Okay, I've seen it. And I spent about 10-15 minutes afterwards struggling for words to summarize my feelings.
I tend to reserve the word "bad" for movies that frankly are amateur and have no sense of artmanship or craftsmanship about them. I remember calling "Color of Night" a bad movie, although it was bad in a way that also made it almost enjoyable from an amusement POV.
FF isn't a "bad" movie in that sense. It aspires to a certain level of craftsmanship and has moments where you see seeds being planted that unfortunately either never grow into flowers or else spawn flowers that you did not expect and that simply aren't enjoyable or savorable. I guess if I had to reduce it to adjectives, I would say that the movie is disappointing and ultimately unsatisfying -- especially in light of how good it might have been.
Everything good also seems fraught with missteps. The actors are capable, for example, but instead of casting the story closer to the actual ages of the principal actors (who are probably all in their late 20's?), it tries to pretend they are in their late teens; it's just not believable. I really liked the early scenes where Ben and Reed becomes friends -- it's so tonally "on" in terms of personality -- but the last part of the film loses their sense of camaraderie.
I have to say that personally I hate cuts with title cards, especially to pass the marking of time (AKA "5 Months Later"). In about 95% of cases, they are unnecessary [because you can convey passing time in other ways] and/or don't help the tone of the film; they're sloppy and half-assed. So let me say that there are 2-3 of them in this film; and I suspect at least one was used to "hide" a huge chunk of removed footage.
That twist that takes place in the film's middle
is not a twist I enjoyed or thought maintained the spirit of the FF. In addition, the whole deal with Doom takes place way too quickly (and of course his powers are never really explained). In fact, the movie itself has huge pacing issues / the actions beats are off. By the time Doom comes back, after a huge intro/origin story, everything is rushed into the endgame and it feels completely inconsequential. The way the FF wins feels rather random and meh.
And yes, they actually call him Victor Von Doom -- it appears on a piece of paper but seems like a really stupid name in a "realistic-toned" movie. It feels like the studio went back through and kept adding shit back in and/or playing with stuff to make it conform to their traditional view of a superhero movie... but why did they hire Trank if they didn't want his spin on the story? They got cold feet, I suppose.
I don't feel like rehashing a bunch of stuff. Here's a link noting where some deleted scenes probably existed:
Everything That Was Cut From ‘Fantastic Four’ Before Its Release
Anyway, yes, I'd love to see all the footage that got cut/excised/twisted around. I don't hate this movie in a way I typically hate a "bad" movie, I just am left feeling that it is hugely insignificant because they lost their balls halfway through production. After the movie was over, I was left with a feeling of largely, "So that's it?"
Note 1: I haven't seen any of the other three FF movies in existence.)
Note 2: The race of the various characters (as per prior discussion in this thread) is pretty insignificant compared to the movie's larger problems, although it seems tone-deaf in today's world I guess for the black kid to be the one who gets in trouble and be a screw-off while his adopted white sister is accomplished and productive.
EDIT:
Note 3: After a good night's sleep, I find myself liking the movie even less and in fact feeling hugely irritated when I think of it.
EDIT2:
After a week or more, I find myself even more irritated by it. it's a trainwreck.
This is the difference between being able to recognize portions of positive intent and acknowledging them, versus a broader assessment of "how did the movie leave me feeling afterwards?" On the latter basis, it's just a total mess and I'm wishing now I never watched it.