Hand Of Doom
Vila Real A few weeks ago Fox dropped the teaser for the upcoming Fantastic Four reboot film and I, the resident Fantastic Four superfan, have a few things to say. Ultimately what it boils down to is the tone we’re presented with – it comes off as dark and hopeless. Something about tragedy brought on by the perils of science gone mad. While this set up works for something like, say, The Hulk. It fits like oil and water when it comes to the first family. The Fantastic Four are about embracing the fantastic and facing the world with optimism despite whatever shortcomings they may have or obstacles they encounter. With this we have a bunch of frowning people doing things that they don’t look like they really want to do. Where is the sense of adventure? Where is the call to exploration and the excitement and thrill of discovery? Nowhere to be seen.
While there have been some “dark” runs (Millar, The Ultimate series and for the most part Hickman) those were done with the intent to show that a family together can overcome anything. Though things are dark, the Four themselves never really embrace that darkness – they illuminate out of it.
Here’s my point though, this tone would be fine for an established Fantastic Four, doing a movie that contrasts the light and the dark would and could work. But to make them go into grim and gritty panic mode from the start is just a little too formulaic and “hollywood”. Marvel Studios has proven you don’t need grounded and moody superhero flicks to be a success. That’s what I fear Fox and Josh Trank do not understand. They look at the previous two films and only silly the light tone and assume that’s what made them not work. What they do not see is the lack of good writing and directing. It’s so easy to go the Dark Knight route and turn a film into angst driven pseudo-intellectual bait. That’s what most studios these days are doing and it’s not helping anyone.
I could go on, but really what I’m getting at is that this trailer or teaser gave me nothing. It showed me a bunch of derivative material ripped straight out of recent blockbusters and left me in a state of anti-awe. Where is the awe? Where is the optimism and the imagery that makes us go “wow”. A team like the Fantastic Four is not one to tread lightly on awe inspiring mechanics and wonderment. They took the Fantastic out of Fantastic Four and boxed it into one of Ben Grimm’s nightmares come true.
Oh well. What can you do but hope for the best and maybe one day we’ll see the worlds greatest comic magazine back home at Marvel Studios… where they belong.
– Aaron A. Alvarez
What you said.