Fantastic Four: Summer Preview

by Helen Earnshaw | 31 May 2015

Fantastic Four is one of the final superhero movies this summer and it will be the first time we have seen these comic book characters hit the big screen since Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer back in 2007.

Fantastic Four will be a total reboot of the franchise as Josh Trank takes over the director's chair, while he has teamed up with Simon Kinberg and Jeremy Slater to pen the screenplay.

I was a huge fan of Trank's feature film directorial debut Chronicle - this is his first film since making that debut - I am really looking forward to seeing him put his stamp on these characters and this franchise.

This could be the start of a brand new superhero film series - but it is a film that has slipped under the radar somewhat compared to other summer blockbusters.

Trank has assembled a young and exciting cast as Miles Teller, Kate Mara, Jamie Bell, and Michael B. Jordan are on board as Reed Richards, Sue Storm, Ben Grimm, and Johnny Storm. This will be the second time that Jordan has teamed up with Trank, having worked together on Chronicle.

Toby Kebbell, Tim Blake Nelson, and Reg E. Cathey complete the cast list as Victor Domashev, Harvey Elder, and Dr Franklin Storm.

The Fantastic Four is a contemporary re-imagining of Marvel's original and longest-running superhero team, centres on four young outsiders who teleport to an alternate and dangerous universe, which alters their physical form in shocking ways.

Their lives irrevocably upended, the team must learn to harness their daunting new abilities and work together to save Earth from a former friend turned enemy.

Fantastic Four is a movie that has been in development since 2009 and this movie really has been a long time coming. However, this has been a film that has been surrounded by some negativity - hard to understand why and I will reserve my thoughts on the film until I actually see it.

The trailer does promise to be a slightly darker and grittier version than we have seen before and Trank looks set to take this franchise into a totally new direction. I have my fingers tightly crossed that it does turn out to be a summer knockout.