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Grade • F
DVD • You may have heard the pre-release horror stories about "Fantastic Four" this summer, about how director Josh Trank ("Chronicle") lost control over this Marvel Comics franchise launcher as 20th Century Fox execs ordered frantic reshoots. You may look at the DVD release and think, "It couldn't be that bad." Ah, but you would be wrong.
This accounting of Marvel's "first family of superheroes" is a mess, with a dull prologue that introduces brainy Reed Richards (Miles Teller) and his bruiser pal Ben Grimm (Jamie Bell) to scientist Franklin Storm (Reg E. Cathey) and his interdimensional-portal project, staffed by Storm's adopted daughter Sue (Kate Mara), his hot-headed son Johnny (Michael B. Jordan) and the nihilistic rebel Victor Von Doom (Toby Kebbell). Too much time elapses setting up the space disaster that gives them all body-changing superpowers, and clumsily sets Von Doom against the others for a by-the-numbers action finale.
The actors look bored and faintly disgusted with themselves for being involved — and if they don't want to own their part in this trainwreck, why would any self-respecting DVD customer?