THE FANTASTIC FOUR
The Fantastic Four has already failed disastrously in the cinema – in 20th Century Fox’s 2005 version and its sequel two years later. There isn’t much indication that it is going to succeed in its newest incarnation.
It is a typical origins story that initially introduces Reed Richards (Miles Teller) as a nerdy science prodigy working on an advanced teleporter device. Seven years later we meet him again at a science fair where he has no money and few prospects, until he is invited by Dr Franklin Storm to come to the Baxter Institute to continue his work with proper backing.
At the institute he meets Storm’s adopted daughter Sue (Kate Mara) and her hotheaded brother Johnny (Michael B Jordan). Alas, he has to leave behind his longtime buddy Ben Grimm (Jamie Bell) - though when Reed decides to put his device to the test, he enlists Ben to join in the enterprise.
Rounding out the group is Victor Von Doom (Toby Kebbell), a former prized pupil of Dr Storm, lured back to help Reed finish the project. The ultimate goal is to use Reed’s creation to reach an alternate dimension, potentially providing the resources to cure man’s ills.
When they decide to test the teleporter, Reed and two of his colleagues land on a barren, rocky planet where they acquire strange new powers when they are enveloped in a green mist. Reed gains the ability to stretch; Johnny to burst into flame and fly; Sue to turn invisible and cast force fields; and Ben is transformed into a brutish, Hulk-like rock creature.
This all takes about an hour and ends with our heroes debating how they should employ their powers before discovering that Victor, who they thought was dead, is very much alive and is bent on mass destruction.
The Fantastic Four really has very little going for it – and it generally seems to be aimed at the more adolescent end of the superhero market. It is dour, predictable, commonplace with thin, under motivated characters, and practically no tension or surprises. It is easily the weakest of the Marvel superhero movies we have seen so far.
MAX
Produced by MGM, the company that made the original Lassie Come Home, Max is a conventional 'man and his dog' story about an Alsatian-like pooch who is employed by the US Marines to sniff out danger in Afghanistan. When his handler, Kyle, is killed in an ambush, the traumatised Max is shipped back to the United States. Just before he is due to be put down, he is taken in by Kyle’s grieving family.
From there the central relationship begins - between Max and Kyle’s rebellious teenage brother. They play complementary roles in each other’s lives, stumbling in to an nefarious arms dealing scheming and finding that Kyle’s death may not have been as straightforward as expected.
Director Boaz Yakin makes fairly credible use of the dog in Max, but otherwise there isn’t much tension or character depth in the movie. Made in Texas, it seems to be at least partly aimed at the patriotic and faith-based audiences.
THE DIARY OF A TEENAGE GIRL
The Diary Of A Teenage Girl has been the focus of some controversy in the UK where - despite the appeals of the director Marielle Heller - the censor granted it an 18s rating citing “strong sex including mechanical thrusting, breast and buttock nudity and implied oral sex.”
Set in San Francisco in the 1970s, it is the story of a 15-year-old girl who becomes obsessed with sex after losing her virginity to her mother’s (Kristin Wiig) weak, 35-year-old boyfriend (Alexander Skarsgard).
Much of Minnie’s obsession is presented as a form of discovery and is expressed verbally through a tape-recorded diary which she visits incessantly, and sometimes in cartoons through which she debates her feelings with - and about - herself and the expanding world around her.
I didn’t find the sex as explicit as the rating might suggest. There is one full-on nude scene in which Minnie examines her body in a mirror, but Heller shapes it more as a counter-culture adventure in which Minnie has to steer her way around a variety of dangers. The title character is played by the young English actress Bel Powley, who imbues the movie with much of its spirit and personality.
AL PACINO IN ‘MANGLEHORN’
Also out this weekend are Manglehorn, with Al Pacino as a lonely Texas keymaker attempting to re-start his life after the loss of a longtime partner; The Gift, a thriller in which a devoted couple (Rebecca Hall and Jason Bateman) have their lives upended when a man (Joel Edgerton) from the husband’s past suddenly appears and begins to shower them with mystery gifts; and Marshland, a Spanish thriller in which two ill-matched detectives much bury their differences to track down a serial killer.
