Fantastic Four: First Steps

2025

Directed by: Matt Shakman

Starring: Vanessa Kirby, Pedro Pascal, Joseph Quinn, Ebon Moss-Bachrach

MINOR SPOILERS ARE COVERED LIKE THIS --> SPOILER!

After years of terrible Fantastic Four movies, Marvel's First Family has finally joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe and I can undoubtably say this is the least bad Fantastic Four film we've ever gotten. So, if you're a big Fantastic Four fan begging to see them done decent on the big screen, you'll enjoy the film but I can't lie. I left the theater disappointed with what we got.

Starting off with the things I like, I think the visuals (the set design, costumes, all that) is some of the best I've ever seen in a Marvel movie. No more real world pastiches, this movie takes place in its own retrofuturistic version of Earth with its own Fantastical heroes and villains. The few times we get to see that and the beautiful locations of this New York City are the absolute highlights of the film. Alongside that I think Vanessa Kirby (as Sue Storm), Joseph Quinn (as Johnny Storm), and Julia Garner (as Silver Surfer) have great performances. Unfortunately, despite some scenes I really liked, the majority of the film was a let down.

When the movie introduces this Fantastic world, throwing up a montage of the team fighting wacky villains, I got pretty excited. But then the main plot gets introduced, and that's where the movie loses me. The film mostly becomes scenes of characters talking about how they're gonna deal with this main plot. There's not a lot of action, and I don't mean "action" as in literal fight scenes (though there isn't a lot of that too). I mean like there isn't a lot that the characters actually DO. A lot of things are set up: There's a conflict where the world turns on their beloved heroes (that's resolved quickly); a slight conflict between Sue Storm and Reed Richards about their kid (that's barely explored); and this underdog story with Johnny Storm that, like everything else, was told not shown to me. I don't mind a movie that's more talking than action, but the talking has to be interesting. It's all talk for a boring main plot while all the actually intriguing side plots are handled quite easily.

At the end, it's shown that the movie took place over the course of a year. Like what!? An entire year and not a single random supervillain causes trouble or something else goes wrong before the big finale? There's like no sense of time here.

Alongside that, I couldn't get into Pedro Pascal as Reed Richards or Ebon Moss-Bachrach as The Thing. Ebon has some funny lines but both of their characters felt like incomplete adaptations of their characters that generally lacked energy. The entire second half of the film lacked energy and felt like we were going through the motions of a predictable plot with very few twists or bumps along the way. In the end though, it's still a decent movie, better and more inspired than most recent Marvel movies. I'm definitely being harsh because I could so vividly imagine a better version of this movie in my head. A film that went all-in on this campy world they set up with more supervillains. A conflict where the Fantastic Four's dwindling reputation is a more ever-present threat to their plans. A Mr. Fantastic that actually uses his powers in a creative way, maybe?

But I can't judge a movie totally on what I would have wanted, but just what we got. And I guess what we got is okay. Just not Fantastic.

Certified Silver /10