First Fantastic Four Critic Reviews Released

The first reviews for Fantastic Four are beginning to show up online, and so far it’s not looking good for Fox’s reboot.

Todd McCarthy at The Hollywood Reporter was so unimpressed with the film that he summed it up with a halfhearted pun, saying “More like the Unfantastic Four.”

Brian Lowry of Variety says the film simply can’t compete with modern superhero fare, saying, “Fox’s attempt to revive an inherited Marvel property feels like an also-ran in the comicbook-adaptation sweepstakes.”

The Wrap’s Alonso Duralde believes the film was hamstrung by having to retell the characters’ origin story, saying “With all this tedious Tinkertoy origin-story business out of the way, there could certainly be some entertaining ‘Fantastic Four’ adventures in the future with this ensemble. Whether or not audiences will want to gamble another 100 minutes of their lives on subsequent chapters, however, is another matter entirely.”

Emma Dibdin of Digital Spy thinks the dark tone simply didn’t fit the film’s source material, saying, “The biggest mistake here seems to have been trying to marry a dark and realistic tone with the story of four teenagers whose superpowers include transforming into rock, generating force fields and becoming very stretchy. While far from the unmitigated disaster some had predicted, Fantastic Four feels unlikely to kick-start a new franchise, barely sustaining the narrative steam to power itself through its modest 90-minute running time.”

Check out when Fantastic Four and other movies are coming out in ComicBook.com’s Movie Release Schedule.