Considering the fact it's been widely hailed as one of the worst superhero movies of all-time, the first half of Fantastic Four is surprisingly ok. It's when that sudden time jump happens that the reboot veers wildly off the rails, with a rushed final act which is clearly pieced together with a combination of original and reshot footage. Simply put, it's a mess. However, things were at one point very different. While there was always going to be a time jump according to Entertainment Weekly, it wouldn't have originally been so abrupt and was set to reveal that time had passed through an impressive sounding action sequence revolving around The Thing. Here's a description:
A Chechen rebel camp in the wee hours of the night. There’s no explanation for where we are, but there are soldiers speaking a foreign language, and they are loading up some heavy-duty weaponry. Crews are filling truck beds with the gear, preparing to mobilize – then a siren goes off. Everyone freezes, and one by one they turn their faces to the sky. A stealth bomber whispers by overhead, and a large object falls from it, streaking through the air at great speed. The object – a bomb, a missile? – collides with the earth in the center of the camp, sending debris is all directions. The soldiers take cover, then tentatively emerge and walk toward the crater, where there is a giant pile of orange boulders. Slowly, the rocks begin to move on their own, becoming arms, legs, a torso, a head …
This rock-figure lumbers out of the smoke, and the soldiers level their weapons – then open fire. As The Thing lurches into view, bullets spark and ping off his impenetrable exterior. Rather than some elegant, balletic action sequence, The Thing moves slowly and deliberately. He’s in no hurry. The storytelling goal was to show the futility of firepower against him as he casually demolishes the terrorists. It’s a blue-collar kind of heroism. When it becomes clear this rock-beast cannot be stopped, the surviving Chechen rebels make a run for it – and that’s when a hail of gunfire finishes them off. From the shadows of the surrounding forest, a team of Navy SEALS emerge with their guns drawn and smoking. The cavalry has arrived, but the enemy has already been subdued. The film would then have shifted to a bird’s-eye view of the camp, an aerial shot showing waves of American soldiers flooding in to secure the base. Just when it appears the American soldiers may be ready to clash with the rock monster, The Thing gives them a solemn nod, and they clear a path. He lumbers past them, almost sadly, a heartsick warrior. Then he boards a large helicopter and is lifted away.
Only then does the movie cut to that conference room, where Tim Blake Nelson’s Dr. Allen is crowing to his military overlords about how this mutated team of scientists is helping do the heavy lifting for America’s rank-and-file soldiers.
That all sounds pretty good and would have been a much better way of letting us know that time had passed instead of that "One Year Later" title card which was randomly thrown up on the screen. Why then didn't it make the final cut? After all, Fox have been promoting the scene!
According to the site's sources, Trank was once again indecisive and couldn't decide whether or not to include the scene, another example of what they describe as a "director out-of-control, unsure of what he wants or how to execute it." Others meanwhile claim that he always wanted to include this, but was forced to cut the scene - which he had spent some time creating a detailed previsualization of - when the studio slashed his budget. Realising that the reboot didn't have enough action, Fox later decided to put it back in. However, this was when the movie had been taken out of Trank's hands, and what was shot (a documentary handheld style sequence which clashed with the rest of the movie) didn't work and didn't match any of the planned special effects.
It was then that Trank decided to cut the scene entirely, and this is yet another chapter in the story of why Fantastic Four ended up so terrible. Regardless of who was at fault, it seems clear that this movie was always going to be disaster, and this action scene - which can be glimpsed in the trailers and TV spots - wouldn't have helped it all that much. What do you think? Let us know below.