If you recall the trailers for Josh Trank's Fantastic Four, you'll know they featured footage that didn't make it to the movie. Probably the most notable example was a moment in which The Thing dropped from a moving aircraft onto some sort of military base. It obviously looked like the set-up for a major action sequence, and now Entertainment Weekly have sussed how it was supposed to play out. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AAgnQdiZFsQ In the theatrical cut we're told The The Thing is working in tandem with the US military at the midway point, but shown very little proper evidence (well, he shatters a tank) to support the storytelling. The missing scene was intended as a more visceral representation of this alliance, as The Thing drops into an enemy base, soaking up hostile fire. As he resists bullets, and depletes his assailants' number, some Navy SEALS crowd in and finish the bad guys. Sounds cool, right? Well it certainly sounds better than any set-piece that actually made the movie. The reasons for the cut remain unclear, but there are a few theories. The first is to do with budget. Apparently Fox nixed the scene in early development, but upon realising how light on action the end product was, pulled a 180, ordering a re-shoot sans Trank. The late nature of the decision meant that it couldn't be satisfactorily executed, the end result aesthetically at odds with the rest of the film. As a result, Trank let it go. Another theory is less arduous, claiming Trank decided to omit the beat because he believed it was unneccesary. If that's true...oof. Bad call man. The inclusion of a single, new scene wouldn't render Fantastic Four any better, but it might make the second half of the film less embarrassing to sit through. The final two thirds are so sparsely filled, oddly structured and underwritten that a major set-piece might inject the pacing with a little deliberation, and help inform The Thing's character a bit. You're still left with a bizarrely rote climax and virtually no proper team-building, but an improvement's an improvement, right? Does this sound like a cool action beat to you? Would Fantastic Four be a better film for retaining it? Let us know below.
