The Fantastic Four have officially taken their First Steps into the MCU, and it’s in a wonderful, hype-(re)igniting movie befitting of their superhero stature.
Hollywood has cracked so many comic book characters; Spider-Man wouldn’t be the most popular superhero in the world – and he is, sorry DC fans – if it weren’t for Sam Raimi’s trilogy. Even once-obscure stories, like Kick-Ass, Wanted, and A History of Violence, have been transformed into major successes.
So, why has Marvel’s first family (a team as important to the legacy of comics as Superman) been so poorly represented – if not betrayed – by the big screen? There’s the debacle of the unreleased 1994 film, the 2005-2007 movies are fun but disposable, and 2015’s god-awful ‘F4NTASTIC’ is so bad that nobody has tried to reappraise it as a misunderstood banger.
Here’s the irony: they’ve been around longer than almost every other character in the MCU, but First Steps is their cinematic salvation.
What is Fantastic Four about?
Over on Earth-828 (an alternative universe), a team of astronauts – Reed Richards (Pedro Pascal), Sue Storm (Vanessa Kirby), Johnny Storm (Joseph Quinn), and Ben Grimm (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) – flew to space and came back forever changed. Specifically, a freak cosmic ray altered their DNA, giving them powers.
Four years later, they’re celebrities, idols, leaders, and the protectors of the world. However, shortly after Sue announces she’s pregnant, Earth gets an unexpected visitor: the Silver Surfer (Julia Garner), who warns that their planet has been marked for death.
“I herald your beginning, I herald your end, I herald… Galactus,” she says (with her consistently enchanting cadence), forcing the Fantastic Four to work out a plan to save the world from being devoured.
This is almost entirely a self-contained story separated from the mainline MCU. Everything you see and everyone you meet is new, and it’s nippily written and paced so you’re never overwhelmed. The result is one of the most refreshing movies in the franchise: a film that prioritizes its own story over what’s happened and what’s to come.
Don’t expect to see their origin story (that’s relayed through a snappy, heartwarming reel in the first few minutes). Avengers: Doomsday is on the horizon, but the movie is admirably restrained in how it tees that up. The focus is wholeheartedly on the team, the birth of Reed and Sue’s child, and their terrifying clash with Galactus (Ralph Ineson).
If anything, there was room for even more; Natasha Lyonne pops up in a small, effective role that’s sadly underdeveloped, and we could have seen more of the team’s relationship with the wider world. Admittedly, this is a criticism within a compliment: I wanted to spend more time with them.
You’ve never seen an MCU movie like Fantastic Four
Kudos to director Matt Shakman and the production designers behind Fantastic Four: the world looks amazing; a splendour of meticulous and immersive retro-futurism that feels like a complete aesthetic choice, rather than a gimmick.
The CGI is phenomenal across the board. Each member of the team gets their own spectacular hero moments (one scene with Reed being treated like a Stretch Armstrong is deliciously uncomfortable), and it’s hard to imagine a better visual representation of the Fantastic Four than this. Long gone are the days of Galactus as a cloud.
That’s not to say the film’s look is always perfect. It still falls victim to greyification of the MCU, especially frustrating when the team’s suits and powers are so vividly rendered. That said, while not as dynamic as Henry Braham’s work in James Gunn’s Superman, the cinematography (courtesy of Jess Hall, who worked on WandaVision) is always capably and sometimes strikingly framed and shot (and the integration of grainy flashback footage is a nice touch).
A handful of scenes are a bit televisual in the most boring sense, but Fantastic Four nails the big moments; space-faring imagery clearly inspired by Interstellar and Ad Astra, Galactus’ kaiju-marching, and most of all, the mesmerizing sight of the Silver Surfer, whether she’s hovering above the glow of Earth’s orbit or whooshing towards a dying star.
The Fantastic Four should be here to stay
Those ambivalent or even cynical about any of the casting decisions in Fantastic Four are about to be proven very wrong. Pascal brings his singular charisma to the role, Quinn finds a distinct take on Johnny Storm that’s still boyish and charming, and (with no disrespect to Michael Chiklis), Moss-Bachrach is the best Thing we’ve ever had.
This is the definitive portrayal of the Fantastic Four – but Kirby’s Sue Storm is the standout, a figure of fierce, emotional resolve that ties the whole thing together (she also gets the best moment of the movie, and it stems from a strong evolution of her screen presence).
As Reed says, Galactus is an “unknowable life”, but Ineson imbues him with just enough humanity (and a helluva lot of menace; what else do you expect with a booming voice like that?) to make him more compelling than a giant being that eats planets. If it weren’t for Kirby, Garner would be the MVP; we should be very excited for wherever she appears next.
Could the script have been funnier? Absolutely; the cast’s chemistry makes up for its shortcomings. But as a showcase, introduction, and standalone(ish) story, this is an undeniable win for Marvel (both the studio and fans at large).
One last thing: a great weakness of the MCU is its lack of recognizable themes. Alan Silvestri nailed it with The Avengers, but answer me this: could you whistle the score from Iron Man (Black Sabbath doesn’t count), Captain America, or any of the Thor films?
Leave it to Michael Giacchino (who composed The Batman) to right that wrong with an all-time great superhero theme that you’ll be humming all year, and his score is magic; triumphant, twinkly, and tremendously replayable. “Fan–tas–tic Fouuuuuuur!”
Fantastic Four review score: 4/5
Fantastic Four is… fantastic, and easily the best MCU movie since Guardians of the Galaxy 3.
As the franchise barrels towards its biggest event since Endgame, this is a movie that has a genuine artistic vision that doesn’t compromise itself to fit the mold. It’ll leave you excited for Doomsday, but more importantly, you might just believe in the MCU again.
Onwards and upwards – or, to borrow the word of a legend, “Excelsior!”
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