I’ve always had a fondness for the Fantastic Four, which stems from the “gee whiz, science is grand” tone of their comics as much as it does from the fact that it’s patently awesome for a superhero to be completely on fire when he fights bad guys. There have been many cinematic adaptations of Marvel’s First Family over the years, and for my money, none of them were outright disasters (I’m sure you’ll disagree). The infamous Corman-produced feature that was created solely to keep the rights alive is actually a lot fun, and it features a neato practical design for The Thing. The early aughts duo of blockbusters were products of their time, but quite a lot of fun and well-cast to boot. Even the most recent entry, which went a little darker and was famously ripped to shreds in the editing bay has value (I’m sure you’ll disagree). It didn’t fully work, but I maintain that they were on to something with the whole body horror angle (and as non-canon as their take on Victor Von Doom was, it was pretty sick).
This newest, and best attempt at bringing Marvel’s flagship characters to the big screen comes at a strange spot in the real-world timeline of the MCU: namely, a period when we’re all sick to death of its non-stop parade of diminishing returns. We’re tired, Boss. It’s too much to keep up with, and the magic is gone. To combat this, The Fantastic Four: The First Steps exists in a unique spot within the on-screen timeline of the MCU: a completely parallel world that is in no way connected to anything that came before.
This proves to be a smart way to freshen things up and give the overall universe a soft reboot as we gear up for Avengers: Doomsday, a product that no one is very excited about anymore if we’re being honest with ourselves. On the one hand, it works super well insofar as TFF:FS is the best film the MCU has put out in a long time. On the other hand, it’s a total bummer that this will soon be looped right back into the connectivity machine, where it’s bound to be robbed of the idiosyncrasies that make it special.
I sound like such a negative Nancy right now, but I promise you it’s less about my current disdain for the unwieldiness of the franchise at large, and more about how truly exciting TFF:FS is all on its own. I’d love for there to be a few more of these before they get tied into franchise bondage.
And why am I so passionate about preserving the feeling I got from this sweet and delightful sci-fi superhero flick? One reason: the characters.
Dom Toretto would probably be hesitant to tell you that it takes more than just assertions of familial ties to make a family, and the dynamic between our central foursome clears that hurdle much higher than any of the relationships within the Fast Fambly. Here, the bonds feel genuine and lived-in. In a film that doesn’t take much time to explain the finer aspects of its onslaught of plot (which is a good thing — more in a bit), what grabs the audience is the emotional throughline shared between our heroes. A refresher: Reed Richards (Pedro Pascal) and Sue Storm (Vanessa Kirby) are married and expecting a child. Both are brilliant scientists. The former is stretchy and the latter is able to become invisible and make force fields out of thin air. Sue’s brother Johnny (Joseph Quinn) is a cocky thrill-seeker who can do fire stuff, while Reed’s best friend Ben (Ebon Moss-Bacharach) is a warm-hearted rock monster. Together they are the Fantastic Four, the brain trust behind the Future Foundation, and the heroes that the world looks to when cosmic/monster-based misfortunes occur.
And wouldn’t you know it? Cosmic AND monster-based misfortunes have occurred. Long story short, the earth is scheduled for destruction by a supreme superbeing, and his only request is that Reed and Sue give up their child. But as Dom Toretto tells us: Never turn your back on family.
So now they must come up with another plan.
What makes the film feel so unique is that it’s unabashedly a comic book movie. There are no attempts to frame anything as if it were happening in the real world, and there is no time wasted trying to make any of the science realistic or believable. Gigantic set pieces are conceived of and then executed in just a few minutes of screen time, which feels very reminiscent of an actual comic book, where insane things occur over the course of a page or two before the plot moves on. One moment our heroes are in space, the next they’re slingshotting around a black hole, the next they’re back on Earth at a press conference, and then it’s dinner time. TFF:FS goes and goes and goes, and it’s refreshing how unconcerned it is with the why of it all. Instead, it focuses on how these bonkers situations affect the family at its core.
Even so, it does feel like certain elements were cut for time (an MCU movie that’s under two hours long?!?!?), and I’d have loved to see some of the familial love between the action beats given more time to breathe. The superb performances get us there, but these characters are so enjoyable that I’d have loved to really see them share a meal, or have a petty argument about something completely pointless, like families often do.
Being that this occurs on Earth 828, the design team gets free rein to decorate the world as they see fit, which means that everything takes a delightful Atomic Age/Googie style that suits our heroes perfectly. It also helps to suspend any sort of disbelief, undercutting the fatal question of “but how would this work in the real world?” It’s quite brilliant, and my love for it is in no way related to the fact that I’d do just about anything to own a home with a conversation pit.
Directed by Matt Shakman
Written by Josh Friedman, Eric Pearson, Jeff Kaplan, Ian Springer, Kat Wood, based on the comics created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby
Starring Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Joseph Quinn
Rated PG-13, 115 minutes
