“We’re not the ones you should fear,” Kate Mara’s Sue Storm tells some government honchos in the latest TV spot for next month’s Fantastic Four – despite the tremendously disturbing fact that the Thing (Jamie Bell) seems set to save the world au naturel.
All kidding aside, the latest look at 20th Century Fox’s “contemporary” reimagining of Marvel’s First Family dispenses with the pleasantries rather quickly, instead focusing on some hard-hitting superhero action and yet another interesting look at Doctor Doom (Toby Kebbell). At this point, Fox has done what it can to get rid of the dour, Christopher Nolan-esque severity showcased in the first footage from the pic, favoring a tone that’s both realistic and action-packed.
The jury’s still out on whether audiences will take to it and disregard the bad buzz that has surrounded the blockbuster since its early days, when fans balked at certain changes to the comics (i.e. that the film is apparently not based on any of the comics). Reshoots and since-validated rumors that Fox was extremely unhappy with director Josh Trank’s conduct during production have since added fuel to the fires of fan concern, and the trailers have struggled to show moviegoers that the Fantastic Four is still the comic-book family they know and love.
Miles Teller stars in the film as Reed Richards/Mr. Fantastic alongside Kate Mara as Sue Storm/The Invisible Woman, Jamie Bell as Ben Grimm/The Thing, Michael B. Jordan as Johnny Storm/The Human Torch, The Wire‘s Reg E. Cathy as Dr. Storm, Toby Kebbell as Victor Von Doom/Doctor Doom and Tim Blake Nelson as Harvey Elder/The Mole Man.
Trank directed the pic as his next project after 2012 found-footage superhero pic Chronicle, from a script he co-wrote with Simon Kinberg (also a producer with fingers in the X-Men pie) and Jeremy Slater.
Fantastic Four opens in theaters (but not in 3D) on August 7.