Set in the 1960s retro futuristic world on Earth-828, Marvel’s First Family must find a way to save their earth from an inevitable force of cosmic nature known as Galactus. Fantastic Four: First Steps is directed by Matt Shakman from a screenplay by Josh Friedman, Eric Pearson, Jeff Kaplan, and Ian Springer. It features an ensemble cast including Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, and Joseph Quinn as the titular team, alongside Julia Garner, Sarah Niles, Mark Gatiss, Natasha Lyonne, Paul Walter Hauser, and Ralph Ineson.
The Fantastic Four has had many iterations in the past 20 years and although there have been some fun moments, it has been a challenge to have a faithful adaptation of these characters. Luckily, Fantastic Four: First Steps delivers on all fronts with the visuals, character development, and narrative but feels limited due to the runtime and over promotion. Let’s get into it!
Let’s talk about some of the positives of this film:
The recent adaptations of Fantastic Four were missing the key element that made them so popular: family. Throughout this movie, the cast’s performance and chemistry with one another demonstrated realistic emotions of family values and their relationship. None other than Vanessa Kirby’s performance as Sue Storm was the backbone of this family bond. Her enamoring performance was the heart of a film that already has so much warmth. If this is the Sue Storm that will soon enter our main MCU, we can definitely see why a certain submariner will be falling heads over wings for her. In addition to Vanessa Kirby’s performance, Joseph Quinn’s Human Torch took the character in a different direction from his usual womanizer ways to a more loving brother and uncle which is refreshing. In the 2005 adaption, Johnny bullying Ben was borderline pretty cruel but in this, they were definitely brothers and it might be due to the fact that it is a 1960s retro futuristic world but I do prefer this dynamic.
Speaking of the setting of the film, it was a genius move that Marvel set this film in the 1960s Jetson-like timeline. I felt that with it being set in this time, allowed those traditional family values to flow more naturally and realistic rather than attempting to place them in the modern era.
Additionally, their space expedition moments were spectacular. It felt so unique and vibrant which felt like a breakaway from the MCU formula coded films. The last time I remembered Marvel Studios changing things up was with Werewolf by Night, which was also phenomenal.
And of course, we have to address the cosmic god in the room, Galactus. Ralph Ineson’s Galactus was absolutely intimidating, menacing, nightmare fuel, and did I mention, EPIC? Introducing one of the biggest Marvel Villains to the big screen is no easy feat and to design him with such comic accuracy and hyper realism was the chef’s kiss. We definitely have not seen the last of him and I can’t wait for his return. Although some fans were upset that Julie Garner’s Silver Surfer/Shalla-Bal was utilized instead of Norrin Radd, it was actually a perfect choice to compliment Sue Storm’s storyline of a mother’s sacrifice.
One I was on the fence about was Pedro Pascal as Mr. Fantastic. I love Pedro Pascal, do not get me wrong, but when he was first casted as Mr. Fantastic, I was not too excited. Although he is an incredible actor, when I imagine Mr. Fantastic, I see the character as someone who is neurotic, always busy with his studies, and pretty anti-social at times but still absolutely loves Sue Storm and his family. Honestly, I should not have lost faith in Pedro. He played Reed Richards very well and seeing this is the only film with his portrayal so far, I am excited to see more of him. There was a scene with him and Vanessa Kirby’s Sue Storm when discussing ethical choices and quotes that just cemented him as this character for me.
Now there are some things that I was not too fond of…
The marketing and runtime of this film was probably what diminished my view of this film. What I mean by the marketing is that I kept seeing clips and trailers of this film being promoted everywhere and I understand studios need to promote this film but for a film with less than a 2 hour run time, you were giving everything away in microdoses that basically told me the whole story of the film before watching. With the low runtime, I felt that there were some characters that needed more room to breathe including talents such as Paul Walter Hauser and Natasha Lyonne and even ultimately cutting John Malkovich’s Red Ape character from the final cut.
Overall, this film was able to meet my expectations and the performance of the entire casts and their chemistry brought a lot of charm to it. I just wish it was a bit longer to allow more characters to breathe but lets hope for a sequel and further exploration.
