THE RIGHT STUFF: The Thing (Ebon Moss-Bachrach), the Invisible Woman (Vanessa Kirby), Mr. Fantastic (Pedro Pascal) and the Human Torch (Joseph Quinn) greet their public in The Fantastic Four: First Steps. (Marvel Studios)
Review by Curt Holman
“The World’s Greatest Comic Magazine” was emblazoned above the title of Fantastic Four comics for decades. Jack Kirby and Stan Lee launched the superhero line of Marvel Comics with Fantastic Four in 1961, and for years the book vied with The Amazing Spider-Man as the company’s flagship title.
When I was a kid discovering comics in the 1970s, Fantastic Four became my fast favorite and I took the “World’s Greatest” label at face value, and not as part of the company’s signature hype. The sci-fi-inflected adventures of Marvel’s “first family” of mutated heroes, anchored by the wisecracking rock monster Ben Grimm, made the title a perfect piece of dynamic escapism and a showcase for how comics can put flights of fancy to paper.
Hollywood eventually embraced superheroes for big-budget adaptations, but the Fantastic Four posed a challenge as one of the most fanciful, least-grounded properties. Multiple filmmakers over the decades strained to bring the team to the big screen, frequently foundering with misguided efforts to make the material more “realistic” and in the process losing its goofy, phantasmagoric spirit.
The Fantastic Four: First Steps triumphs where the likes of Tim Story and Josh Trank struggled, showing genuine love for and confidence in the comic’s blend of gee-whiz optimism and anything-goes imagination. Rather than diminish the team to better belong in the “real” world, First Steps heightens their setting, placing them in a retro-futuristic version of 1960s New York.
So it’s no surprise that this high-tech version of optimistic, Kennedy-era America would have its own beloved superteam, as we learn via a TV broadcast that speed-runs through their origin (and includes lovingly chosen Easter Eggs from the book’s history). The movie’s instigating incident is not the team being exposed to cosmic rays, but Susan Richards/The Invisible Woman (Vanessa Kirby) discovering that she’s pregnant, throwing her husband Reed/Mr. Fantastic (Pedro Pascal) into a delighted tizzy.
In a kitschy sequence scored and edited like one of those old shorts about “The Kitchen of Tomorrow!” we see the FF’s robot sidekick H.E.R.B.I.E. baby-proof the Baxter Building, frequently getting in the way of Johnny Storm/The Human Torch (Joseph Quinn) and Ben Grimm/The Thing (Ebon Moss-Bachrach). Reed’s new obsession with protecting his unborn child extends to securing the city’s safety: “You baby-proofed the WORLD?” Johnny quips, acknowledging the film’s humorous take on superheroes as first-time parents.
But no sooner are the words out of Johnny’s mouth than the city skyline ignites with unearthly light. Flying to Times Square, The Silver Surfer (Julia Garner) heralds the arrival of “The Devourer, Galactus” (Ralph Ineson) and the planet’s imminent consumption. It’s cinema’s second big-screen take on the iconic Kirby/Lee story The Coming of Galactus, previously adapted in 2007’s Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer. Rather than render Galactus as that film’s amorphous cloud, the new film presents Marvel’s most powerful villain in all of his comics-accurate, purple-armored glory.
First Steps takes a couple of major liberties with its source story that pay off superbly. I won’t reveal one, save that it presents the FF with a nightmarish dilemma like something out of the Old Testament and personalizes the stakes for Sue and Reed beyond “just” saving the world. The film’s version of Galactus is, if anything, even more malevolent and contemptuous than his comics appearances.
The film also flips the gender of the Silver Surfer, originally conceived as an alien named Norrin Radd, inspired to reconnect to humanity by Ben’s girlfriend, Alicia Masters. Here she’s Shalla Bal, Radd’s former love interest, who has an unexpected connection to Johnny: “We had a moment,” he claims, unconvincingly. Giving Johnny the relationship to the alien affords him a juicier, more active subplot, rather than just flying and throwing fireballs.
Quinn strains a bit to capture the character’s swagger, and the writing tones Johnny down a bit so he’s less of an obnoxious womanizer. The role loses some of his edge, but he’s also smarter and less foolhardy than usual.
Kirby (no relation to Jack) gives presence to the Invisible Woman, as she’s flinty and forceful in public, wryly affectionate with her family. She also reveals a ruthless side at the thought of something threatening her child, and by the end First Steps presents one of the best stories about the character in any medium.
Pascal brings out the warmth and complexity in a role that’s often cold and reserved. He comfortably slips into Mr. Fantastic’s media-savvy role as a Bill Nye-esque scientist, but he privately feels the burden of his genius, having a compulsion to think through worst-case scenarios so he can solve them. (His stretchy effects are not great, and perhaps should be left in perpetuity to Helen Parr in the Incredibles films.)
Moss-Bachrach of The Bear makes for great casting as Ben, having a similar street-corner bravado that belies a heart of gold. But Ben gets less characterization and the thinnest subplot of the four, with The Thing’s traditional pathos and self-loathing mostly just implied.
Following the film’s nimble first act and a thrilling chase through outer space, the film takes a darker turn. Reed’s intellect, the team’s can-do spirit and this world’s overall optimism are really put to the test by a threat that seems unstoppable. All the narrative elements, from parental anxieties to apocalyptic spectacle, feel at common purpose, in contrast to the bloat and sprawl that inform many other entries in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Some of the comedic banter doesn’t always land, which is surprising coming from Shakman, a frequent director on It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. And while the action is unified by Michael Giacchino’s peppy soundtrack, there may be a few montages too many — at times the film feels like one big montage interrupted with occasional Baxter Building conversations.
I can’t help but notice that the film has been dividing audiences, some of whom are less enthusiastic than me. And I’ll admit it: I’m a nerd with a comics podcast and have a long history with these characters, so I’m highly invested. Perhaps the film resonates most with a specific type of Fantastic Four fan who’s also a parent. All movie reviews are subjective, but some are more subjective than others. All I can say is that The Fantastic Four: First Steps gave me everything I ever wanted from an FF movie, and some things I didn’t KNOW I wanted. You can’t ask for more from an adaptation than that.
The Fantastic Four: First Steps. Grade: A-. Stars Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby. Directed by Matt Shakman. Rated PG-13.