Fantastic Four

A live-action adaptation of Stan Lee and Jack Kirby's iconic 1961 comic book series—which launched the First Family of Marvel Comics—Fantastic Four finds Reed Richards (Miles Teller) and Ben Grimm (Jamie Bell)—friends since childhood—joining Dr. Franklin Storm (Reg E. Cathey) on a project to devise a teleporter that will take humans to another dimension. Also on hand are Dr. Storm's son Johnny (Michael B. Jordan), adopted daughter Sue (Kate Mara), and a surly scientist, Victor Von Doom (Toby Kebbell). After the resultant machine is tested on a chimpanzee, a shadowy institute board member (Tim Blake Nelson) authorizes a manned mission. But when the team plants an American flag on alien territory, they are engulfed by a green energy field that endows them with inexplicable physical powers. Reed develops stretchy elastic limbs, Johnny can turn into a flaming torch, Ben morphs into the rocky-bodied Thing, and Victor goes berserk. Since Sue was left behind, she doesn't gain invisibility until after she's exposed when the group returns to Earth. Unfortunately, director Josh Trank's Fantastic Four displays little creativity, serving up a cliché-crammed, cheesy origin story. Not recommended. [Note: DVD/Blu-ray extras include the “Powering Up: Superpowers” behind-the-scenes featurette (20 min.), and trailers. Exclusive to the Blu-ray release are production segments on “The Quantum Gates” (11 min.), “Planet Zero” (8 min.), and “The Score” (5 min.), concept art galleries (4 min.), and bonus digital and UltraViolet copies of the film. Bottom line: a solid extras package for a supersized cinematic misfire.] (S. Granger)