Anthony Stokes is excited by the casting on Fox’s upcoming reboot of The Fantastic Four…
After months of rumors and tons of backlash The Fantastic Four have been cast. This isn’t intentional, but it seems that movies people are excited for I don’t care about (Batman vs. Superman, The Amazing Spider-Man 2) and the that are getting a lot of the backlash (X-Men: Days of Future Past) I’m excited for. I’m genuinely excited for The Fantastic Four. Fox is making very good choices with this reboot, starting with getting the guy who did the great sci-fi superhero movie Chronicle, Josh Trank, as director. Trank being tapped to direct gave me enough good faith in this project, but there are people who aren’t convinced. And now that the casting has just been announced, the general consensus appears to be that it sucks. Still, I love it, and here’s why people should be excited for this movie…
The original Fantastic Four and its sequel were horrible. Those people who claim that MCU movies are for kids are mistaken. Fantastic Four movies were for kids, with juvenile humor and characters. This new Fantastic Four seems to be doing a more edgy, darker approach without going down The Dark Knight route, at least from what I can tell. And people are complaining about them changing up the origin of the heroes, while I couldn’t care less. I’m not the biggest Fantastic Four fan but they already tried to tell the traditional story. If you want a close adaption of the comic book then you have the original two movies. It always seems like people would rather see a close adaptation of fictional lore, rather than a good movie. This is trying something new, which for anything else but comic book adaptions is usually a good thing…
Now to the cast. I’ve already addressed this several times but it bears repeating. Johnny Storm can be black. He doesn’t have the iconic look of Batman or Superman. There’s nothing about his description that screams “white male”. Michael B. Jordan was not cast to try to appeal to black audiences – I’m sure it was a plus, but he was probably chosen due to his relationship with Josh Trank, and his on screen persona. This guy has a crazy amount of likeability and charisma and he was completely robbed for an Oscar nomination this year for Fruitvale Station. And this whole thing about his sister being white makes me want to impale my palm into my face. It’s 2014. There’s a such thing as interracial couples and adoption. As a matter of fact, making them adopted would add in interesting dynamic and layers to their relationship, as well as explaining why they’re so different. From a storytelling perspective it adds depth to the characters, but fanboys don’t like nuance they just want an adaptation that sticks close to the source material. But there are tens of dozens of different iterations of the Fantastic Four…
Unlike the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles reboot, all these actors are tried and tested and have all performed above expectations. The way I feel about casting is that if you get a great actor with range things will work out just fine. Jamie Bell as The Thing is an unorthodox choice, and I like it. Kate Mara as Sue Storm is also a great choice. Hopefully she’ll be blowing up soon and she’s absolutely terrific on American Horror Story and House of Cards. Playing Sue Storm is not outside of her skill set. The casting that’s almost as controversial as Michael B. Jordan is Miles Teller as Mister Fantastic. Miles Teller will make a horrible Reed Richards because he started out as a comedian. Comedians just don’t make good actors. Look at Bill Murray. And Bradley Cooper. And Jim Carrey. And Queen Latifah. And Jonah Hill. And Chris Pratt. And Will Ferrell. And John Goodman. And Mo’Nique. And Robin Williams. All successful comedians who did terribly transitioning into dramatic roles. Stay in your line Teller.
Basically, unless the trailer is completely awful, I’m going to see this movie. People complain that all Marvel movies are the same, but when they take steps to take risks, those same people freak out. Is it unfortunate that Fantastic Four is not back with Marvel Studios? No. They have enough on their plate right now and I’d rather them do riskier projects like Guardians of the Galaxy and Inhumans. I say wait until the trailer to cast full judgement, because from where I’m standing The Fantastic Four has potential to be a surprise hit. When the first trailer comes out and everybody gets excited, I can’t wait to gloat about the fact that I saw it coming.
Anthony Stokes is a blogger and independent filmmaker who also assists with the music blog DopesterMusic and co-hosts the podcast Delusional Losers.
Originally published February 20, 2014. Updated April 11, 2018.
