Joey Magidson
Marvel’s First Family is home at last. The Marvel Cinematic Universe continues to integrate their Fox heroes, this time with a standalone re-introduction to The Fantastic Four. With The Fantastic Four: First Steps, the MCU has a major piece now in its fold. As a part of the puzzle for them going forward, it’s essential. As a film itself? It’s pretty good, with a wonderful and unique visual style, as well as an interest in trying something different. However, it’s missing something extra to make it great. Still, if Marvel is going to give us more character based work going forward, certainly count me in for that.
The Fantastic Four: First Steps is a strong introduction to the MCU version of these superheroes, managing not to be a full-on origin story, while still giving you all you need to know about them. We also get to spend more time with them just living their lives than in the midst of fighting villains, which is a novel concept. There’s a lot of good lessons here for Marvel to take, wrapped in a pleasant and entertaining package that hints at a greatness it falls just shy of.
Set in an alternate timeline where New York City is part of a retro-future world inspired by the 1960s, we’re introduced Marvel’s First Family four years into their time as celebrities as well as saviors. Scientists turned superheroes Reed Richards/Mister Fantastic (Pedro Pascal), Sue Storm/Invisible Woman (Vanessa Kirby), Johnny Storm/Human Torch (Joseph Quinn), and Ben Grimm/The Thing (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) were transformed during a space exploration mission, gaining powers in the process. Now, they protect New York as a close knit family, though as we meet them, Reed and Sue are discovering their greatest challenge yet…becoming parents.
As Sue moves towards the end of her pregnancy and Reed obsesses with figuring out if their child will be genetically altered like they are, a new threat appears. A hungry space god called Galactus (Ralph Ineson) and his reluctant Herald, Silver Surfer (Julia Garner), come to Earth, proclaiming that he will be eating the entire planet. An initial meeting to negotiate reveals that Galactus will spare the world if they sacrifice their now newborn child. Unwilling to, they return home, where citizens turn on them for being selfish, making baby Franklin a global wedge issue. From there, it becomes a race against time, as Galactus prepares to devour the planet. It’ll take the entire family, as well as the Earth acting in concert, to even have a chance against Galactus, but then again, for The Fantastic Four, there’s nothing more powerful than their familial bonds.
The main quartet have a strong chemistry with each other, a requirement for this to work. Vanessa Kirby is best in show, given the most emotional weight to lift, especially when it comes to motherhood. Joseph Quinn is a lot of fun, channeling comedy Ryan Gosling for his sometimes manic performance. Ebon Moss-Bachrach is solid, if a bit under-used, though he grounds the character in a way that’s nice to see. Unfortunately, Pedro Pascal leaves the least impression, never finding a way to make Reed distinctive. He’ll likely grow into the role, as well as his leadership in future Marvel team-up movies, but here, he’s somehow a bit boring. Julia Garner and Ralph Ineson are fine, though under served, while Natasha Lyonne is wasted a potential love interest for Ben. The supporting highlight for me is Paul Walter Hauser as Mole Man, as he’s the funniest part of the film. The rest of the cast includes Mark Gatiss and Sarah Niles, while Matthew Wood deserves kudos for making the robot Herbie such a charming winner.
Director Matt Shakman gave a distinctive look to WandaVision and he again does that here. I actually think there’s a world where this should contend for a Best Production Design nomination at the Oscars. At the very least, it’s a player in Best Visual Effects, Academy Award nomination-wise. Shakman’s direction is solid and his pacing is strong, letting the film come in at under two hours. The screenplay, written by Josh Friedman, Eric Pearson, Jeff Kaplan, and Ian Springer (Pearson, Kaplan, and Springer share a Story By credit with Kat Wood), does what it needs to. The family elements work well, while the action scenes aren’t too paint by numbers. There was just an opportunity for more humor and to make everything pop a bit more, which didn’t happen. Unsurprisingly, Michael Giacchino‘s score is very strong.
The Marvel Cinematic Universe clearly has big plans for these characters, so they were heavily invested in getting them right. To that end, it’s definitely a success, especially given that this also is a coming home for the property. The MCU is going to make them centerpiece heroes before long, so this solo adventure will likely stand out as especially distinctive, given that their world is not where most of the future action will take place.
The Fantastic Four: First Steps is good, and even very good at times, it just falls shy of being great. There’s a special sauce that’s just not quite here. I never could put my finger on it, but in the same way that Superman managed to thrill me just by being unabashedly itself, this one had me humming the more it resisted generic MCU moments. I’d be very excited to see more installments in this unique looking world, though it seems like they have a date with our other heroes coming up first. Still, Marvel’s First Family is back, and this is undeniably their best on-screen outing, by far.
SCORE: ★★★
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