Quite possibly existing for the same legal reason that the unreleased (but available on bootleg) 1994 Roger Corman production, this latest Marvel reboot sees yet another cinematic origin story for one of their properties yet to join Spider-Man in his assimilation into the MCU collective. As had with what is now the Amazing Spider-Man duology from Sony, the previously bright, light-hearted series is succeeded by a darker, arguably more "emo" retelling (both ASM entries were helmed by (500) Days Of Summer's Marc Webb). Gone is whatever goodwill there was in the Saturday morning cartoon that was Rise Of The Silver Surfer (2007), replaced with a film that descends into the reputed body horror of bodily transformation, followed by heads blowing up through telekinesis. Indeed, the sigh of Mile Teller's Reed Richards awakening in a lab to find his arms and legs stretched far out makes for Grimm viewing. Not one for a slumber party unless there are some spare PJ's handy. Thankfully, Kate Mara's cold checkered shirt-wearing music fan is a favourable replacement to Jessica Alba's XXX parody of Sue Storm (although Googling the character now seems to have proved me wrong). The Human Torch's makeover has also caused a Storm owing to his race - a fuss that should be unthinkable in the 21st century. But surely Michael B. Jordan's street racer (a scene which has a little setup wherein his car catches fire before crashing) is more preferable to the womanizing tomfoolery of Chris Evans (who has now, thankfully, been recast as a fine, upstanding avenger). As for the Thing (played in human form by Jamie Bell), the CG is no more convincing than Michael Chiklis' rubber suit. I'd rather spend time with these people than Alba, Evans or Grufford.
If the slating this reboot has received is largely down to its darker slant, then surely its not much worse (exploding heads aside) than the colourless post-Heat, post-Dark Knight thriller that was Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014), or - more controversially - the post-9/11 remake of Superman II that was Man Of Steel (2013). One could argue in defense that what Josh Trank set out to do was no different from Zack Snyder with Man Of Steel or Christopher Nolan with the Dark Knight trilogy. Whereas Snyder seemed to suggest the physical ramifications of a superhero battle in a city, Trank might have wanted to show the horror of bodily mutation (something of which is given little attention to in the X-Men film series). And the film is not entirely without the colour of the source material. Whereas what passes for the "superhero costume" in this film are now blackened jumpsuits, the rest of the screen is painted in varying shades of blue.
Needless to say, it's not without flaws. Besides the bloody attacks of the now much more fearsome Doctor Doom, there is perhaps some resulting evidence of the apparent studio inference. There are instances where CGI appears not to have been convincingly rendered - namely a place, a base and chimp test subject that looks to have been cut-and-pasted in from Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes (2011). There is also perhaps an oversight that the apocalyptic climax is surely a result of our heroes undertaking the unauthorized trip that resulted in their transformation in the first place (nothing is made of this if one recalls correctly).
Flawed maybe, but an unlikely Director's Cut might have shown a very interesting story and world, free of the ubiquitous Cinematic Universe.
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