The Fantastic Four: First Steps is the latest movie in the MCU and is directed by Matt Shakman. Just to get it out of the way, I haven’t been the biggest fan of the MCU recently. Even when I have enjoyed a Marvel movie as of late, such as Thunderbolts*, I will still have issues with them that keeps me not as excited for upcoming superhero movies. With marvel’s recent track record, I really didn’t want this movie to come out because The Fantastic Four is some of the first comics I’ve read and, I grew up with the 2005 movie. So as skeptical as I was, how was the movie?
To start off, The Fantastic Four: First Steps is about family, not just because Galactus will spare their earth if Sue and Reed will give him their child, but also because this movie explores ideas of family. Reed has a fear of becoming a dad, the choice of Franklin or their earth, and the interactions between the four. So, if you like Guardians of the Galaxy, you’ll really like this.
Starting with the positives, having this movie on a separate world (same universe) was an amazing choice. This is completely separate, and you don’t need to watch the other MCU movies to understand this, it’s completely homework free. The actors are great, and I would say that three out of the four of the Fantastic Four are the definitive version of them. They all have chemistry together and make the family dynamic work.
Continuing, this movie handles their origin story well, as they use the news as a way to explain how they got their powers and how the world perceives them. The dialogue used in this movie, hasn’t been as bad as recent marvel movies, as I would say it’s good dialogue and it doesn’t make me cringe. The comedy in this movie works even though (unlike modern marvel) isn’t one of the big focuses. I also like how this movie has steaks and kept me on my seat. This movie also doesn’t feel Frankensteined together unlike most movies nowadays, it genuinely feels like a director could make their own movie.
For the mixed, I mainly just have some comic nerd nitpicks except for the CGI. While Silver Surfer and Galactus look great, for some reason, Franklin (Sue and Reed’s baby) looks bad. I know they are probably using a CGI baby to get past the child laws for filmmaking, but I think they could’ve just used an actual child and just gave the crew extra days to work on the movie, due to less hours. Personally, I think Chris Evans is still my Johnny Storm even with how great I think Joseph Quinn is, also Galactus is shrunken down in this movie, while not bad, I wish he was bigger so stakes would have me more on the edge on my seat.
Overall, this is a huge comeback for the MCU and is one of my favorite movies from the MCU overall. I would give this a 4.5/5 and with a rewatch this could get the perfect score.
