Trailers on Trial - Fant4stic

Hey, so I’m back and this isn’t anything pre-planned. I’m not even sure what “Blog” category this will necessarily fall under. I mean, it’s like a review, but we’re mostly talking about a trailer. And since there won’t be a score because… well… trailer… it’s not even really a review. I guess it’s just a one-off post regarding the new Fantastic Four trailer (or I suppose it’s called Fant4stic). But a trailed dropped this past Tuesday for Fant-Four-Stic and I want to join in the talk while the iron is hot and discuss the new trailer… You can probably expect more posts like this for upcoming Star Wars, Jurassic World, Age of Ultron, and so on trailers.

First off, this is more of a teaser and less of a trailer. We get a lot of mood-setting shots. Things are dark. There aren’t a lot of colors on display. We get a solid idea of what causes the heroes to become the Fant-Four-Stic. And, from what I can tell, it really isn’t too far removed from the comic-story-line anyway. They still look like they’re going to get blasted with some kind of radiation (probably cosmic). But they will just be in some kind of experimental science chamber instead of space. But then we get later shots that look like they’re in space. So maybe I’m wrong and it really will just be a verbatim copy of the original origin story which they said they weren’t doing.

We get a shot of both The Thing and The Human Torch using their powers (to a degree). We see a Johnny Storm taking a knee in a hallway before he gets his flame on. Not sure if this was accidental flammage or if it was intentional. We also get to see the Thing in his rock form break out from a pile of rocks. I don’t really recall seeing anything specific for Reed Richards or Susan Storm, but they are in the trailer. I guess you really don’t want to show everything for the teaser because then why see the movie?

And before I have anyone arguing in the comments or anything about it. No, Johnny Storm being black is not a bad thing. I won’t say it’s a good thing because it’d be better to make new African-American characters, but it’s not a bad thing. It doesn’t ruin the movie. So, no I won’t address that as an issue with the film and I don’t see why people are so bent out of shape over it. Heimdal is being played by a black man and does anyone really complain about that anymore? And Miles Moranis from  the Ultimate Spiderman continuity is actually not a bad version of Spiderman and I would love to see him portrayed in a film at some point. What I’m getting at is that if Black Johnny Storm is to this film what Ben Affleck is to Batman for other people I know, then maybe you need to grow up a bit. Besides, Bane is Hispanic, but was played by a white guy in the last movie. No one called foul on that? Sorry. Race isn’t relevant to a character’s portrayal… except Blank Panther.

Visually, aside from the lack of color, I don’t see anything altogether wrong or boring. But it does feel insanely generic and uninspired. There’s no sense of fun or excitement in this trailer. Nothing gets that whole “gotta see this” feeling from what I see and that’s certainly nothing good. And maybe it really is the lack of uninteresting visuals in front of us that keep me from getting all that interested.

That in mind, I’m under the impression that my lack of interest is because there isn’t any sign of Dr. Doom in the trailer. According to some posts I’ve seen, he’s in the trailer. But we don’t see anything that specifically looks like Doom. Everyone appears to look normal and there’s no one that looks much like a hacker (as mentioned in earlier news-blurbs about the potential reboot of Dr. Doom) or even the iconic (and extremely necessary) Dr. Doom mask/armor/cape.

What gets me hooked into the intrigue of a comic film would be the villain. Only Iron Man has gotten away with that not being the case. But I’ve never been all that interested in the Fantastic Four or the Fant-Four-Stic enough to want to see their comics, cartoons, or storylines for them. I want to see Fantastic Four because I want to see Dr. Doom doing cool stuff and taking over the world. I’m already biased against this film because of the rumors for what they’ll do with Dr. Doom’s character (turning him into basically Anonymous). But at least SHOW something about Dr. Doom in the trailer because otherwise I feel like all I’m seeing is just concept art with a grim and unhelpful narration over the top of it.

Of the 2015 movies we know are coming out, this is probably still one of the few I’m least “hyped” about. I would love to see a new or interesting Fant-Four-Stic movie come out and I’d love for it to be good. But right now, I’m not really feeling it yet. I’m not outright livid that it exists like the Amazing Spiderman reboots, but if they don’t even bother doing a proper Dr. Doom I’ll be pretty disappointed. He’s the only character worth having the Fant-Four-Stic even around for and to not do him right wastes the potential of one of the most interesting and fun Marvel villains you can use. And since Marvel can’t use him, that’s just added insult to injury.

Verdict? We have a release date. We have confirmed this will be an unnecessarily dark/gritty reboot of one of the most lighthearted and goofiest comics in Marvel’s pantheon. And while nothing has me excited, I can’t say nothing is turning me away from this film yet. Let’s wait and see what they end up doing with Dr. Doom before we toss this aside, shall we?

That’s all for this entry of whatever I end up calling this last minute. If you actually enjoyed this venture into new ideas, please be sure to like, share, comment, and subscribe. I’ll be back soon with more content on actual content, promise. See ya next time.