Fantastic Four: First Steps

5 outta 5

After three 20^th Century Fox movies and one buried Roger Corman film, the 4^th version of Marvel’s First Family in Fantastic Four: First Steps absolutely nails it. It is fairly disconnected from the larger Marvel Cinematic Universe (despite that teaser at the end of Thunderbolts*) and has its own unique vibe. This universe has a 1960s aesthetic which makes First Steps feel the closest to Stan Lee and Jack Kirby’s original 1960s Fantastic Four comics. And this film does have a foreboding sense of impending Galactus apocalypse. But for all the superheroes, destructive space Gods and naked Silver Surfer ladies, it’s the family dynamic that keeps this Fantastic Four soaring.

After gaining superpowers from being exposed to cosmic rays during a space flight (the film basically recaps their origin in a TV clip, probably because everyone knows it by now), the Fantastic Four have been protecting the Earth for four years. The stretchable genius, Mr. Fantastic, Reed Richards (Pedro Pascal), his wife the Invisible Woman, Sue Storm (Vanessa Kirby), her brother Johnny Storm, the Human Torch (Joseph Quinn) and Ben Grimm aka The Thing (Ebon Moss-Bachrach). Things are looking up with their superhero adventures, and Sue is going to have a baby, making even Mr. Fantastic flustered. But a flying space alien arrives, the Silver Surfer (Julia Garner) saying she is the Herald of Galactus (Ralph Ineson), an omnipotent space God that consumes planets. The four travel to outer space and are shocked to learn that Galactus wants to take Reed and Sue’s child in exchange for sparing Earth. The four refuse and return to Earth, telling a frightened populace that Galactus is coming, and try to stop the Space God and his herald from destroying their planet.

The casting in this film is great as they feel like a loving family. Pascal’s Reed is the super-smart, solve everything type but even he seems to be taken aback at the prospect of fatherhood, and there’s a funny bit when Reed consults with the household robot, H.E.R.B.I.E. to methodically baby proof their home. So when even Reed is facing the sheer immensity of Galactus, it seems like an unsolvable problem. Pascal has one of the movie’s best line deliveries when they arrive back on Earth and Reed must tell the planet that Galactus “demanded too high a price.”

Kirby as Sue shows motherly instincts and even is shockingly intense when it is revealed that the Silver Surfer is apparently trying to snatch the baby out of her womb as she hollers to Johnny to “kill her!” This usually isn’t something that the demure Invisible Woman would do. In the finale confrontation with Galactus, as they try to keep baby Franklin safe, Sue dramatically uses all her power. Moss-Bachrach’s Ben Grimm briefly sketches out the emotional hurt his physical appearance has on him, but mostly he’s always ready to smash something. There is a running gag that the Thing’s “It’s clobberin’ time” is from a cartoon that Johnny keeps trying to get him to say. Quinn as Johnny conveys his jokester attitude. There is also a hint of some romantic chemistry (something that Ben teases him about a lot) with the Surfer, which makes the moment when Johnny reveals the history of the Surfer hit harder.

Garner as the Surfer has a great physicality to her as she blends inside and out of the board, and for a CGI character she conveys a lot of emotion. She has a great progression as at the start as just an extension of her master’s will, but the potential destruction of Earth and trying to capture an infant, cracks her steely facade. Ralph Ineson as Galactus the World Eater has an amazing voice, the character looks really intimidating, and Ineson shows the world eating weariness Galactus has with his eternal hunger. He gets in some nasty moments, like when he realizes the FF are trying to trick him and he says “clever bugs”, or where it looks like he might stretch Reed in half just out of morbid curiosity.

The movie careens from one adventure to the next. The opening scene is a great montage of the FF’s various battles over the years, filling the viewer in on their history. Their space confrontation with Galactus is crazy with the FF getting into a speeding space chase with the seemingly unstoppable Silver Surfer. When Galactus reveals that he wants to take possession of the child, things become tricky. The citizens of Earth are protesting to give the kid to save the planet, but Sue makes a stirring speech saying, “I will not sacrifice my child for this planet, but I will not sacrifice this planet for my child.” The banger finale confrontation of the Fantastic Four vs. Galactus has much spectacle, leading to an emotionally powerful moment by the end.

Fantastic Four: First Steps is an amazing recovery for the Fantastic Four from movies that never was as good as it should be. This flies along and while it doesn’t really tease what the FF’s future will be in the MCU, this is a fantastic single film with lots of retro sci-fi gadgetry that gives it a distinct feel. Fantastic Four has been done a lot before, but this makes them truly heroes.