Today (yesterday actually), audiences were teased with the latest from the director of X-Men: Days of Future Past. The Fantastic 4 are back, with a fresh twist on the old story, filmed in a very Dark Knight kind of feel. To put it simply, the trailer looked epic!
The cast for the 4 will be Miles Teller as Mr. Fantasic/Reed Richards. You might know him from the reboot of Footloose and the recent Insurgent series. Kate Mara will be playing The Invisible Woman/Susan Storm. She’s been in the series House of Cards and American Horror Story- which is interesting to see a major television star take a jump into the film scene. Micheal B. Jordan will be her brother The Human Torch a.k.a. Johnny Storm. You might remember him from The Boondocks TV series and as Alex from Parenthood. Another big TV star making a jump to the big screen for the Marvel reboot. Then we have Jamie Bell as The Thing/Ben Grimm. He’s known for his role as the antagonist Griffin (cast opposite Hayden Christensen) in Jumper as well as some minor roles in some pretty big films, like King Kong and Jayne Eyre. Having two members of the four from TV and the other from film, it’ll be an interesting sight to see how the chemistry between these characters plays throughout the film.
Playing the enigmatic Dr. Doom will be a veteran to the film streets, Tony Kebbell. He’s been in such films as Prince of Persia, RocknRolla, and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes. We also have on the cast list Tim Blake Nelson, who will be playing Harvey Elder (to those of you in the know, The Mole Man), as well as Reg E. Cathey, who will be, I am assuming, Susan and Johnny’s father, Dr. Franklin Storm, and a character I’m not finding on any database, Jimmy Grimm, played by Chet Hanks.
To be perfectly honest, as a Marvel comics fan, I’m not sure about the lineup. We have a lot of newcomers to the field, who haven’t had a lot in terms of being leads in film roles or haven’t had a lot of experience in films at all. From what I saw from the trailer, the cinematography was stunning, with lighting choices and angles that took my breath away at every moment. However, how the acting will measure up is still something that needs to be discussed. For Marvel’s Phase 3, we have several veterans of film and television playing as main characters, so we know they have the chops to pull it off. With such names as Benedict Cumberbatch as Dr. Strange, and Ant Man played by Paul Rudd, we can be sure the movie won’t suffer from a weak presence on screen by main characters. Yet with the newbies on deck, what can we expect? Are we looking at Fox trying to pull something like the 1st Star Wars film, creating a franchise that will have the actors make names for themselves from it?
I would like to give it a chance. I know a lot of critics won’t be happy with the casting lineup, but I’m wiling to gamble on Fox’s little attempt at making something innovative. They are trying “a contemporary retelling of the story, of a youthful group of outsiders that find themselves battling against one of their own after a trip to another dimension alters them to give them strange abilities.”
And on that note: a lot of people initially weren’t happy with Heath Ledger as the Joker in the Dark Knight, because what he was known for before was a teen heart-throb in 10 Things I Hate About You and A Knights Tale. And what happened? He killed that role. It is one of the best acted roles and just sold it 120%. I have neveremphasized text seen a character so invested in giving it like he did, and to this day I still watch that movie on repeat and stand in awe to the performance Ledger gave in it.
So I tip a glass to Fox for trying something new with some new kids on the block. Hopefully it will deliver.
Kind of sad that the 4 won’t be in the Infinity Wars sagas though.
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