People tend to lump “superhero movies” into one grouping, but if you examine the plethora that have bombarded cineplexes over the last decade and change, they really run the gamut from light-hearted frolics like ‘Iron Man’ and ‘The Avengers’ to more grounded tales like Sam Raimi’s ‘Spider-Man’ trilogy to incredibly dark and dramatic like Christopher Nolan’s ‘Dark Knight’ trilogy.  And despite their differences, these movies still– for the most part– manage to draw movie-goers provided the movies deliver in the way of quality.

But of course there are the misses and slight disappointments.  Fox’s ‘Fantastic Four’ was enough of a success that it earned a sequel, but fans weren’t sold 100% on this spin on the first family of comics.  Too many liberties were taken– Doctor Doom wasn’t an Eastern European Dictator, Sue Storm was depicted as a bit too young and sexy– and the sequel underperformed. Now the studio is relaunching the franchise from scratch.  However, it seems that every bit of news that emerges about the film causes alarm for comic fans.  In the comics, the team are galaxy-spanning explorers and adventurers.  This movie is said to be a more realistic and grounded take.  Then there’s the cast… if you thought Jessica Alba was too young, what do you think of baby-faced Miles Teller as Reed Richards and African American Michael B. Jordan as Johnny Storm?  Most recently, Kate Mara let slip that she didn’t think their characters were actually going to wear super hero costumes.

Writer/producer Simon Kinberg, while promoting ‘X-Men: Days of Future Past’ discussed the tone of the upcoming reboot.  “It’s a much more grounded, gritty, realistic movie than the last couple movies,” he said. “If I had to say, the tone of it would be somewhere on the spectrum between [Sam Raimi’s] ‘Spider-Man’ and ‘Chronicle’ (which was directed by Josh Trank, who is also heading up ‘Fantastic Four’). The other movies were even further on the spectrum of being goofy and fun than ‘Spider-Man’.”

Kinberg did stress that the movie doesn’t go as dark as the Nolan/Batman movies.  “It’s still in the direction of ‘Spider-Man’. It’s not like ‘Dark Knight’. And even ‘Chronicle’ has a lot of fun in it. We’re treating this as the origin of the Fantastic Four so in future movies you’d have them on sort of splashier adventures to some extent, but in this one we tried to ground the science as much as possible and make it feel like it could take place in our world before it cantilevers into other worlds.”

Hmmm, so while the ‘Chronicle’ comparisons worried some (including me), the fact that they are at least considering sending the heroes off on more high-flying adventures in the future sounds promising.

Do Kinberg’s comments make you a bit more optimistic about this more realistic ‘Fantastic Four’?  Are you taking a more wait-and-see attitude?  Or are you simply thinking ‘”Give them a chance!  We barely know anything about this movie!  Don’t assume it’s going to be terrible because it’s a departure.”

What do you hope to see in this new movie?

The new ‘Fantastic Four’ is directed by Josh Trank and stars Miles Teller as Mr. Fantastic/Reed Richards, Kate Mara as Invisible Woman/Susan Storm, Michael B. Jordan as Human Torch/Johnny Storm, Jamie Bell as The Thing/Ben Grimm and Toby Kebbell as Doctor Victor Von Doom. It is scheduled to premier in theaters on June 19, 2015.

Source: Cinema Blend