The Fantastic Four: First Steps
Rated PG-13 for some language, action/violence
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 86%
In Theaters
In this fourth attempt to bring a big-budget Fantastic Four to theaters, Marvel itself is giving it a go, within the MCU, with a new cast and fresh vision. This time out we get Pedro Pascal as Reed Richards, Vanessa Kirby as Sue Storm, Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Ben Grimm and Joseph Quinn as Johnny Storm. The four are essentially a big family who went up into space and came down with superpowers. Choosing wisely not to do this as an origin story, this part of the narrative is quickly glossed over, giving the audience enough information to get into the meat of the new film while also giving the newbies enough information to move forward without questions.
The first act finds our super family in a strange new earth (at least for us), which looks like a future designed by Mad Men. And in this world, they are the saviors, taking on low-level bad guys and strange aliens that occasionally attack the public. But then The Silver Surfer (Julia Garner), a metallic alien who flies around on a surfboard, pops up to announce that Galactus would soon come to Earth to devour it and end all of mankind. Galactus, a classic comic villain, is a giant space being who consumes planets and Earth is his new menu item. Finding themselves incredibly underwhelming against his power, they must use their brains to find a way to stop him, rather than their special abilities. There is a lot to like with this new Fantastic Four, especially when compared to the horrific attempts made before this. First and foremost is the new look. It’s weird and ultra-campy, but it really works, both on screen and in all of the advertising for the picture. Even the score by Oscar-winner Michael Giacchino (Up) enhances the look and feel of the film. It’s a creative bright spot that at least gives the film something to really like and hold on to when the story gets dull, which it most certainly does for huge chunks of time.
While the classic Galactus battle works here, the movie is quite boring leading up to it. Part of this is due to an unreasonable amount of exposition and explanation, but this could have been easily avoidable if they had just made the characters more fun. The world around them is thrilling, but the four of them have no life. They all just look nervous to be there, and I don’t think I cracked a smile once. You would think that with a director like Matt Shakman, who directed over 40 episodes of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, that there would be a huge sense of humor pervading the project. But you’d be wrong. The characters all play it straight and the film really suffers from this. So don’t get too excited that the reviews are looking better than the previous three attempts. A high Rotten Tomatoes score doesn’t mean that the film is spectacular. It sometimes means that a majority of critics found it to be at least okay, which reflects my thoughts here. B-
Danny Minton may be reached at danny@dannyminton.com.Â
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