I don’t get the hate.  I don’t understand how people can sit through the majority of the Marvel Cinematic Universe content deliver system and this is where they find fault.  I’m not saying the MCU doesn’t contain some great stuff but there are many many miles and minutes of utter tedium to wade through.  Even the better efforts like Ant Man (2015), Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) and the Captain America films (2011 / 2014), all great fun, feel burdened by conformity and the weight of the franchise.

Fantastic Four isn’t a great film, it might not even be a good one, but it’s enjoyable and contains some really interesting ideas.  The best thing here is that someone has finally admitted how horrible superpowers would be.  From the moment that the accident happens the film steps up a gear and becomes a freak show.  The limbs of Reed Richards recall the body horror of Cronenberg whilst the Human Torch writhes and The Thing becomes a Golem.  Sue Storm (who’s ironic lack of presence here is a genuine disappointment) pops in an out of existence and Doom gets fused with his spacesuit and stranded in another dimension.  There’s pain here that isn’t going away and a real sense that mastering your ‘powers’ isn’t the same as a cure.  ‘I’m used to it’ is the best you can hope for.

In it’s 100 minute form the film does feel disjointed, as if they had edited down a three part mini-series, and that is a problem but it’s a good movie, yeah I’m going with ‘good’, and much more fun than expected with it’s hit and miss melding of kid’s logic and genuinely horrific images.

I much prefer a bit of a mess to a corporate filing system of characters.

Recommended.