Fantastic Four premiered earlier this month to an eager audience expecting something to make them forget about their favourite foursome’s subpar film from 2005. Unfortunately, saying the film didn’t live up to the hype would be grossly underestimating how disappointed fans are with the film. So far, it has been awarded a meager 22 percent rating from audiences, and only an 8 percent rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes.
Just seeing the film’s own Twitter page is enough to make a fan wince. Every post for the last week has just been a variation of “#FantasticFour is now playing in theaters.”
Solemn, unceremonious, and void of even an exclamation point for enthusiasm.
And if that wasn’t bad enough, the film’s director, Josh Trank, recently disowned the movie. Taking no responsibilities for the project’s failures, Trank renounced the film in a tweet saying: “A year ago I had a fantastic version of this. And it would’ve received great reviews. You’ll probably never see it. That’s reality though.”
All in all, the whole situation is just depressing for the fans, which makes one think: What’s a Fantastic Four fan to do in the devastating wake of another failed attempt to bring the heroes to life?
There are two choices, really:
You could handle it the same way that Indiana Jones fans handled the last instalment to the franchise; close your eyes, cover your ears, and belt out, “La, la, la! I can’t hear you!” every time someone mentions The Crystal Skull. Or, you could spend your time enjoying the good projects made from the foursome’s image. And when you’re talking about any well-loved hero characters, the best place to start is with the original comics.
There are some comics that can be purchased straight from Marvel’s website. However, most of them are digital copies. If you’re looking for older editions, or paper copies, you might have to shop around on some resell sites for a bit.
You could also take advantage of some of the Fantastic Four games. If you want to make a little money off your fandom (or perhaps earn back the money you spent on theatre tickets) try one of the Fantastic Four games on this site. There are several different versions including a 50-line slot game and a scratch arcade game, but the main one is a five-line slot game that includes characters mirrored after the originals from the comic books. Winning spins activate different animations for each hero and individual special features can be enacted during bonus spins including a somewhat-eery animation of Mr. Fantastic as he stretches across the screen.
If adventure games are more your style, Fantastic Four Rise of the Silver Surfer received generally favorable reviews, as seen here. Following a similar story to the film, with added elements from the comic books, gamers can play as one hero, or team up to use all four of their powers to create a devastating blow. The third-person action game is available for Playstation 2 and 3, as well as for Wii, Nintendo DS, and Xbox 360.
Maybe the new film didn’t live up to the expectations of fans, but there still may be a bright spot on the horizon. There are reports that FOX is still planning on moving forward with a sequel to the movie…
For now, let’s just keep our fingers crossed…