FANTASTIC FOUR (SPOILER-FREE) REVIEW

What Is It: Fantastic Four is a reboot of the 2005 film of the same name and a reboot of the Marvel comic by Sony Studios in order to retain their rights to the superhero foursome.  In this version, it told the story of Reed Richards (Whiplash's Miles Teller) who, at a young age, had a dream to build a teleportation device back in the fifth grade.  Reed, along with his friend Ben Grimm (played by Billy Elliott himself, Jamie Bell) achieve that dream and gain the attention of Dr. Storm and his daughter Sue (Kate Mara, House of Cards).  Dr. Storm recruits Reed to the Baxter Foundation where he can complete his work on what will be known as the Quantum Gate, allowing teleportation to another dimension.  After a successful trial on a primate test subject, Reed, Ben, boy genius Victor Von Doom (Toby Kebbel) and Sue's brother Johnny Storm (played by That Awkward Moment's Michael B. Jordan) use themselves as the first human test subjects, resulting in catastrophe for Reed, Ben, Sue, Johnny, and Victor.

My experience: I decided to see this movie on a whim this weekend and was pleasantly surprised by it.  After hearing some pretty terrible reviews of the film, I had resigned myself to seeing it at the local dollar theatre, but when a friend and I needed a way to beat the Sunday heat, we chose this film and both of us found it fun and exciting.  I honestly did not think that I would enjoy it as much as I did.

Why You Should See It: Yes, the first attempt that this franchise was campy and, even originally, didn't do as well as one might have hoped, but you have to remember, this was before the Age of Iron-Man where Robert Downey, Jr.'s portrayal of a Marvel B-Team character revolutionized the Marvel Cinematic Universe.  With Phases One and Two of Marvel movies under our belts, this seemed like a good time to bring back the Fantastic Four.  Perhaps the best thing about this reboot was that it truly was about an origin story.  It started with Ben and Reed as young fifth graders with a dream and developed into them being courageous college students who were just trying to figure out how to make the best out of the situation that they found themselves in.  Perhaps the best part of this reboot was the casting of Michael B. Jordan as the brother to Kate Mara's Sue Storm.  When his involvement in the film was first announced over two years ago, many people were skeptical.  Originally, Johnny Storm was played by Chris Evans, a blonde-haired, blue-eyed man and now Michael B. Jordan, a younger, black man was stepping into the role while Kate Mara played his blonde-haired, blue-eyed sister.  But let's face it, everyone: this is 2015.  Interracial families are pretty common at this point.  Why wouldn't they be superheroes together?  I have to say, Michael B. Jordan (and his existing friendship with Miles Teller) was probably my favorite part of the movie.  It's about time we be color-blind when casting and start giving everyone the opportunity to play the superheroes they dreamed of being as children.

The Future: While this film only made about $60 million in its opening weekend, a sequel is set for 2017, but we'll have to wait and see if it actually happens.  Until then, this film has just been released and you should catch it while it's in theatres.  You won't regret it.  It's the type of fun, exciting film that's the perfect way to beat the heat.  However, for all your hardcore Marvel-moviegoers, be aware, this is an incomplete Marvel film with no end credits scene and no Stan Lee cameo.  Looking into the future of the film, the Fantastic Four will be integrated into future films of its fellow Sony-owned Marvel friends, the X-Men.  You can catch Miles Teller reprising his role as Peter in the Divergent series' final films Allegiant Parts 1&2 due out in 2016 and 2017, respectively.  You can also see Jamie Bell  reprising his role as Tintin in The Adventures of Tintin: Prisoners of the Sun, the sequel to his 2011 computer-animated adaptation of the classic story.  Probably most nerdy of all, Toby Kebbell will play the role of Durotan in 2016's highly anticipated Warcraft film, based on the wildly-successful MMORPG World of Warcraft.