Out of the 3 major comic book movies being released in 2015, the one that I’m actually most eager to see is Fox’s new Fantastic Four reboot. With the other superhero entries being Avengers: Age of Ultron and Ant-Man, that may seem a little strange, but my eagerness is purely to find out whether all the crazy press the movie received during production – ranging from misguided fanboy hate over casting to reports of director Josh Trank’s alleged tirades – would actually get flipped on their head if the movie actually turns out to be good.
Well according to some folks, that’s actually exactly what has happened as they’ve got to see the movie and loved it. Bleeding Cool first reported on the fact that several early screenings were happening over in Europe and USA, and managed to get some social media reactions from folks in attendance.
Now it must be pointed out that these are just everyday audience members and not film press – the US press only see this movie this afternoon, while we only watch it tomorrow evening – so you should gauge their reactions accordingly. That being said, the general feeling is very positive towards the film that Trank, producer/screenwriter Simon Kinberg and their cast have come up with.
Fantastic Four was AWESOME!!! #fantasticfour #atl #screening #media #blogger
A photo posted by Sistah (@thesistahchick) on
New #FantasticFour move was AWESOME! Shout out to cast and Big Boi for hosting!
— James Cuth (@MrCuth) July 31, 2015
Spoke to someone that attended and they said the audience reaction was extremely positive.
— Shawn Madden (@smichaelmadden) July 31, 2015
The #FantasticFour movie was amazing!!!!
— Young Lexicon (@TheYoungLexicon) July 31, 2015
@DuranAlek Yes, it should surprise all the haters!
— ATL Jess (@jessehancock) July 31, 2015
@GoKira @Ludacris I’d give it a 99 and definitely pay to go see it again! Really good!
— ATL Jess (@jessehancock) July 31, 2015
99/100?!! Woah there, Captain Hyperbole! I actually have pretty good expectations of the movie, but let’s not get carried away here! Now I have to reiterate that these are casual moviegoers who just got treated to a free movie (apparently hosted/attended by major hip hop stars like Big Boi and Ludacris), so don’t get put too much stock in their reactions yet as they could just be feeling the buzz from the event more than the movie.
But this is an extremely talented young cast, I really loved Trank’s previous film Chronicle, and I’m actually a huge fan of “Ultimate Fantastic Four”, which this movie is drawing most of its inspiration from, so I’m still going into it cautiously optimistic.
UPDATE: Since writing this article, the first few full reviews for the movie have sprung up online, and they’re not looking good at all. THR calls it “maddeningly lame and unimaginative” while The Wrap declares that director Josh Trank has “assembled a quartet of engaging, charismatic performers and stranded them in a miasma of exposition and set-up that sinks the movie”. Ouch. Variety is a bit less harsh, but still describes it as “not an embarrassment, but an experiment that didn’t gel”.
Fantastic Four stars Miles Teller, Kate Mara, Michael B. Jordan, Jamie Bell, Toby Kebbell and Reg E. Cathey. It releases locally in 2D – not 3D! – next week Friday, 14 August 2015. And to feed your appetite until then, here’s the latest extended trailer, which also features a special appearance by a certain Merc with a Mouth.
Last Updated: August 5, 2015
RinceThis
August 5, 2015 at 09:37
Eish 0_O
Guild
August 5, 2015 at 10:17
I’ll wait for your guys opinion….