Review 755: The Fantastic Four: First Steps

I can't believe I'm going to say this, but The Fantastic Four: First Steps is the Fantastic Four film that I've been waiting for; or moreover, the movie that I didn't realise I was waiting for, because I didn't realise that emphasis on family dynamics and world building and less on world ending action was what was required.

Set against the vibrant backdrop of a 60s inspired, retro-futuristic world. The Fantastic Four face their most daunting challenge yet. Reed Richard/Mister Fantastic (Pedro Pascal), Sue Storm/Invisible Woman (Vanessa Kirby), Johnny Storm/Human Torch (Stranger Things' Joseph Quinn) and Ben Grimm/The Thing (The Bear's Ebon Moss-Bachrach) are forced to balance their roles as heroes with the strength of their family bond. They're tasked to defend their Earth from a ravenous space god known as Galactus (Ralph Ineson) and his enigmatic Herald Shalla-Bal/Silver Surfer (Julia Garner) and if Galactus' plan to devour the entire planet and everyone on it wasn't bad enough, it suddenly gets very personal.

Perhaps I'm a bit biased but I've never been the biggest fan of Fantastic Four. We had the 2005-2007 Tim Story directed duo staring Jessica Alba & Chris Evans which were heavy on the jokes and cheese and light on the story, action and spectacular effects department. Then 10 years later we had Josh Trank's dark, gritty post-wannabe Nolan esque reboot which was so poor and turned Marvel's First Family into joyless, moody, depressed cardboard cutouts.

Fantastic Four: First Steps succeeds by being true to the spirit of the original Stan Lee/Jack Kirby comics. The Fantastic Four are explorers so it was great to see director Matt Shakman (who previously directed Marvel's WandaVision for Disney+) to tap into that and send them on an outer space adventure that wouldn't look out of place in an episode of Star Trek or Christopher Nolan's Interstellar.

The family dynamic is also prominent but it never descends to sitcom level like the Evans/Alba duo, it feels earnest and wholesome. These people like being around each other 

Skipping over the origin story, the film kick starts by giving us a fun montage showing us their beginnings  and     At the start of the film, the Fantastic Four have been operating for four years   Setting the film on an alternate, "retro-futuristic" 60s inspired Earth, apart from being  allows the filmmakers to pay tribute to their own history. The Fantastic Four were originally created in the 60's during the Space Race, a time of optimism and looking to the stars and the idea that technology and heart could solve any problem. At this point, I'm done keeping track of what film takes place on what Earth 

I was very skeptical about the casting of Pedro Pascal as Reed Richards/Mister Fantastic but he definitely impressed, expertly capturing the intelligence and intellect of the character, but also bringing his own brand of charisma to the role. Reed Richards is a complicated man because he's a scientist, he's in his laboratory 5 seconds away from either destroying the world or saving it. He's also an inventor, he's cerebral, he's maybe better with things of the mind than he is with things of the heart. You could say he's great for all mankind, but he struggles a bit with individual men. He's a family man who loves his family so deeply and would do anything for them. It's that love for his family that drives him to find a way to save the world from Galactus without having to sacrifice their son Franklin. The trick, however, is that he often doesn't know how to express it and he often doesn't know how to access it. He's a person of action not indecision. All of these elements make him one of the most unusual Marvel heroes. 

Vanessa Kirby is fabulous playing Sue Storm/Invisible Woman  Sue has to be the glue that holds the team together, no matter how much they bicker

Joseph Quinn is terrific playing Johnny Storm/Human Torch. The fun loving cool uncle of the team. While I'll always have a soft spot for Chris Evans' interpretation, Quinn's portrayal definitely leaves its mark. He has a spark that feels like a young Robert Downey, Jr.  He likes life at the party, but over the course of the film, he shows that he's so much more than that; he loves the high life, he loves to fly, he probably enjoys the powers the most out of the whole team. He's also a bit of a rockstar and has been one for four years and is beginning to wonder what else is there and he's dreaming of what else is out there.

Ebon Moss-Bachrach is  playing Ben Grimm/The Thing  

But it's Julia Garner from The Americans and Netflix's Ozark who is this films MVP playing Shalla-Bal/Silver Surfer, she absolutely steals every scene she's in bringing the gravitas and weight required to play the herald of Galactus.  

Mark Gatiss has a fun little role playing talk show host Ted Gilbert.

Sarah Niles (currently seen in F1), Natasha Lyonne & Paul Walter Hauser round out the films cast

Did it rekindle my love for the MCU? Not really, I think I've had my fair share of