Coming off an excellent emotional outing in Thunderbolts* and releasing in a box office environment where comic book fans are invigorated for the first time in a while, Marvel had to deliver a fantastic outing with its primary group of the new phase, especially with the entire future of the MCU’s being based around a Fantastic Four villain. With success imperative for a franchise that has three previous launch tries and a 0% success rate, Marvel didn’t deliver overly excited trailers in its marketing campaign. But what they did do was release actual footage of the movie to fanfare, and rode the wave of DC’s recent success to get people into the theaters for The Fantastic Four: The First Steps. Whether that works or not remains to be seen, but the word-of-mouth is likely to be strong for those that do go to see it, considering the movie is pretty solid.
Enjoyment of the overall movie is contingent on how susceptible one is to a familial drama, but the characters themselves are quite literally family. Reed Richards, the leader of the group, is married to Sue Storm, whose brother is also a member of the group, directly tying three of them together, alongside Reed’s best friend. It’s not a spoiler considering it’s all over the marketing campaign, but Sue and Reed have a child early on in the film, and that’s where both the emotional pull and the crux of problem that the Fantastic Four are up against come into play.
Anything, especially a comic book film, that relies on a family dynamic hinges on the chemistry of its cast. While Joseph Quinn’s Johnny Storm is the quintessential crowd pleaser, the chemistry of all four characters shines through even in the slow parts of the film, making even the many parts where it’s just members of the group having a conversation interesting. The film is well-cast, but an interesting aspect of the casting is that there isn’t one A-List movie star carrying the load as much as a well-rounded group of television stars in the process of making the jump to mainstream film. Consider not just the Fantastic Four which features Quinn (Stranger Things), Pedro Pascal (The Last of Us), Ebon Moss-Bachrach (The Bear), and Vanessa Kirby (The Crown), but its bit roles feature Julia Garner (Ozark) in an excellent outing as Silver Surfer, Natasha Lyonne (Orange is the New Black), Paul Walter Houser (Cobra Kai), and Sarah Niles (Ted Lasso). The casting department nailed the chemistry of its characters, but its foray into finding actors best known up to this point for prestige streaming hits both maintained the quality and the feel of the movie, as nobody felt larger than its ensemble sum. Perhaps, this is a new direction for Marvel’s casting philosophy. Regardless, it works well here.
The overall movie dynamic is very good, but ultimately hurt its climax. The family drama the movie is based around is gripping, but not overly-action packed for a comic book movie. The first act, though, interrupts the drama with some of the most exhilarating moments of the MCU, particularly a space scene that took clear inspiration from Interstellar. The action is matched with both an intensity and anxiety further fueled by excellent visual effects. The effects are much different than previous Marvel outings, but also as good as any of them while also giving the Fantastic Four film its own, unique futuristic 1960s feel that the comic relies on.
If the feel of First Steps is its biggest strength because it doesn’t feel as cookie cutter as other Marvel films, its climax is its biggest indictment because of how generic it felt. Not that the climax couldn’t have been satisfying despite its paint-by-number nature, sometimes the predictable finish is the right finish. However, it wasn’t as emotional, anxiety-riddled or awe-inspiring as the climax of its first act, ultimately making the delivery of the film fall flatter than it should’ve, hurting the overall product of the film. TWM+ gives it a “fantastic” four out of five stars.
The record should show that despite the third act lull, the film is a strong, positive win for the MCU ahead of Avengers: Doomsday, and one that audiences should go see in theaters. The film opened in the U.S. today everywhere, including in IMAX, 4DX, and Dolby Cinemas where available.
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