Year of Release: 2025
Director: Matt Shakman
Starring: Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Ebon Moss-Bachrachm, Joseph Quinn, Ralph Ineson, Julia Garner, Natasha Lyonne, Paul Walter Hauser, Sarah Niles, Mark Gatiss, Ada Scott
Genre: Action/Adventure, Sci-Fi
Score out of ten (whole numbers only): 6
Watch it on Disney +
Synopsis and Review
"The Fantastic Four: First Steps" is Marvel Studios' third feature of 2025, and its most successful one. The director assigned to this project is Matt Shakman, who has a very lengthy career directing TV shows (including Marvel's "Wanda Vision", but a career that stretches back to Alan Ball's "Six Feet Under", a few episodes of "Game of Thrones", and "Fargo"), with this film actually being his sophomore directorial endeavor. The film focuses on the narrative of the most famous family of superheroes on Earth (or one of the existing Earths), who in 1964 are well known across the planet as their most valiant saviors. Sue/Susan Storm discovers she's pregnant, after years of trying with her husband, Reed Richards. The additional team members, including Ben Grimm and Johnny Storm are ecstatic upon hearing the news. Their moment of family bliss is interrupted when an alien creature on a surfboard crosses the Earth's atmosphere, and comes to New York City to announce that an entity by the name of Galactus has elected Earth as its next destination for annihilation. The herald quickly leaves the planet, but Reed is able to trace its energy trail, and the team goes into outer-space, with the hopes of being able to negotiate with Galactus the survival of Earth and its inhabitants. The gigantic Galactus doesn't acknowledge Humanity's plea for survival, however he does volunteer a trade in the shape of Reed and Sue's unborn child, as he confesses the baby is possessed of an enormous power, which he suspects may rival his own. Sue gives birth on the way back to Earth, and Reed has to figure out how to avoid the planet's destruction leveraging his sheer intellect. He decides to expand a teleportation technique he has developed only on a much larger scale, however the team has to find a way to lure Galactus to Earth, and place him in the right spot. While everyone on Earth is on board with his plan, not everything goes according to it.
This version of The Fantastic Four is without question, the best one thus far. Primarily because it does manage to bring to life the dynamic of the team members, giving them just enough individuality and character development as to not render them as utterly generic and forgettable. That being said, the prior iterations and adaptations of these characters were outright terrible, which makes this rendering by default a superior adaptation. The film does borderline on generic from a narrative standpoint, as very little of what makes and drives these characters is brought to life. The only main driving thread here is the Galactus menace, who is given very little in terms of dimension, motivation, or for that matter, menace (what can he do, aside from being really big according to what this film illustrates). The creative team for this film knew they had very little in terms of dramatic tension or character development, so they smartly invested on everything else, namely visuals, including production design, costumes, and visual effects. And in that regard the film is quite successful: the 1960s are impeccably reproduced, and the retro-futuristic vibe of the film is very Jetsons inspired, retaining at all times a high level of polish and elegance never once falling into kitsch or anecdotal. Unlike James Gunn's take on Superman, which brought the alien hero into modern times, depositing him right in the middle of a rather dark political and human epoch, but smartly putting those aspects in a way that is palatable and entertaining, Matt Shakman doesn't really do much with his material, aside from illustrating this very limited story and arc with the very powerful tools he has from Marvel Studios' arsenal. The cast is solid, particularly Pedro Pascal and Vanessa Kirby, who have great chemistry and bring to life that central couple and their partnership, though Julia Garner is completely wasted under that metallic sheen. The production team is impeccable, including Michael Giacchino's score, Jess Hall's cinematography, Kasra Farahani's production design, Alexandra Byrne's costume design, and all the teams that worked on the visual effects (which are superlatively good). It's a watchable and entertaining film, with style hiding a very generic point of view and a rather weak storyline. Hopefully the sequels will improve upon this.
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