FANTASTIC FOUR: FIRST STEPS Review: Third Time’s A Charm

Introduction

I know you’re worried about The Fantastic Four: First Steps. You remember the aggressively mediocre first two Fantastic Four movies featuring Jessica Alba and Chris Evans. You’ve tried to forget the atrocious reboot featuring Miles Teller and Michael B. Jordan. And you still don’t trust that the MCU has truly turned the corner back into must-watch territory. But if you saw Thunderbolts*, you’ll have more confidence that Marvel has corrected itself. You did see Thunderbolts*, right?

Honest Trailers once joked that a good Fantastic Four movie did exist – Pixar’s The Incredibles (2004). If that’s funny, it’s because it’s true. However, now, The Incredibles has competition with an official Fantastic Four film. The Fantastic Four: First Steps finally gives us a film that might just be fantastic.

Synopsis

The Fantastic Four: First Steps starts exactly how it should – by not showing us a thirty-minute first act featuring how the Fantastic Four got their powers. Thank you, director Matt Shakman. Instead, we’re thrust into a world where the Fantastic Four are beloved and considered Earth-828’s protectors. That number is important because the primary MCU Earth is 616. Don’t worry, the multiverse isn’t a focus in this movie. Because of that, bonus, you don’t have to know anything about the rest of the MCU for this movie. You’re welcome.

In New York City on Earth-828, it’s the 1960s and looks like if Disneyland’s Tomorrowland was right. The Fantastic Four live together in their very own tower in the city, and everyone knows them by their actual names. Their superhero names are never mentioned during the film.

Reed Richards (Pedro Pascal) and his wife, Sue Storm (Vanessa Kirby), have learned that Sue is pregnant. They share this news with Sue’s brother, Johnny (Joseph Quinn), and their family friend Ben Grimm (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) over their weekly Sunday dinner. If this sounds a lot like Disney’s Carousel of Progress ride to you, you’ll know what I mean by – like the ride – this idyllic scene is interrupted.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAsmrKyMqaA

Near the end of Sue’s pregnancy, a cosmic being called the Silver Surfer (Julia Garner) arrives at Earth to inform humanity that her master, Galactus (Ralph Ineson), is on his way to eat Earth. Yes, I said eat Earth. In an attempt to save Earth, the Fantastic Four locate Galactus’ current location in the galaxy, then fly there to negotiate with him. Galactus demands Sue’s baby in exchange for not eating Earth. They politely decline. Just kidding – fight scene.

Analysis

What I love about this plot is that it’s a form of the famous Trolley Problem. Doom one life to save everyone else or doom everyone else to save one? Because the film focuses much more on family and community than on punching bad guys, the dilemma has real heft. And not just for the four superheroes, but for the people initially angry at what they perceive as the obvious choice.

Once Sue explains to them why they couldn’t just sacrifice their child, they actually listen. I know, right? After living on our Earth these past few years, especially these last few months, the idea of people listening to reason sounds utterly preposterous.

There’s a lot more to like about this film than just the moral dilemma. After the casting and writing disaster of 2015’s Fantastic Four, Marvel Studios did what they do best: creating a bunch of well-written characters and finding quite possibly the best possible choices of actors for all of the main characters (and even the minor ones).

The Cast

Ineson portrays a very menacing Galactus, even sprinkling in some nuance that has us feeling the tiniest bit of sympathy for him. Garner is even better as the Silver Surfer, powering her emotions and expressions throughout Surfer’s character arc, as well as through the CGI liquid metal covering her entire body.

Quinn and Moss-Bachrach both tone down the cartoonishness of their characters and play up qualities not emphasized in previous film versions of their characters. Ben isn’t just a rock-covered strongman. He’s caring and soft-hearted to friends and strangers alike. Johnny is no longer a cocky, dumb playboy, but a mildly subdued, intelligent man eager to help out.

Then there are Kirby and Pascal, shining much more as the heads of the family than the heads of a superhero team. Reed is still the familiar scientific genius, but he’s also every dad trying to figure out fatherhood on the fly. He just uses checklists and robots to help. Sue is still the familiar protector and loving wife, but with an undertone of don’t-fuck-with me-now-that-I’m- a-mom. You all know what I’m talking about.

Conclusion

So, breathe a sigh of relief. The Fantastic Four: First Steps is the Fantastic Four movie we’ve been demanding for decades. You can finally forgive 20th Century Fox Studios for mangling the franchise. You can also forgive Marvel Studios for the flood of forgettable and subpar content they fire-hosed at us after Avengers: Endgame (2019).

Now, you can look forward to the next MCU movie, since that trust has once again been restored. And you can also go watch Thunderbolts* because the box office sure looks like many of you didn’t see it.

Rating: Worth every penny, even if you’re still mad at Carousel of Progress always breaking down.

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