Fantastic Four 2015 Reboot, why should we care?

I enjoyed the original Fantastic Four when it came out. It wasn't amazing but it was light and fun and had likeable characters, who seemed well cast.

This film's characters have a real chill factor. I thought Reed and Victor were the best realised and I liked them even more for not colluding with their employer. This said, apart from Ben, they all lose marks for using a chimpanzee in the first Quantum Gate test. I thought back to Hulk, where a frog or a toad is killed during an experiment and how much it made me dislike the scientists; this was the same. I was surprised that Sue and Reed had such a non-existent relationship – friendly enough but lacking a spark or even much intellectual connection. It's funny that it's Ben who gives Sue a lingering look when they first meet but I reasoned that that was the beginnings of jealousy, as he'd expect her to have more in common with his best friend. Talking of Ben, he's so sidelined during Reed's work at the base! I couldn't believe I'd forgotten about him when Reed eventually invites him to the 'secret' test and it just made me miss Michael Chiklis, who was so memorable in both his character states as Ben Grimm.

The special effects vary in quality. Johnny chasing the drones was the first weak moment I registered and there were others as the film went on. I liked this rendition of the Thing more than I expected to, though I think it could have been done even better. Sue's powers looked very ethereal but a bit basic. I liked Reed being able to change his face and also the close-ups of his stretched limbs on the medical table are probably the best CGI in the film. His fight scenes were pretty average really and more was able to be done in the original two films.

I'd expected this Fantastic Four to be dark but the violence was much darker than I'd anticipated. Victor being showered in the green 'lava' and it penetrating his suit and body is quite graphic, as are some of the transformation scenes and their aftermath. They're so strong I actually remembered Prometheus as a comparison. In the original films I was impressed at how far they could push Doctor Doom's violence while keeping it acceptable – for instance his killing of a character with a bolt through the chest. In this one his path of destruction through the base is fairly horrible, with much use of blood spatter on the walls. Allen's demise is the most severe, seemingly boiled inside his suit with gore sloshing forward onto the visor. I made a connection to Star Wars, where robot-like armour often becomes a facility to conceal the impact of grisly injuries. Jango Fett losing his head would be appalling were it not for the helmet he wears; the same goes for The Last Jedi 's brutal fight scene with Snoke's guards. Here Allen's protective gear doesn't conceal enough to dampen the horror and as much as I liked Doom being represented as monstrous and deadly, I did feel this was irresponsible in a 12A film.

I was sure by two thirds of the way through that they'd had it right the first time. The best way to put across Fantastic Four is in the colourful, 'comic-book' way that the original films had used.

I enjoyed the original Fantastic Four when it came out. It wasn't amazing but it was light and fun and had likeable characters, who seemed well cast.

This film's characters have a real chill factor. I thought Reed and Victor were the best realised and I liked them even more for not colluding with their employer. This said, apart from Ben, they all lose marks for using a chimpanzee in the first Quantum Gate test. I thought back to Hulk, where a frog or a toad is killed during an experiment and how much it made me dislike the scientists; this was the same. I was surprised that Sue and Reed had such a non-existent relationship – friendly enough but lacking a spark or even much intellectual connection. It's funny that it's Ben who gives Sue a lingering look when they first meet but I reasoned that that was the beginnings of jealousy, as he'd expect her to have more in common with his best friend. Talking of Ben, he's so sidelined during Reed's work at the base! I couldn't believe I'd forgotten about him when Reed eventually invites him to the 'secret' test and it just made me miss Michael Chiklis, who was so memorable in both his character states as Ben Grimm.

The special effects vary in quality. Johnny chasing the drones was the first weak moment I registered and there were others as the film went on. I liked this rendition of the Thing more than I expected to, though I think it could have been done even better. Sue's powers looked very ethereal but a bit basic. I liked Reed being able to change his face and also the close-ups of his stretched limbs on the medical table are probably the best CGI in the film. His fight scenes were pretty average really and more was able to be done in the original two films.

I'd expected this Fantastic Four to be dark but the violence was much darker than I'd anticipated. Victor being showered in the green 'lava' and it penetrating his suit and body is quite graphic, as are some of the transformation scenes and their aftermath. They're so strong I actually remembered Prometheus as a comparison. In the original films I was impressed at how far they could push Doctor Doom's violence while keeping it acceptable – for instance his killing of a character with a bolt through the chest. In this one his path of destruction through the base is fairly horrible, with much use of blood spatter on the walls. Allen's demise is the most severe, seemingly boiled inside his suit with gore sloshing forward onto the visor. I made a connection to Star Wars, where robot-like armour often becomes a facility to conceal the impact of grisly injuries. Jango Fett losing his head would be appalling were it not for the helmet he wears; the same goes for The Last Jedi 's brutal fight scene with Snoke's guards. Here Allen's protective gear doesn't conceal enough to dampen the horror and as much as I liked Doom being represented as monstrous and deadly, I did feel this was irresponsible in a 12A film.

I was sure by two thirds of the way through that they'd had it right the first time. The best way to put across Fantastic Four is in the colourful, 'comic-book' way that the original films had used.