'Fantastic Four' has pallid plotting and cheesy effects
I鈥檝e seen some dull superhero movies in my day, but 鈥淔antastic Four,鈥澛爓ritten and directed by Josh Trank, gets the booby prize. Just because it鈥檚聽derived from Marvel Comics doesn鈥檛 mean it鈥檚 marvelous.
Miles Teller, in a real gimme-the-paycheck performance, is Reed Richards, who聽gets backing from a covert science foundation to build a teleporter. One thing聽leads ploddingly to another until聽we are presented聽with the far-from-fantastical four, including Johnny (Michael B. Jordan),聽Sue (Kate Mara), and Ben (Jamie Bell), who along with Reed have聽achieved聽Marvel-style powers through a teleportation mishap.聽Requisite bad seed Victor Von聽Doom (Toby Kebbell) might have made it the Fantastic Five if he weren鈥檛聽so doomy.
The special effects are cheesy, the acting perfunctory, the plotting聽pallid. If this film spawns a sequel, anything goes. Grade:聽D (Rated PG-13 for sci-fi action violence and language.)
