Written by Josh Friedman And Eric Pearson And Jeff Kaplan And Ian Springer And Kat Wood
Directed by Matt Shakman
Reed: "Before we went up the first time, you couldn't turn invisible. Ben wasn't a rock. And Johnny never caught fire."
Sue: "Ben has always been a rock. Johnny is... Johnny. And I am right here. Whatever life throws at us, we'll face it together, as a family."
If we're being honest, 2025 has not been a high point for the MCU as a franchise. With it's first two movies failing to hit big and their Disney+ shows becoming more divisive, does this movie herald a change in outcome?
I will say that when it comes to big screen, this first family of Marvel haven't had the easiest of times and their last big screen outing in 2015 was a monumental disaster. This film isn't short of some problems but it's definitely not a disaster in any real way. First though, let's focus on the good.
We're going for a retro vibe here as our family - Reed Richards/Mr Fantastic (Pedro Pascal), Sue Storm/Invisible Woman (Vanessa Kirby), Johnny Storm/Human Torch (Joseph Quinn) and Ben Grimm/The Thing (Ebon Moss -Bachrach) already have their powers, are household names and two of them are about to become parents.
Taking notes from other recent comic book movies, this one skipped the origin story and honestly, I'm cool with that. I mean there's still some context given to their powers and we do see some of their domestic life. Their live in robotic assistant H.E.R.B.I.E. (Matthew Wood) was rather adorable.
For those less interested in the domestic side of things, there's the arrival of Shalla-Bal/Silver Surfer (Julia Garner). She was there to herald the imminent arrival of the planet destroying Galactus (Ralph Ineson). There's a certain "tension" between her and Johnny that I really wished the film had explored a little deeper.
Of course Galactus posed an ultimatum towards our heroic family. He'll leave the Earth unharmed but only if Reed and Sue surrendered their son, Franklin. That was never going to happen but it did put a target on the family until Sue gave a pretty impassioned speech to get everyone else on side. It's a really nice speech.
Anyways, getting back to the villains, a reluctant team up with Mole Man (Paul Walter Hauser) against Galactus along with a change of heart from Silver Surfer. For me, this was where the movie seriously lagged. It's a really rushed and unsatisfying climax and I do think the lack of bigger action sequences might hurt the film's rewatchability factor.
- The credit scene of course featured Doctor Doom (Robert Downey Jr). Yes, they filmed that scene recently during production of Avengers: Doomsday.
- There's supporting roles from Mark Gates, Sarah Niles and Natasha Lyonne. They're fine but the latter felt a bit wasted.
- The actors from the unreleased 1994 The Fantastic Four movie had cameos in this movie.
- This movie found new ways to have both Johnny and Ben's infamous catchphrases referenced.
- Standout music: Chet Baker's Let's Get Lost, Juan García Esquivel's Guanacoa and Andrea Datzman's Let Us Be Devoured.
- Chronology: 1964 on Earth 828. Four years had passed during the credit scene.
The Fantastic Four: First Steps certainly would be the best movie that focused on this particular group and probably on a par with Thunderbolts*. It's also got strong chemistry with the leads. However it's runtime, lack of action and underdeveloped villains are where it's let down a bit.
Rating: 7 out of 10
No comments:
Post a Comment