Fantastic Four (2015)
The newest film to be released from Marvel is a re-telling of Fantastic Four(2005) originally starring Ioan Gruffudd, Chris Evans and Jessica Alba. The principle of the story is the same just with a newer, younger cast.
If you haven’t seen the original then the story follows Reed Richards (Miles Teller) a young aspiring scientist who as a child figures out how to transport matter to another dimension and back by building a machine out of scrap material. He attracts the attention of Dr. Franklin Storm (Reg E. Cathey) who gives him a scholarship to a government run science base in order for Reed to build his machine properly with the intention of transporting humans. Working with Reed on this project are Storm’s children Jonny (Michael B. Jordan) and Sue (Kate Mara – sister of Rooney Mara from Girl With The Dragon Tattoo).
When the machine is complete the three students as well as Reed’s childhood friend Ben (Jamie Bell – aka Billy Elliott) who helped Reed first get going on his journey, take a trip in the teleporter. However on their return things go awry and the four end up acquiring powers. They must then learn how to control and use these powers in order to protect the earth from friend turned enemy Victor Von Doom (Tony Kebbell).
The majority of the film is the process of building the machine and it’s only really the last half an hour that we see the youngsters with their new powers which is a little disappointing but the film is still a good watch. There’s plenty of suspense and twists and turns to keep you hooked, just if you’re going to see the powers then you won’t get too much of that!
The cast are all excellent, Miles Teller is really starting to shine as an actor – starring in the Oscar winning film Whiplash earlier this year – so he is definitely one to watch for the future. He also starred in That Awkward Moment with Michael B. Jordan and again the two work well together here.
Overall I liked the film, I can’t really remember the original so I wasn’t making any comparisons between the two. The graphics are all outstanding and there’s one scene where the camera shifts focus to reveal Reed’s reflection looking through a window which I was particularly impressed with. The only bad thing about the film is that Jamie Bell’s character is the one that gets turned into the giant rock thing so unfortunately you don’t get to see much of his lovely face! Also when Victor starts killing everyone it’s a little gruesome, so though it’s a 12A it’s probably not for anyone younger!
