The Fantastic Four, consisting of Reed Richards/ Mr. Fantastic (played by Pedro Pascal), Sue Storm/ The Invisible Woman (played by Vanessa Kirby), Johnny Storm/Human Torch (played by Joseph Quinn) and Ben Grimm/The Thing (played by Ebon Moss-Bachrach), are the world’s sole protectors and are eagerly waiting on the birth of Reed and Sue’s child when a figure known as the Silver Surfer (played by Julia Garner) descends from the stars and tells Earth they will soon be devoured by her master, Galactus (played by Ralph Ineson). After travelling into space to confront him, the Fantastic Four discover this god-like figure yearns to be free of his eternal existence and demands the newborn son (who has the power to replace him) in exchange for sparing Earth. After refusing his demands which causes the whole planet to turn on them, the team will need to find another solution in order to avoid a digestive fate.
THE FANTASTIC FOUR: FIRST STEPS stands as the best adaptation of this IP, and while not as powerful as some of Marvel’s other introductory films and housing a few narrative and character flaws that dampen the experience, the strong performances, appealing visual design, and sense of purpose and competence behind the scripting and directing make it a needed splash of fresh water in a stagnant lagoon.
Considering several different directors, actors and story ideas were cycled through when conceptualising, Marvel and Disney knew they couldn’t risk another failure with this brand. This lengthy production gave audiences time to ponder how the final product would look and were pleasantly surprised by the film’s retro/futuristic look, the casting for the four leads, and trailers which presented a story that wouldn’t retell their origins and was separate from Marvel’s cinematic universe, which allows for more flexibility. While nixing their origins could lead to a shaky foundation, the movie is effective enough with its world-building and character dynamics that people can piece things together pretty quickly and allow them to focus on how likeable the movie is. While the story written by Eric Pearson, Jeff Kaplan, Ian Springer and Kat Wood can feel like a curveball for non-comic fans, it’s pretty simple to follow and isn’t obvious with its trajectory, leads to some very nice familial moments, and offers something new for a film universe that has lost its way recently.
Galactus’ slow encroachment is pretty tense, the conflict never feels arbitrary, and with past versions continually portraying these four as egomaniacal, it’s nice to have a version where they feel genuine and selfless, with the classical presentation and atmosphere only adding to this sense of jovial vigour. The direction by Matt Shakman provides a lot of emotionally resonant performances, offers some exceptional visuals that feel comic book coded, and nicely emulates the 1960s-inspired vibe in a way that doesn’t ring hollow. Despite this, the script written by Pearson, Kaplan, Springer and Josh Friedman, while not overburdened with unfunny humour or pointless side plots, has an apathetic feeling throughout that makes it hard to get fully invested, even with an overall good delivery.
The characters are a bit mixed in terms of delivery. Being fairly bland by today’s standards, these four would require modern tweaking, and FIRST STEPS offers much warmer and more enjoyable versions, with the performances certainly adding to that likability. Pascal, Kirby, Quinn and Moss-Bachrach all bring a kind, honourable centre to their parts, but each individually has something holding them back from being great. Pedro Pascal is strangely empathetic as the usually blunt and unsympathetic Reed Richards and the delivery isn’t different enough from his usual style to feel that special, Vanessa Kirby make Sue more commanding and dependable, but her lack of experience in blockbuster cinema is clear by her under-whelming reactions during the large-scale battles, Joseph Quinn is far less obnoxious than past versions of Johnny Storm, yet feels so diluted in personality that he barely stands out, and Moss-Bachrach is very endearing as Ben, but offers very little to the plot.
Most of the supporting characters like Sarah Niles, Paul Walter Hauser, Natasha Lyonne, and Mark Gatiss offer very little (even the team’s personal robotic helper, H.E.R.B.I.E, stands out more), but they don’t stick around very long. The Silver Surfer is mainly used for spectacle and action outside of a last-minute attempt at bringing depth, but those visuals and set pieces are very well done. While Garner doesn’t do too much heavy lifting despite doing a fine job, most of her scenes are very well shot, provide some glorious imagery, and utilise her metallic, transparent nature in a very cinematic and cool fashion. Galactus is also a very intimidating threat, with his gargantuan size, singular yet disturbing goal, Ineson’s booming voice, and his comic accurate design going a long way to making him a memorable and effective antagonist.
One of the most appealing parts is the world and the visual design that brings it to life. Adopting a throwback style is a nice way to differentiate it from the rest of Marvel’s modern-day properties, and it’s pulled off very well thanks to very solid production design by Kasra Farahani which nicely blends classical apparels, architecture and technology, with a science fiction twist that looks how those of that time period envisioned the future. While it sadly isn’t shown off a ton, the glimpses are striking and the practicality of the sets, props and costumes (designed by Alexandra Byrne) makes this fantastical environment feel all the more real and lived in, it’s a great comic book environment that’ll sadly probably never be seen again.
Since the four leads have powers that require extensive computer graphics, there isn’t that much action and this ironically means the audience barely sees the Fantastic Four being fantastic, but what’s also strange is the inconsistency of the effects. Some things like The Thing, the Silver Surfer and Galactus look pretty good, but other things like Sue and Reed’s power sets and weirdly enough their child (he doesn’t look real half the times) feel like usual MCU shakiness, but what stops this from being too bothersome is how well the film is shot by Jess Hall, as he’s able to construct some great imagery that helps make this movie feel more lively, colorful and grand. This is also helped out by the musical score by the Michael Giacchino, which brings a flamboyant, preppy and notably orchestral piece that adds more flavour and life to the world and feels likeable cheesy while being balanced out by a more modern melancholic synthy portion.
THE FANTASTIC FOUR: FIRST STEPS did its job of offering something fresh to a universe that has lost most of its steam and can proudly say it’s the best portrayal of these characters by a long shot. It doesn’t, in isolation, feel as strong as some other Marvel movies and the characters strangely don’t leap out with personality despite the modern updates, but thanks to some eye-catching imagery and visual design, well-performed scenes, stable direction, and scripting that actually keeps focus, it’s a positive entry that the MCU desperately needed. Not fantastic, but still pretty good.
