After the success of Chronicle, Josh Trank's first feature movie, all eyes were on him to see what he would do next. Enters 20th Century Fox who snatched him up for a reboot of the defunct Fantastic Four, which I suspect contractually Fox had to do another or the rights would be revoked back to Marvel.
On paper, a perfect fit. Chronicle had vast similarities with F4, only difference was that F4 had a source material (and a humongous fan base) that needed to be satisfied. But on paper, Trank was a perfect fit.
Even with the announcement of a younger cast as opposed to the traditional characters from the comic book, Trank had a vision that Fox trusted and so I did too. And when you have the young talents of Miles Teller, Michael B. Jordan, Kate Mara, Toby Kebbell and Jamie Bell; how can you not get onboard?
Teller just finished Whiplash and almost got nominated for Best Actor. Jordan did Fruitvale Station last year and also was almost nominated for Best Actor. Mara was the up-and-coming actress that has done brilliant work in the TV series "House Of Cards" playing opposite Kevin Spacey and totally holding her own.
Kebbell just did Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes and brought the antagonist Koba to life. Bell came from Billy Elliot but is probably the least known at that point. Then again, he would soon turn into The Thing so it didn't matter.
Then the opening weekend was upon us. But even before the first opening night, Trank sent out a message on Twitter that the movie that we're about to see wasn't his movie.
And once the reviews were out, everyone now is looking to see who to point their fingers at.
I've read a lot of reports myself. From what I gathered, the main culprit has to be Fox because it was claimed that Fox stepped in just as shooting was about to begin and pulled the budget for three main action set pieces.
It's no wonder Trank was stressed out. We also heard how Trank wasn't easy to deal with on the set. It's probably from the frustration of getting his hands tied. And it's no wonder why the actual movie wasn't fun at all. There was barely any action sequences, and when there were, they were very short and poorly done.
I suspect the first half of the movie, the building up of the characters, that was Trank's work. And they looked great. It's when the characters gained their powers, that's when the story went down the drain.
And this is the responsibility of Simon Kinberg who supervised the writing process. Obviously when budget was slashed, Trank needed to fill in the blanks left by the missing action set pieces. Perhaps that's why the first half took so long.
The second half looked like Trank has left the building. We also heard how Trank was fired even before the movie was completed, and was left out of the editing process. That's why the second half had barely any dialogue other than some horrible one-liners to express feelings.
And that final showdown, it was very underwhelming. I believe Trank had no part in directing those scenes because they looked amateurish at best. And it was all done in editing to create those sequences.
However, this isn't to say that Trank was without blame. First of all, he should have walked when Fox pulled his budget. He should have made a decision and went with it at that point. Instead of sticking around and then throwing tantrums.
His directing of Mara and Bell looked very stiff. Throughout the movie, I didn't get a sense of who these characters were. The relationship between Mara and Jordan also never progressed after that. That's why when the four came to work together in the end felt very sudden and forced.
And the way he took to Twitter and who-knows-where-else on the Internet, very unprofessional and immature.
But I can also see why Trank needed time off from his previously attached Star Wars Anthology movie. After getting screwed by a studio, he has every right to not be part of a big-budgeted, franchise movie. Am I sad to not see his vision for a Star Wars movie? Sure. But I completely understand whether if it was his decision to leave or Disney didn't want his name near their project.
At the end of the day though, I'm a huge fan of Chronicle and I still believe in Trank. I wish him the best in his next project, but he needs a break right now. And stay away from the Internet.
As for Fnastasic Four and Fox? The cries for the property to be returned to Marvel can be heard in all corners of the world. But to me, I would keep F4 with Fox, forget the prematurely planned sequel, either keep the cast or introduce a new team into a crossover movie with X-Men, and then go from there.
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