The Fantastic Four: First Steps Review

Fantastic Four film series had four movies until 2015. One out of the four films was never released. And, only one film, Fantastic Four(2005), out of the remaining three films, went on to become a box-office success. After the failure of the 2015 film in the series, Marvel Studios along with the director, Matt Shakman, teamed up for The Fantastic Four: First Steps. The film was released in theatres with good expectations from the fans of Marvel. Did the film live up to the expectations? Did Marvel Studios deliver yet another blockbuster superhero film? Let’s figure it out with a detailed analysis.

What is it about?

Four years after gaining superhero powers from cosmic ray exposure on a spaceship, the Fantastic Four (i.e. Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Ebon Moss-Bachrach and Joseph Quinn), face a challenge to save the Earth from Galactus, a gigantic cosmic being who survives by occupying planets. During the face-off between Galactus and the Fantastic Four, Galactus says that he will not harm planet Earth if Reed Richards and Sue Storm agree to surrender their soon-to-be-born baby boy to him. Why did Galactus want the baby boy? Did Reed Richards and Sue Storm, surrender their child to Galactus? How did the Fantastic Four save the planet Earth from Galactus? Why do Shalla-Bal Aka Silver Surfer works as a messenger to Galactus? Forms the rest of the story.

Performances:

Pedro Pascal in the role of Reed Richards is fantastic as usual and Vanessa Kirby in the role of Sue Storm is equally brilliant. Both the actors in the roles of superheroes, soon to be patents and then becoming patents, performed very well. Ebon Moss-Bachrach in the role of Ben Grimm Aka The Thing and Joseph Quinn in the role of Johnny Storm Aka Human Torch, did a good job. Both the actors in their roles generated good fun at many places in the film.

The real show-stealer in the film is Julia Garner, who is also known as Shalla-Bal, aka Silver Surfer. She got a good role with multiple shades and delivered a first-rate performance. Ralph Ineson as Galactus is menacing. His look was largely enhanced with visual effects, but his body language and voice modulation are first-rate.

Technicalities:

Michael Giacchino’s background score is first-rate throughout the film. Especially during the spaceship action episode on an alien planet, his background score was excellent. Jess Hall’s cinematography and the Marvel team’s visual effects complemented each other very well. Both the cinematography and visual effects worked out very well in the confrontation episodes between the Fantastic Four and Galactus. Editing by Nona Khodai and Tim Roche is good but would have been better, especially in the initial hour of the film.

Positives:

1.⁠ ⁠Retro Future Setup Artwork
2.⁠ ⁠Protagonist Characters
3.⁠ ⁠Emotional Connect
4.⁠ ⁠Visual Effects
5.⁠ ⁠Actors Performances
6.⁠ ⁠Two Well-Designed Action Episodes

Negatives:

1.⁠ ⁠Predictability
2.⁠ ⁠Lack of Adrenaline-Pumping Tense Moments

Analysis:

When was the last time you watched a Marvel superhero film without going through the Wikipedia page to check out the multiverse characters that are featured in the film? In the era of the multiverses and cinematic universes, the audiences are expected to do a bare minimum of research before stepping into a theatre to watch a superhero film. But to watch Marvel Studios’ latest superhero film ‘The Fantastic Four: First Steps’, you don’t need to do any kind of research upfront. It is a standalone film. You will understand the story and the characters well even if you did not watch Fantastic Four(2005).

The Fantastic Four: First Steps, as we already know is based on the Marvel Comics book, The Fantastic Four, which was published in 1961. It is a superhero film with the most powerful human emotion, a mother’s love towards her child. ‘I will move heaven and earth for my child’ and ‘I will not sacrifice my child to save my world and my people. And at the same time, I will not sacrifice my world and my people for my child’. Both the above-mentioned dialogues by Sue Storm Aka Invisible Woman, in a crucial sequence, sum up the story of the film. The Fantastic Four: First Steps, is more of a family sitcom set in the backdrop of a superhero universe. Ever watched a pregnant woman delivering a baby in a spaceship that went to another planet from Earth, in a feature film? The answer should be a ‘No’ until you watch The Fantastic Four: First Steps. Yes, Sue Storm Aka Invisible Woman delivers in a spaceship and that too while she and other fantastic team members are fighting against a deadly enemy on an alien planet.

The Fantastic Four: First Steps, is one of those rare films where you will like the antagonist characters as much as you like the protagonist characters. Yes, all four Fantastic Four characters are adorable and we love seeing them as a family just like any other normal family with basic problems and emotions. But, we also end up loving the characters of Galactus and Shalla-Bal Aka Silver Surfer. Galactus, a gigantic cosmic being who consumes other planets to survive, is menacing on screen and his messenger, Shalla-Bal Aka Silver Surfer, is a metallic-skinned herald who travels through space on a surfboard. The look design for both the characters came out very well and looked so good on screen.

On the flip side, the film lacks the tension-building and adrenaline-pumping sequences that we expect from a superhero film. It has well-designed and executed action sequences but they lack the edge-of-the-seat adrenaline experience. We know the Fantastic Four is eventually going to win. It should have been even more engaging if the writing team had come up with enough tense moments in action sequences. Overall, The Fantastic Four: First Steps, is yet another superhero film from Marvel Studios which is fairly engaging and is certainly worth a watch in theatres. Spoiler alert – The film ends with an interesting cliffhanger sequence. And also with a note that says the Fantastic Four will return in Avengers: Doomsday(2026).

Bottomline – Fairy Engaging

Rating – 3/5