The Fantastic 4 reboot tripped and stumbled. It was stale, lacking humor and heart. The 2005 version had mood; Johnny Storm was a fun carefree, reckless charismatic character. The interplay between him and Thing was entertaining; the interplay with the public engaging.

In the reboot there is no interplay between any of the characters, or anyone else for that matter; they all seemed disconnected and uninterested in the film and/or each other.

The actors did not show up with their best performances for this film. In their defense they didn’t have much of a script to work with either. The weight of this flop should really be carried by the writers and director.

The effects were good, but then in 2015 how many action/ superhero films have you seen where the effects are bad? There was a bit of action, albeit acting out a bad story line.    

This version -- directed by John Trank -- is a younger Fantastic Four, barely out of college. Perhaps the intent was a long franchise run with them. If Marvel is looking to a followup sequel, they really need to get their act together.

In this story line unfolded differently from earlier versions. The scientists/ astronauts don’t encounter a meteor shower in space; they tele-port to a planet in another dimension. The scientists and their sponsor, Johnny and Suzy Storm’s dad (yes, her black dad. She was adopted if you really couldn’t figure that out before hand), Reed Richards -- and even Victor Von Doom, who in this film is not money hungry, he is save the world hungry --, see the new world as an opportunity to secure new energy sources to try to save Earth. The military of course -- once they come back with their powers -- sees it a source of power that can be weaponized.

It kept me mildly entertained, but then again I watched it as a nice theater in Ahmedabad India and only spent about $6 for my seat, popcorn and drink combined. Had I been anywhere in the states paying $13-$17 a ticket I would have not been happy.

If you are really are dying to see this film, wait until it comes out on one of the streaming sites online: it won’t last in the theaters much longer, and is not worth the cost of the ticket in a theater.

2 Stars.