Yet another Marvel superhero movie has been made, but this one has received a very poor reception.  It has been critically lambasted and not grossed even half of its budget.  I expected to hate it, but wouldn’t you know it — it isn’t half bad.  I think it’s poor reception is because it isn’t what fans expected more than the quality of the film itself.

Three scientists (Miles Teller, Michael B. Jordan, Toby Kebbell) and one other guy (Jamie Bell) transport themselves into another dimension to explore but their trip changes all of them, as well as a female scientist (Kate Mara) back home.  One of them (Kebbell) goes rogue, deciding to destroy the Earth, forcing the others to step in and stop him.  As an origin story the film works pretty well, going over the top only during the double-dimensional climax.

Josh Trank’s film probably disappoints fans because its conception of the Fantastic Four is untraditional, and rather grumpy at that.  These people are not having fun, so it is tough for the audience to have fun. Superhero movies since Superman: The Movie (which remains the best of the bunch) have relied on a slick mix of fantastical elements, humor and eye-popping special effects.  What this version of Fantastic Four needs to be popular is more humor, but given the story, humor is hard to come by.  If a sequel is made — which is no guarantee considering this one’s poor reception — I think that would be addressed.

This is the second stab at feature films for the quartet, with neither attempt being very successful.  I kind of liked the earlier set with Ioan Gruffudd, Jessica Alba, Chris Evans and Michael Chiklis, and I kind of like this one.  But maybe this is a concept best left to comic books and our own imaginations.  ☆ ☆ 1/2.  2 September 2015.