The trailer that many comic book fans were dying to see is finally here. Fox’s planned reboot of the franchise featuring Marvel’s “First Family” of superheroes begins on August 7, 2015. But, until then, enjoy today’s teaser below.
While it’s only 2 minutes long, many internet sites are calling it a hit, lauding the trailer’s dark and gritty tone (and using the theme from the uber successful British detective drama “Broadchurch” to set the mood is a nice touch as well).
However, if Fox wants to really capture the essence of this team of “heroes with hangups” as Stan Lee so affectionately called them in a 2005 Wired article leading up to the previous incarnation’s release, they need to focus on what makes the characters likeable and their story attractive without trying to flesh out another origin story. They need to find balance, keeping these extra-ordinary people with the inherent desire to do right by world grounded enough in reality so that the audience can relate to their emotional quest. And they need to capture the complete tyrannical nature of the Fantastic Four’s arch-nemesis in Doctor Doom, not make him a caricature of the ham-fisted villain we saw during Tim Story’s time at the helm.
I mean, really Tim, this is the best you can come up with, especially with decades of material at your fingertips?
Simply put, Fox needs to be fantastic from beginning to end, and from the studio’s track record with the property, I am not optimistic. Especially considering the rumors swirling around the project that Fox big-wigs wanted to pull the plug on the film last year and had to push back its release date from June 19th 2015 to August 7th of the same year.
Still, it could be a lot worse: