14 DAY TRIAL // “Fantastic Four” is coming back to the big screen this Friday, with a new cast and what leading man Miles Teller promises will be a different approach to the superhero genre. In his own words, this isn’t yet another “soulless, popcorn action” movie, this one has real substance.
The only problem is that, according to initial critic reviews, it’s exactly that. And a poorly-made one to boot.
Miles Teller shades Marvel movies in new interview
Miles Teller has been everywhere these days, promoting “Fantastic Four,” as was to be expected. The movie didn’t get off to an excellent start online, with movie pundits predicting a very somber fate for it based on the trailers alone. You can see one of them embedded below.
To BBC, Teller says that he has high hopes for the franchise, which is now at its second iteration. He loves the cast, which also includes Kate Mara, Jamie Bell and Michael B. Jordan, and he believes they will be together for “many years” making these movies.
Asked what he thought of the way in which some critics dismissed superhero movies as not actual films but popcorn entertainment, Teller seems to be bracing for the worst: these movies, he says, never get a decent score on Rotten Tomatoes, the best known movie review portal.
He may be right in trying to argue that critics’ opinions of a film very rarely agree with fans’ take on the same project, but he’s wrong in his assertion on superhero movies and Rotten Tomatoes. In fact, all Marvel movies scored rankings upwards of 70% Fresh on the website, with the 2008 “Iron Man” getting a close-to-perfect score of 94% Fresh.
Critics love superhero movies as much as regular moviegoers do, on the condition that they’re well done.
“Fantastic Four” aims to be better
Teller seems to continue shading Marvel superhero movies with his next comment as well, by arguing that “Fantastic Four” will be better than what we’ve been getting so far.
“We did try to do something more than soulless, popcorn action,” he says. “We tried to make something coming from a more dramatic standpoint so we’re hoping that people enjoy it and recognize that we’re trying to do something original.”
Reviews from advance screenings note that “Fantastic Four” is a generic action movie that is poorly edited and even worse directed. It’s also of inconsistent pacing, and so dark and gritty (color-wise) that it becomes taxing well before the second act.
Speaking of Rotten Tomatoes, “Fantastic Four” has barely managed a disastrous 8% Fresh rating so far. That’s even worse than an Adam Sandler movie. On the bright side, audiences still want to check it out.
