The old Fantastic Four was one of my favorites as a child. I’ll be frank in saying I don’t remember much about the story, visuals or anything else, but I remember how it made me feel—wonder. A Fantastic Four with an all-new cast, direction and context is quite jarring for me. Although some elements worked, most of it didn’t.

In this film, Reed Richards and Sue Storm has a cosmic baby. This baby drives the plot forward, where Galactus wants to feed on the baby to replenish his hunger. The baby facilitated many conversations between Reed and Sue, especially at the start. But I can’t help but feel the dialog felt quite forced and unnatural. The scene where Sue and Reed argue over Reed’s innate capacity to make the decisions already, although better than what we see in Superman, still felt off. I still can’t decide if it’s because of the writing or the acting—maybe both.

Despite the stacked cast, none of them brought a new or unique insight into these famous characters. Johnny Storm is arguably the best thing about the film to me, yet there is something off about him. It’s difficult not to make comparisons to Chris Evans’ performance, but his performance is so iconic as Johnny Storm that it’s already a benchmark. Joseph Quinn doesn’t have the charisma or aura of Chris Evans—it’s not a major problem but it would’ve been a plus.

Then, there’s the logical flaw of the film. I don’t read Marvel Comics, but I’m pretty confident that Galactus is basically a God. Here, Galactus is large and, at one point, successfully gets his hand on the baby. Instead of eating him, immediately, he decides to take him back to the ship first. Also, why didn’t he just try to kill off the Fantastic Four first before going for the baby? In addition, he was made into this lame character that is easily manipulated. Galactus would’ve been a great villain to be used for Avengers. Instead, we get Doctor Doom—not complaining but Galactus should’ve been saved for another time and made into a better character.

Honestly, I didn’t expect much from this entry in the MCU. Because of that, it’s surprising that I thought the film was this mediocre. The story doesn’t engage and keep me hooked. The plot isn’t anything special either. The acting is just okay. Fantastic Four is, sadly, run-of-the-mill. This time, I feel that this film is just an introduction for Doctor Doom to take the stage—because without the Fantastic Four, Doctor Doom entering the universe just wouldn’t make sense.