In Defense of the Fantastic 4

[Disclaimer: Spoilers ahead, read at your own risk]

Fantastic Four is not a movie that will be winning an Oscar any time soon, that is one thing we can all agree on. But does the movie actually deserve all the hate that it is getting? I may just be someone that isn't a comic book fan, but while I can acknowledge the flaws, I actually found the movie enjoyable. The arguments that people make about not liking it are actually understandable within the way the movie was set up.

Not sure about that? Here are a few common arguments and my rebuttal:

1. It's more of a Sci-Fi movie than a comic book movie!

Ok, in all fairness this is correct. However, this is also not a surprise in the slightest. Back in January of this year, director Josh Trank did an extensive interview about the movie, and brought up the fact that he wanted to make it more sci-fi than the comic book movies that have been coming out lately.

I’m a huge David Cronenberg fan, and I always viewed 'Fantastic Four' and the kind of weirdness that happens to these characters and how they’re transformed to really fall in line more with a Cronenberg-ian science fiction tale of something horrible happening to your body and [it] transforming out of control. And the potential for a hard sci-fi take on that material makes me really excited.

2. The Fantastic Four are a family, they act like they don't know each other! They don't fight like a team!

While we do get to see a lot of Ben and Reed being friends, which solidifies the hurt later on, they only meet Johnny and Sue as they work on the machine to take them to Planet Zero. Johnny has pointed issues with Sue and her brilliance, mentioning his resentment to their father, so there is estrangement there. They aren't going to be that close.

As far as the fighting goes, they had all clearly been trained individually. While Ben was out on the field, Johnny and Sue were in separate rooms honing their skills. They were clearly given no time to work together, and Reed was on the run.

3. Why did they do a one year jump?

This was a lose-lose situation. If they hadn't done the time jump, people would have most likely been upset that they wasted so much time learning how to use their powers in the film. Not to mention trying to explain what each of them were doing. With the jump we could see what each were doing but it was only a few seconds of time, keeping the story flowing.

However, I will agree that although it makes sense that Reed would run away, why would he stay away that long? If it were to figure out a cure, why would he be looking for Ben before he found it? If he had been looking for him the whole time, why didn't he just come back? That was a little out of place for me.

4. Why does Doom look so stupid? How did his suit become part of his body?

Even in real life, it is possible for clothing to melt and adhere to your skin due to intense heat that causes second and third degree burns. What Doom ended up falling into was some sort of lava substance, much hotter than any fire would be. I think that it would cause more than just a third-degree burn.

The suspension of disbelief is in how he survived, but hey it made for an interesting come back.

5. They ripped off the end of Avengers: Age of Ultron

The re-shoots ended in January of this year guys. Avengers came out in May. Nobody ripped off anyone, come on.

When it comes down to it, it feels as though a lot of the arguments are slightly nitpicking. While the movie is by no means perfect, it is enjoyable and one that I would recommend people go see.

[Source: Collider, Screen Rant]