The upcoming 2015 reboot to the franchise that just started ten years to the month, Fantastic Four, has been one of the more contriversial superhero films in recent memory. As well as one of the most hated during pre-production and filming. While early on writers of the film, I completely understood and I as well had very little faith in this film. The original two had its moments but what ultimately made this reboot stand out from the originals was the director and final writer of the film. The director goes by the name of, Josh Trank. Trank is known for directing a little found footage film for 20th Century Fox called, Chronicle. I personally love Chronicle from the acting and pacing, down to the writing and character development in under an hour and a half. It's not a fat film and by choosing the director of Chronicle, it suggests that this Fantastic Four is going to be much darker and more serious than the previous films. Simon Kinberg has stated before that it's between Chronicle and the original Sam Raimi Spider-Man film. Which while fun and lighthearted, I find years later for it to rather have a surprisingly dark tone to it. Speaking of Kinberg, he is no stranger to the superhero genre as he has helped write X-Men: The Last Stand, X-Men First Class and X-Men Days of Future Past. The latter two being like Chronicle in the sense that, they are not fat movies. They are dark, mature and particularly that of Days of Future Past, very tightly made. Have those two work on a fresh start for Marvel's First Family and I think you'll end up with something that'll ultimately be for Fantastic Four what Bryan Singer was for X-Men. Particularly that of the first film. Before I go far into that though, I want to further touch up on this subject matter.
The casting of this film is where it gets contriversial only for one reason, Michael B. Jordan as Johnny Storm/The Human Torch. Let's get this out of the way. While yes, I understand the confusion of why change the enthinticity of the character, I don't understand the hate for it. From a filmmaking perspective, it doesn't make a difference. Michael B. Jordan is a fantastic actor and the only remotely intersting and good thing about Fruitvale Station. In Chronicle, we see hints of Johnny Storm. Which not only makes him perfect but it also adds racial diversity as well as a fresh and interesting take on his relationship with Sue with them not being blood siblings but rather, adopted. I'd rather have a movie like X-Men Days of Future Past where it's phenomenally well done, epic and one of the all time greats of the genre than a movie close to the material that's ultimately trash and unbearable. Kate Mara as Sue is interesting because unlike Jessica Alba, you look at her and you immediately take her seriously despite how attractive she is. If written well, her relationship and banter with Michael B. Jordan's Johnny will be very interesting and will make for an interesting relationship with the leader of the, Fantastic Four. Miles Tellar as Mister Fantastic. Not going to lie, I hated this move the moment I heard about it.
Then I watched, The Spectacular Now and I watched the trailer for, Whiplash. While neither one of his characters in those films I find any way, shape or form a dash of Reed Richards in them. It doesn't matter. In The Spectacular Now, while Tellar was typecast I feel, he brought a surprising amount of depth to the character. Dramatically, this guy is a force to reckon with as far as upcoming talent goes. This is why I have had a change of opinion about this casting. Whether he's portrayed like the comics or not is ultimatelty in the writing but as an actor, if Tellar can pull off the drama as well as what makes Reed such a Fantastic (pun intended) character, then we'll no doubt have a great performance even if he doesn't turn out to be a great character. Jamie Bell as Ben is a clear cut sign that they're going the Ultimates route. That's not a bad thing though as Bell is an under rated actor and I think will take The Thing and show the audience why we love the ever loving, blue eyed thing in the first place and as with the rest of the actors on this list, give us a surprising amount of depth. I don't really have much to say on Tim Blake Nelson as The Mole Man simply because it's a waste of talent on a garbage character. That's like taking Ben Foster and casting him as the complete garabage character, M.O.D.O.K. See, I don't entirely agree with this film but talent is talent. I unfortunately have not been able to see, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes yet but based on the production pictures, Toby Kebell looks terrifying as Dr. Doom. A character I have always believed to be the greatest supervillain of all time. Yes, even more than The Joker. That topic is for another time.
From the casting to set photos, everything about this film has felt right to me as a fan of these characters and a fan of movies. Josh Trank will be for the Fantastic Four what Bryan Singer is for the X-Men films starting way back on the first one. He may not stick a hundred percent to the source material but, we can still recognize the characters and ultimately end up with an epic movie and powerful one at that within the genre. The impact the film can have is great because of everything that, Ben goes through as a character. This film can make a statement and I think it'll come through the writing and direction of the film. I wish I knew more about this film but I know as much as you guys. Chronicle was a dark and mature film that had tons of fun in it but with spectacular performances and character depth to it, which I think Josh Trank will bring to Fantastic Four. Teaming him with Simon Kinberg ultimately guarantees that this will not be a fat movie. I believe this will be a very well done film with fantastic performances and it's all because like what Fox did over a decade ago with Bryan Singer and X-Men, they decided to go with an up and coming director for a popular superhero franchise that proves to be popular among the masses.