The latest attempt to cinematise Marvel’s dysfunctional superhero family, Fantastic Four is a frustrating shambles, bogged down by a strained narrative and laughable, exposition-heavy dialogue. An inter-dimensional vault leaves four young upstarts – Reed (Miles Teller), Sue (Kate Mara), Johnny (Michael B. Jordan) and Ben (Jamie Bell) – reshaped with superhuman abilities. Their only hope of recovery is back the way they came from, putting them in direct contact with an old friend. It’d be wide of the mark to call Fantastic Four a complete failure. There are, after all, hints of intrigue scattered here and there, and the cast do their utmost with the material they’re handed. But, quite frankly, that material isn’t worthy of their talents. The script revels in dark and brooding, yet empty scene-setting for much of its run time, before free-falling off the edge of a cliff as it hurries through a dreadful finale of bad CGI and even worse direction that feels as tacked on as Mara’s noticeable blonde wig.
Empty Screens 