstrating their now working teleporter, that same teacher is there, still trying to shut down the boys. It’s all completely rote and, worse, just flat out annoying.

Of course fledgling scientists of this caliber shouldn’t have to deal with martinet school bureaucrats, and soon enough Reed and Ben are under the aegis of Dr. Storm (Reg E. Cathey), who introduces the boys to his biological son Johnny (Michael B. Jordan) and adopted daughter Sue (Kate Mara). (This is an interracial Fantastic Four, but interestingly this particular aspect didn’t seem to meet with the audience blowback that the supposedly problematic “black storm trooper” in Star Wars: The Force Awakens did in certain circles.) Suddenly Reed’s explorations into transporting materials and then living creatures hither and yon is being supported by what appears to be a huge military industrial complex, and that of course brings with it certain threats, as evidenced by the all too interlocked villains, Dr. Harvey Allen (Tim Blake Nelson) and Victor von Doom (Toby Kebbell).

The film works overtime to develop a new origin story for the superpowered quartet as well as Doctor Doom, but there are so many competing threads at work in the frequently messy screenplay credited to Jeremy Slater, Simon Kinberg and director Josh Trank ( Chronicle) that very little momentum is ever achieved. Worse than even the film’s deadening predictability is the weird fact that there’s so little fun on display. Even the less than perfect first iteration of Fantastic Four offered occasionally goofy delights like Chris Evans’ take on The Human Torch, but there’s little if any of that carnival atmosphere on display here. This film seems to want to be brooding, but it’s often just moping instead, waiting around until the next special effects set piece can pull it at least partially out of its doldrums.

Fantastic 4 Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Fantastic 4 is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.39:1. Digitally "captured" (as the credits term it) with Arri Alexa cameras, this high definition presentation only occasionally really pops with any immediacy, some of which is due to an overweening darkness, even a drabness, that infuses many sequences. Both the laboratory setting as well as the distant "Planet Zero" that the heroes teleport to are swathed in shadows, and occasional color grading gambits tend to increase the swarthiness even more, to the detriment of fine detail. Perhaps most surprisingly, a lot of the CGI in this film looks unusually soft, adding a kind of gauzy scrim-like ambience to many special effects sequences. In relatively normal lighting and in midrange to close-ups, detail increases markedly, and elements like the small scar on Miles Teller's chin are completely visible.

Fantastic 4 Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Fantastic 4 features an often, well, fantastically immersive DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 mix which regularly employs the side and rear channels to envelop the listener in a glut of whirling sonic activity. There are a number of jolting effects, including things like explosions, but perhaps ironically when the heroes first teleport to Planet Zero, they do so not with a bang, but with a figurative whimper. There are a number of quite inventive sound effects at play throughout the film, with some of them, like the ooey-gooey slurping noises the viscous green sea Victor touches, being quite memorable. One of the film's few really distinctive elements is the score done by Marco Beltrami and Philip Glass, certainly two odd compositional bedfellows if there ever were two. The score rests quite comfortably in the surrounds and provides a decent bed of activity for several key sequences. Dialogue is cleanly rendered and has moments of superb directionality as well. Fidelity is excellent and dynamic range extremely wide on this problem free track.

Fantastic 4 Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Powering Up: Superpowers of the Fantastic Four (1080p; 19:36) is pretty standard EPK stuff, but has some decent interviews.


• The Quantum Gates (1080p; 10:50) takes a look at one of the film's central plot conceits.


• Planet Zero (1080p; 8:19) focuses on one of the "locations" of the film.


• The Score (1080p; 5:03) is one of the more interesting pieces on the Blu-ray, offering a brief look at the frankly kind of weird mash up of Marco Beltrami and Philip Glass.


• Concept Art

  Planet Zero (1080p; 2:13)

  Quantum Gates (1080p; 1:53)

Fantastic 4 Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Rote, predictable and weirdly lacking in any real fun quotient, this is one reboot that definitely didn't need to happen, not that that is anything new in the increasingly crowded Marvel cinematic universe (I mean this in the sense that this is a property based on a Marvel comic, hence the uncapitalized words). Performances are merely okay here as well, perhaps another indication that not even the cast felt much inspiration from this lackluster material. There are some passingly cool looking special effects sequences, but when a franchise as iconic as the Fantastic Four is ripping off a hoary entry like Stargate: The Movie, it's a sign that the screenwriters need to considerably expand their (event?) horizons. Technical merits are very strong for those considering a purchase.