Let me start off by saying that I absolutely adore movies. Throughout my entire life, there has never been a movie that I whole heartedly did not like. There was always some aspect of every film that made me fall in love with it somehow, whether it was the foreign world it took place in or a single character that I got attached to. I have never hated a movie – until I saw the Fantastic Four reboot.

I did not like a single thing about the 2015 Fantastic Four. After reading the many reviews of critics voicing their similarly negative opinions, including the New York Times, Washington Post, Rolling Stone and more, it is abundantly clear that I am not the only one who feels this way towards the 20^th Century Fox and Marvel collaboration. The producers of the film would call it an overall success as it has brought in over $100 million in the box office as of last week. However, compared to the original Fantastic Four, and other movies in the superhero genre that have been released this year, the remake did not do half as well.

The first weekend in theaters made the obvious box office killing everyone knew it would due to the hype and high expectations of the hoards of fans loyal to the original films. All of these fans- myself included- were hoping for a chance to see their old favorite characters come together once again in a fantastic superhero movie with just the right balance of action, comedic relief, and emotional character development. This being the bar set by the original Fantastic Four and recent films of the same genre, the majority of audiences left the theater heavily disappointed.

The first half.

The beginning of the film wasn’t half bad. There were brand new takes on the main character’s back stories. It was interesting seeing how the dynamic duo, Reed Richards and Ben Grimm, became the best friends I knew them to be, along with how they met Victor Von Doom and the Storm siblings.

The point at which I could feel things beginning to go downhill was when the five new friends began working on the teleportation machine. I was suddenly sitting through a drawn out, cliché montage of the genius teenagers typing random gibberish into computers, drawing and erasing incomprehensible symbols on white boards, adorably flicking each other awake as they fell asleep on their keyboards, and quietly bonding over late night Chinese food breaks. Suddenly, they are all incredibly close besties with no actual lines having been spoken. There was nothing particularly compelling about it.

Superpowers?

The boys of the team travel to another dimension/planet where they get “zapped” and everyone somehow procures their superpowers, even Sue, who wasn’t even on the planet with them. This is where the lack of explanation begins. Not only is it not explained why they all become supernatural, but the reason why each has their own unique power is not made clear either. Sure, Ben was being pelted with rocks at the moment of the “zapping” and was turned into a rock monster, Johnny was set on fire at that same time and obtained his pyro-powers, and Victor fell into the green lava causing him to be riddled with the power of the planet. But super stretchable and invisibility with force fields? It is not clear why those two superpowers came to be for Reed and Sue.

Another flash-forward.

Once the team is captured by the government, the audience is flashed forward to a year later. More unexplained details emerge, as it seems that everyone must wear suits to control their powers. It also appears that Sue, for some unknown reason, must hold her breath in order to use her power. To me, it seemed that the writers of the film used another flash-forward to further avoid any showing of character development or explanation that, at that point, was sorely needed.

Patterns.

The government officials asked Sue to track down Reed who escaped the facility and ran away into hiding. At this point, the team members appear to be angry with their friend for abandoning them. Due to her previously noted knack for recognizing patterns, Sue is enlisted to help find Reed, tracking his sporadic movements around the globe. This all made perfect sense, until she found him by spotting his username that she recognized, rather than figuring out any pattern. Once captured and brought back to the facility, Reed’s friends seem to suddenly be upset with him: not because he left, but because they believe it was entirely his fault they received their powers and that he ruined their lives. Just more inconsistencies to add to the pile.

Villain of the half-hour.

Victor Von Doom, the long anticipated villain of the film, is found during an excursion back to the other dimension. Victor’s all-mighty powers supposedly come from the planet itself, however he is found incredibly weakened after living on it for a year, which didn’t make much sense. Deciding to push that aside, I focused on the fact that the villain had finally arrived which would force the team to learn how to work together, and maybe finally there would be some character development. Then, looking down at my watch, I realized – there was only 25 minutes, at the most, left of the movie. They had spent the majority of the film building their machine and discovering their powers, leaving little to no time for any possible character development or team building.

More clichés.

The film takes on an unexpectedly dark tone when Victor appears and begins killing everyone he sees. It didn’t seem like it quite fit with the feel of the rest of the movie. The Fantastic Four go on to fight the final battle against their villain, where they are nearly defeated. But amazingly, as all the heroes are being held down on the ground under Victor’s power, Reed somehow finds the inner strength to get up against the incredible force that even his humongous, rock monster friend can’t get up against, and frees his friends allowing them to finish off the bad guy. Sue appears to learn she can use her powers without holding her breath as she yells her brother’s name without breaking her force field, a seemingly pathetic attempt at some slight character development just before the movie ends. Again, no explanation, no consistency; they could do it all “just because”. They do realize they must work as a team; however, the only point in which teamwork is actually used is when Sue makes The Thing (Ben Grimm) invisible so he can sneak up on Victor, which also happens to be the most entertaining aspect of the whole film. The rest is just random use of their individual powers.

The End.

The final acts of inconsistency are carried out when the team is given a top-secret laboratory-mansion, hidden in the mountains for free simply because The Thing cracks his knuckles at a few government officials. Ben Kendrick, Screen Rant critic, hits the nail on the head when he wrote his review of the film, “All the pieces were in place for a refreshing entry in the superhero genre, but Fantastic Four completely unraveled at the halfway point.” He is 100 percent correct. This film had everything it needed to succeed: a loyal fan base, a fresh take on the character’s back stories, and a phenomenal young cast whose talents have been clearly displayed in their previous films. Unfortunately, as critic A.O Scott put it in his film review for the New York Times, “Fantastic Four, despite the dogged efforts of its talented young cast, has nothing.” The producers had a chance to make something incredible, but instead ended up with a mediocre film filled with inconsistencies, clichés, a cringe-worthy script, and a few too many unexplained details that made it just too difficult to enjoy.