Fantastic Four’s New Trailer (Barely) Helps Its Cause

First shown at SDCC, the latest trailer for Josh Trank’s Fantastic Four reboot gives us a clearer picture of the movie. I hate this movie’s version of the Thing and the dialogue is atrocious, but I’m giving the rest the benefit of the doubt. They seem to be keeping Doctor Doom’s role a secret, and I’m cool with that.

What I don’t understand is this need to keep meticulously telling or retelling origin stories, even in the freakin’ trailers. They’re wasting so much time on something that’s not really relevant. As if we wouldn’t be invested in characters if we’re not given scouting reports first. Are you telling me folks who know Lord of the Rings based only on the movies don’t care for Gandalf? What about Yoda? Everyone loves Guardians of the Galaxy because it kept moving forward, not because it gave us a dissertation on Groot’s anatomy. Instead of giving us history lessons, Guardians developed Star-Lord and his crew mainly through their interactions and responses to external stimuli.

I hope this reboot doesn’t spend half of its running time spewing pseudoscience about the hows and whys of the Fantastic Four’s powers. That crap doesn’t matter, and we’re going to forget whatever technical terms they come up with anyway. Not only is this reboot in the shadow of two crappy predecessors, it seems to be going for the weighty Nolan Dark Knight vibe. It’s going to need every second to give these characters souls, not résumés.