E FM Premiere: Fantastic Four 

Marvel's reboot of the Fantastic Four franchise - presented by E FM, and sponsored by Anchor Newdale and Singapore Airlines - recently premiered at the Savoy 3D cinema. Directed by Josh Trank of “Chronicle” fame, Miles Teller, Kate Mara, Michael B. Jordan and Jamie Bell make up the Fantastic Four. The movie's tagline "Change Is Coming" seems eerily foreboding.. Is this the change fans have been waiting for?

The Fantastic Four movies have a history of being... not very fantastic, unfortunately. A comic with an incredible premise, the movie is sadly lacklustre and doesn't do justice to it. Trank's endgame seems confusing - as if he couldn't make up his mind if the movie was going to be more science fiction or superhero centred.

A huge portion of the movie includes an initially promising, but ultimately tedious origin story of sorts. We are thrust into the beginnings of our protagonists lives: we first meet bespectacled genius Reed and his buddy Ben as fifth graders. Reed claims his life goal is to be the first person to teleport himself. Fast forward to high school and Reed is showing his invention at the school's science fair, where he meets Sue and her dad, who gives him a scholarship at his institute. At the institute, Reed meets Johnny, where along with Victor von Doom, they create the full blown teleporter. Most of the movie follows in the same vein, and then almost out of nowhere - BAM! climax.

I am not one to rip movies apart mercilessly, but Fantastic Four is depressingly mediocre at best. And that's me being generous. What starts as a promising movie soon does a downward spiral, despite the efforts of a talented and capable cast. The final scene? Let's not even go there. Actually, let's. It's terrible. The final battle makes no sense whatsoever. There's no excitement. No one's rooting for the titular quartet to kick some supervillain posterior. The action is dreadful. The scene literally smacks you in the face, leaving you with a sour aftertaste long after the movie's end credits. Enough said.

Final verdict: The movie isn't completely beyond redemption though - there are a few redeeming factors sprinkled across the duration of the film. But not surprisingly, they are not enough to catapult the movie to box office success. Not even close!

Rochelle

The movie was nice and the kids enjoyed it.

Theshvini

It was a nice movie. Enjoyed it.

Luda

We liked it.

Nimesh

It was awesome.

Thuresh

It was really good.

Sean

It was not as expected.

Lashen

It’s great.

Lehan

It was really good. Amazing.

Ijaz

The movie was good. They've gone according to the books this time.

Dulina

I enjoyed the movie and the special effects. Better than the previous movie.

Reviewed by Rihaab Mowlana
Photographs by Waruna Wanniarachchi