Finally! We have it, a Fantastic Four film we can be proud of!
There’s no doubt that one of the most exciting acquisitions of the 20th Century Fox is the return of the “First Family of Marvel”. After three sub-par films, including possibly one of the worst superhero films ever made, we finally have something great audiences can chew on and come back to again and again. There is so much that this film has going for it, so let’s dive into what makes it work so well.
The plot works because it’s simple: the team is beloved, they’re expecting a child—so the stakes are naturally higher—when Galactus’ very own living Google Maps shows up. She informs New York – I mean, the world – that the planet has been marked for death, and it’s up to the team to save them. That’s it. No fancy frills, basic storytelling with a few moral complexities thrown in to make sure that it’s the characters themselves that truly shine. The movie also doesn’t spend the first 30 minutes explaining exposition we’ve seen twice before on the big screen – and die-hard comic book fans already know by heart. The team is already established, already loved, so let’s get on with it. Because of this, the film ends up feeling like a good old-fashioned sub–2-hour superhero flick, something we haven’t seen done well since, well… the last Fantastic Four reboot (even though it ultimately crosses that threshold).
The cast is sublime. Vanessa Kirby is undeniably the heart of the team, holding them together—even if Reed Richards is the one with the longer arms. Johnny Storm is as charming as ever, but Joseph Quinn, like Chris Evans before him, balances charm with empathy, making him incredibly likable. Ebon Moss-Bachrach grounds the team with his big heart, and even though I, like half of the internet, am getting tired of seeing Pedro Pascal in everything, there’s no denying he’s a great Reed Richards, perfectly blending his genius with the reluctant leader and father. Both Galactus and his gender-swapped herald are also great, intimidating, mysterious forces to be reckoned with, and the stakes feel genuinely high. A Change in the MCU –but more on that later. It’s worth mentioning that it was also great to see Natasha Lyonne in a small role playing a less eccentric-than-usual character. What a pleasant treat! What really makes the film work is that the characters feel accessible. Yes, they’re celebrities, yes they have their own tower – a sky-scraping metaphor for their IQ levels and sex appeal – but ultimately, they are human. They don’t feel too far detached from reality, and this makes them all the more likable.
Galactus’ intimidating presence is elevated by the always-on-point Michael Giacchino, whose operatic, high-stakes score works so well only because the film feels like it’s earned it. I’ve heard those booming, brassy scores with large choirs trying to convince me that the world was going to end before (Batman v Superman comes to mind), but it felt like an empty threat, like the plot hadn’t convinced me first, and so the score was just pretending. Giacchino earns every moment because the story is driven by the characters and not plot for plot’s sake.
Is it without its flaws? Sadly not. There is one moment in the climax involving Johnny Storm that we’ve seen plenty of times before, but they manage to keep it somewhat fresh. But what really got to me – and I mean really made me squirm-in-my-seat mad – was the shoddy CGI work done IN THE CLIMAX OF THE FILM! The film had me hook, line, and sinker. I had already half-written my five-star review in my head, but then we see more of the same cringeworthy CGI work that has plagued superhero films for years. It feels like we’ve harped on it so often that studios like Marvel don’t even take us seriously anymore. But I’ll say it again for good measure: if you could produce Davy Jones in 2006, then surely-to-goodness you can do better than a (and here’s a bit of a spoiler, so stop reading this paragraph if you haven’t seen it yet) Renesmee-inspired (twi-hards will get this reference) baby! Good heavens! You convinced me that a planet-eating monster was real, but I couldn’t believe that a baby was? Come on! And what’s worse is that it took place in the emotional climax of the film. I was invested, about to shed a tear, and then I was slapped in the face with what looks like the offspring of AI!
The bad CGI isn’t enough to write it off completely though, because – as pointed out – there’s so much to love about this, the first of the MCU’s phase six films. What it does do, though, is knock the film down from a stellar, five stars to simply – and no, I don’t regret this – a fantastic four. Like Twitter likes to say after every second Marvel film is released: we are so back! Only this time … we actually are. The Fantastic Four: First Steps kicks off the final phase in the multiverse saga in retro-style with the right dose of nostalgia to leave us wanting more.
