What is it about the Fantastic Four that Hollywood can’t get right? 2005’s Fantastic Four was underwhelming, the 2007 sequel was an ever so slight improvement, and then there’s 2015’s Fantastic Four- a film so irredeemably terrible, it felt like a giant middle finger to anyone who watched it. The timeless superheroes that Stan Lee and Jack Kirby created in 1961 are now box office poison. But now, there’s Marvel Studios taking the reins of The Fantastic Four: First Steps, which fans have been looking forward to for years. Can a new team save the Four from irrelevance?
In an alternate retro-futurist Earth, Reed Richards (Pedro Pascal), his wife Sue Storm (Vanessa Kirby), her brother Johnny (Joseph Quinn) and Ben Grimm (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) are global heroes after gaining superhuman powers from a cosmic storm in space. But when a mysterious silver herald (Julia Garner) announces that Earth is marked for death, the Fantastic Four are tested and faced with an impossible problem to solve.
So, is The Fantastic Four: First Steps good? The short answer is yes, mainly due to Marvel finally cracking the code on the casting for these iconic heroes. I had doubts about casting internet heartthrob Pedro Pascal as the dorky genius Reed Richards, but he surprised me with how human, troubled and at times, out of touch his character is over the course of the film. Kirby perfectly captures Sue’s motherly tendencies, creating the heart of the film, especially when Sue must face an extremely personal challenge. Quinn nails Johnny’s cocky personality and separates himself from Chris Evans’s portrayal and even Moss-Bachrach, who alas gets the least screen time of the group, makes Ben a likable presence and the effects used to bring him to life are seamless.
Speaking of aesthetics, a major differentiator that separates this from past Marvel entries is the setting of a 1960s utopian version of New York City. Not only is the world stunningly put together from a production design standpoint, but it harkens back to the hallmark art of Jack Kirby, who gets a tribute in the credits. The score by Michael Giacchino deserves mention as well, nailing the triumphant, inspiring theme of the group while also creating incredible drama, especially in a key scene between Johnny and Garner’s Silver Surfer.
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But more than any other past version of the characters, this film truly nails the group’s dynamic. The chemistry among the cast leaps off the screen, even in their quietest moments, of which there are plenty. It helps that director Matt Shakman, who helmed the Emmy nominated WandaVision, has experience with melding a unique setting with family drama, which he puts to the test once the Four face a moral dilemma that seems black and white, but allows the group to discuss both options on the table in a way that tests the audience as well as our heroes.
After twenty years, we finally have a good Fantastic Four movie. Yes, the bar is very, very low, but The Fantastic Four: First Steps uses every trick in Marvel’s playbook to create the best onscreen representation of the Lee/Kirby world to date.
The Fantastic Four: First Steps is now playing in theaters.
