With its final cinematic release of the year, Marvel Studios is hoping to not only pave the way for the much anticipated Avengers: Doomsday next Christmas, but also reintroduce audiences to the Fantastic Four after regaining the rights to the team through their merger with 20th Century Fox in 2019. With a cancelled TV pilot, a duology of fun but dated comic adventures and a disastrous Christopher Nolan inspired gritty reboot, it's safe to say that Marvel's first family's relationship with live action adaptations has been rough to say the least. With Kevin Feige and the rest of Marvel Studios' love for the source material, there's an expectation that they, with the help of director Matt Shakman, would be the first to get one of the comic publisher's most beloved sets of characters truly right for the first time.
Taking place on Earth-828 (as opposed to Earth-616, where the vast majority of the MCU takes place), four years after The Fantastic Four landed back on Earth after gaining cosmic superpowers, Sue Storm (Vanessa Kirby) announces to her husband, Reed Richards (Pedro Pascal) that she's pregnant. Not long after the rest of the family, Johnny Storm (Joseph Quinn) and Ben Grimm (Ebon Moss-Bachrach), find out about the pregnancy their planet is visited by the mysterious Silver Surfer (Julia Garner). She warns them of the coming of Galactus (Ralph Ineson) - the world devourer - who's on his way to feast upon the planet. It's then up to The Fantastic Four, as Earth's protectors, to confront Galactus and find out a way to defeat this unimaginable threat.
In its opening ten minutes, The Fantastic Four: First Steps succeeds impressively at balancing exposition with world and character building, all the while achieving its goal of reintroducing the famous four to less familiar audience members but not at the expense of those already well versed in Fantastic Four lore. Matt Shakman lays out a 1960s style montage, narrated by TV presenter Mark Gatiss, that perfectly demonstrates who all the Four are, their places in the world, how the world feels about them and, most importantly, how this retro-futurist world looks and feels. It's a marked testament to the very best part of this film that's of course present throughout, the production design. The Fantastic Four: First Steps is the best any Marvel film has ever looked. The care and attention that has gone into crafting Earth-828 is astounding and is the best love letter to the Silver Age of comics that anyone could ever hope for. A highlight is the Fantastic Four's costumes, which do away with the overly armoured looks of many of the MCU Avengers, and instead gives the team brightly coloured uniformed turtlenecks. They're quite honestly some of the best superhero costumes ever put to film but sadly, aren't used anywhere near enough in the film.
Another of the The Fantastic Four: First Steps' great achievements is its character work on the main four heroes. They are, unsurprisingly, the best on screen adaptation of Marvel's first family, each with distinct character traits and motivations, all with none being sidelined for another. All have their roles to play in the plot but most importantly they feel very much like a real family. Credit of course goes to the cast as well who bring these very three dimensional heroes to life. Pedro Pascal, while being a controversial choice for Mr. Fantastic (being omnipresent in Hollywood as of late), provides one of his best performances to date, playing Richards as a socially awkward and anxious genius in contrast to a lot of his more confident roles. Vanessa Kirby too, is a headstrong and loving matriarch who brings a grand sense of gravitas to the Invisible Woman. Joseph Quinn and Ebon Moss-Bachrach provide a lot of the film's lighter moments, with the latter being one of the most genuinely funny Marvel characters is a very long time. With this and Thunderbolts* earlier this year, Marvel seems to be relearning that what makes superhero films great isn't necessarily stakes or grandiosity, but more character and heart and showing audiences people they can care and root for.
Where The Fantastic Four: First Steps is let down, unfortunately, is its story which doesn't leave much room for depth or nuance. It's a rather cliched comic book movie affair with a large threat coming to destroy the planet and the heroes having to come together to stop it. There is of course a side plot regarding the child of Reed Richards and Sue Storm which connects to the main Galactus plot and the ending isn't too easy to predict. Galactus is set up very well as a veritable unstoppable force and it does feel completely hopeless for a good portion of the film. However, the film is so quick that it doesn't give enough time for the sense of dread and terror to build and focuses completely on the titular family's plans to stop Galactus rather than actually building his threat. The film's pace is lightning fast and as a result it feels slightly like some scenes were missing, which is in fact the case, given that John Malkovich's Red Ghost was cut from the film. With all that being said though, the story does leave plenty of room to make you fall for the Fantastic Four, as mentioned before, and it's always a pleasure to watch the team in action or simply just sharing a meal.
The Fantastic Four: First Steps is somewhat style over substance. It has the best production design Marvel Studios has ever had but a story that's nowhere near as Earth-shattering as its villain. Though it certainly achieves its goal of being the best live action adaptation of The Fantastic Four, and, thanks to the pitch perfect cast and genius creative team, it's one of the most fun and pulpy superhero films out there and puts the "comic" back into comic book adaptations.
⭐⭐⭐⭐
The Fantastic Four: First Steps releases in UK cinemas on July 24th
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