Hyperbolic folks walking out of a movie they didn't like will call it the worst film of all time. It doesn't matter if the film is particularly good or not. They will hate it. Sometimes, our perceptions of a film can change over time. There are people, for example, who loved Star Wars: The Phantom Menace who now admit it was a terrible film, and others who hated it who have a new-found respect for the film. This is why time is usually a good indicator of what really is or isn't the best film of a given genre in a given decade.
The 2010s have seen many disappointing superhero films, from Batman v Superman to Suicide Squad to Jonah Hex. But while all these films underwhelmed audiences, there was always a spark of something good in them. Either there's a performance that stands out or some plot idea that works. Even Dark Phoenix and Hellboy, two of 2019's weakest entries, have something good in there. But there's nothing good in Josh Trank's horrendous Fantastic Four, a film butchered by a studio, ran by a hotshot director, and occupied with sets and actors that were given no consistent material or direction, even from scene to scene.
What Happened?
Even from its inception, Fantastic Four exists not as a legitimate passion project but as a cynical attempt to retain the rights to the Fantastic Four property. Fox got lucky when it bought the X-Men franchise from Marvel back when Marvel Comics was going bankrupt. Come 2012, the tables had turned. Marvel proved they could find success on its own -- and not just that, but more success than Fox with its established franchise. Even DC went in on the action with Man of Steel.
However, by this point, Fox's X-Men had grown somewhat stale. While X-Men: First Class revitalized the franchise, audiences wanted something more drastic and intense. Fox tried to figure out what to do, eventually passing on an X-Men vs Fantastic Four film to make two separate films: X-Men: Days of Future Past and Fantastic Four.
Fantastic Four, in theory, looks like a sure-fire hit. The studio did everything right by the Marvel book: it hired a promising new director, hired a ton of up and coming actors with a lot of critical clout, and promised to offer audiences a superhero film that also existed in a sort of Cronenberg-esque horror space.
So what went wrong? Better question: what didn't go wrong?
Fantastic Four isn't JUST a Joyless Slog
A big criticism levied at a lot of films is that they're "joyless." Many of the DC films get this critique levied at them. They take their subject matter so seriously that they tend to ignore the natural humor of day to day life. Say what you will about Marvel's humor, but the jokes do add levity. That allows the dramatic scenes to feel heavier by contrast.
To say Fantastic Four is joyless isn't exactly true. That would indicate, after all, the film has any emotion it relays. The characters on screen never emote, never express wants and goals in a meaningful fashion, and never really seem to feel one way or the other about anything -- save for the scene where the characters discover their powers, easily the best written and directed scene in the film (but that isn't saying much).
This is particularly bizarre because the Fantastic Four, across all other iterations, have the following traits in common: they're a family, they have wacky adventures, and their stories are, generally, fun. Beyond Reed Richards, no one else seems to enjoy doing science. No one enjoys being a hero. The characters don't really share anything in common. Most of the film, they're kept apart from one another or they argue. There's no real bonding until they need to work together, so we are never sold on this being a superhero family. This familial bond is the core appeal of the Fantastic Four, and it isn't there.
This isn't the cast's fault, though. Michael B. Jordan has proven himself to be one of the best actors of this generation. And Miles Teller just came off his Academy Award-nominated role in Whiplash going into Fantastic Four. The problem isn't that the actors are bad at acting. The problem is they're given nothing to work with, either on the script or behind the camera. So what happened to the script?
Calculated Risks
People forget that risky decisions don't always result in good results. Hiring the guy who wrote Tromeo and Juliet and Scooby-Doo 2 to make your new superhero film is a huge risk, but it paid off. Disney had seen James Gunn's writing, knew he could handle strange concepts (case in point, Slither), and, after talking to him, came to understand he had a passion for superheroes. Hiring Gunn is a calculated risk. He was an odd choice, but he had years of experience to prove himself.
Every director Marvel Studios hired had a history of making quality films. That is not to say that Josh Trank had no experience, but the experience he had left a lot to be desired. Let's put aside the fact that Trank's alleged temper tantrum caused thousands of dollars of property damage onset. Let's, instead, look at Trank as a creative talent. Why was he poorly suited for this film?
Trank's sole credit before Fantastic Four was Chronicle. While it's a good low-budget film, Trank had no experience working with a studio or delivering on an audience's expectations. He didn't have a responsibility to anyone but himself. As a result, it's perhaps unsurprising that his script was nothing like what the studios wanted.
Trank, it seemed, either didn't understand or didn't care about what the studio wanted. He wanted to make a Cronenberg horror film using the superhero format. That's not what the Fantastic Four are, though. On top of that, Trank was poorly suited for the project. Trank made a low-budget film about a put-upon kid getting back at his bullies. He had no experience writing world-building, positive relationships, balancing big casts, or even creating tension. He even had trouble with action sequences. The worst moment in Chronicle is the final fight of the film, which lacks tension or spectacle.
But even more apparent is that Trank seemed to refuse to respect anyone else's input on the film. Trank threw out everything Fox had for the Fantastic Four film up until that point to rewrite his film from scratch. He refused to listen to Fox's input and insisted on filming the film he wanted to make, regardless of its quality.
The risk with taking on new talent is you can't gauge how good they are or what their flaws as filmmakers are until you see them make a couple of films or more. Trank had many problems.
The Meddling
The studio, realizing the film was going to be terrible, mitigated costs by cutting up chunks of the script. Audiences probably didn't miss much, seeing as how the material the studio didn't touch (primarily the first half) was already a joyless, boring slog of a film. However, the second half is where the big-budgeted scenes were mainly removed, which is where the film becomes incredibly incompetent.
The sets look incredibly cheap in the second half. The characters don't do much, other than sit around and talk or mope or whatever. The film before had direction, but at this point in the film, everything crashes until it inevitably reaches its generic, dull ending. The best thing about the film is the obvious technical flaws. They're at least memorable.
Many people point to the time-skip as the moment where the film went bad, but even if Fox didn't edit it, Fantastic Four would have still been a boring mess. Even when Trank had every chance to prove himself, he failed to deliver. Even in his scenes, we see no hints of warmth or humanity in any of his characters. Say what you will about Batman v. Superman, but at least we saw human emotions in that film. At least people remember the Martha scene. You probably forgot Fantastic Four's discovering-their-powers scene until you reread that here.