F4 reboot: far from fantastic

ABOUT halfway through 20th Century Fox's pedestrian reboot of Marvel's Fantastic Four, viewers will come to the unfortunate but inescapable realisation that this latest entry in the superhero stakes is anything but fantastic. Instead of hitting the comic book heights, it falls to earth with a dull thud.

Given that the studio's earlier incarnation of this iconic quartet's origins tale (Fantastic Four, 2005) and a 2007 sequel (Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer) were less than memorable efforts, it might be wiser for the producers to focus on the X-Men series, which appeals to a broader demographic and is superior in almost every respect.

The film, directed by Josh Trank and written by him together with Simon Kinberg and Jeremy Slater, features a whole lot of weird science along with the notion of interdimensional travel. However, a sense of humour - so essential in entertainment of this nature (see Ant-Man for evidence) - is desperately lacking.