I finally saw the movie I was dreading to watch; the movie that had me refund my ticket after reading the online reviews. I did not hate it. Now before you hate me for saying that, hear me out and then you can hate me.The first half of the movie was interesting to watch as it offered a very new and I think fresh take on a origin story. It has its focus solely on science rather than the somewhat supernatural superhero theme with Reed Richards as a brilliant school kid who aims to make a difference in the world. Having no one else really to call family, he has his childhood friend Ben Grimm to accompany him on this mission along with science. This half of the movie had a nice pace and good chemistry between the characters. The Storm siblings relationship also looked like it had the potential to develop into a strong and exploratory one.
And this is when the lightning struck. It felt like all previous development on the movie was taken and thrown in the garbage. Reed wanted to make a difference but it was never explained how his research was going to do it. His broken family ties were never explored except for a brief discussion with Sue that could have added more depth to his character and the story. Same was the case with the siblings. The second half felt so rushed. The movie decides to shift to a "1 year later" storyline right when it was about to get interesting. This felt like a speed breaker on the path of a speed gaining vehicle. Although the movie could have passed as a good science fiction one, for a superhero movie it sure was missing the big action sequences and especially with an enemy as powerful as Victor Von Doom. The action they did have also did not look exciting to watch. Another thing I noticed was the absence of a Stan Lee cameo. Guess he liked the previous two films better.
I can see Josh Trank had a nice vision for the movie in his mind but whatever happened between him and the studio did not help the film. Unlike others, I would like to see where this movie was going but I am not sure with such big box office loss, it would ever be possible.