Let’s Break Down The ‘Fantastic Four’ Trailer, Shot By Shot

Yesterday, we finally saw the full trailer for August’s Fantastic Four. It got more specific about the plot and about various changes that we might see, as well as a full look at each of the four. So, let’s break it down!

The trailer opens with the same shot of New York we saw in the teaser, overlaid with Tim Blake Nelson chewing out Dr. Franklin Storm. Of note: Nelson is credited as Harvey Elder, the real name of FF enemy the Mole Man. Then, we see none other than the Baxter Building:

Right off the bat, between Franklin Storm’s dialogue and the fact that Reed’s a visitor, not the owner, of the Baxter, the movie reveals it’s following the plot of the Ultimate universe Fantastic Four fairly closely. Something that’s reinforced by how Sue, Johnny, and Ben Grimm are introduced. Johnny stands out the most for his Fast and Furious introduction:

Amusingly, in the shot before, we see Johnny’s hot-dog nature getting him a broken arm. Interestingly, the trailer tries to establish a low-key sense of humor before getting to the cosmic SF. Like, for example, Reed’s total inability to fist bump, which I confess I found pretty funny:

We also see some not-quite flirting between Reed and Sue, mostly because Reed is too awkward to actually talk to a woman with any sort of innuendo. It’s a nice touch that establishes their relationship, or at least makes Reed look like less of a tool than he comes off as in the comics.

After establishing that nobody takes Doom, er, Domachev or Johnny seriously as interdimensional pilots… Reed pulls it off!

Before, promptly, everything goes horribly wrong. A quick montage indicates that they lose Doom down a hole in said alternate dimension before evacuating. Which is actually a pretty sensible motivation for a villain; if I got stranded in an alternate reality hellscape, I’d be pissed, too. Of course, as we saw in the teaser, this mission goes horribly wrong beyond that, as the ship crashes and our heroes get their powers.

There’s a handy string of shots that show everyone’s abilities in about three seconds, including the effects work, which is pretty slick considering this movie isn’t out for another three months:

Particularly interesting is Reed’s outfit in that shot, as it looks a lot like the Four’s official jumpsuits. And, as we already noted, we see Doom:

Again, Doom’s “organic” look here indicates we’re sticking pretty close to the Ultimate universe. Which, to be honest, isn’t the worst thing; the Fantastic Four can stand to have an update or two. Besides, it also gives us this image of the Thing about to clobber:

We’ll see how that goes on August 7.

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