Well, fourth time’s the charm I guess. First Steps is far and away the very best Fantastic Four movie (not a high bar to clear, I know), and a refreshing back-to-basics comic book movie to launch the MCU’s phase six.
It’s fitting that Marvel’s first family is the one to wipe the messy multiversal slate clean and take the formula back to its roots. This is wholly and refreshingly its own contained story that isn’t cramming MCU cannon down audiences’ throats at every turn. Is it a revolutionary, game changer for the genre? No, but its narrative and structural simplicity feel like a welcome breath of fresh air in a franchise set on constantly connecting its dozens of entities. The potential world and family ending stakes feel appropriately high, and we’re able to focus on this group of characters without being concerned with how they might tie into a larger picture. Yes, I know it’s coming eventually, but for now, this project functions wonderfully on its own.
Taking place during the 1960s on an alternate version of earth, the retro-futuristic setting and time period is perfectly suited for these characters. let’s be honest, the Fantastic Four and some of their powers are kind of corny. They feel old fashioned because of when the comics were first created. Not trying to bring them into a modern day setting was smart, because everything else around them feels as if it’s been torn from the pages of a sixty year old comic book. It also allows us to focus more on them as a family, which thanks to empathetic character beats and outstanding cast chemistry, they genuinely feel line one.
Clocking in at under two hours, the pacing is just right. This is sort of an origin story, but because we’re already familiar with the team’s super-powered beginnings, the movie smartly and swiftly covers that ground through a series of news clips, interviews and headlines. It gives us a quick refresher and allows us to move into the main plot without drowning us in too much exposition or setup. The plot doesn’t break new ground, but it feels reinvigorating because of how complex and convoluted many other modern super hero films have become. There’s a big bad, who wants to destroy the earth, and the Fantastic Four have to stop him. There’s a really interesting moral hook, but otherwise its simplicity is a welcome return to the formulas that got us hooked on the genre in the first place.
The production design, from the retro-futuristic earthbound sets to the stunning intergalactic space sequences, is striking. Despite a heavy reliance on CGI, the digitally created visuals go hand in hand with the tone and aesthetics. There are a few small quirks, and it’s not as visually polished as something like James Gunn’s Superman, but this is one of the better looking MCU movies in recent memory. The space travel sequences in particular are a feast for the eyes - absolutely mesmerizing and cosmically grand. Michael Giacchino delivers one of his best sounding scores yet - epic, appropriately old fashioned and emotionally resonant in all the right moments.
Marvel’s first family wipes the slate clean, and recalibrates the comic book movie formula back to its simpler roots. Perfectly cast, visually exciting, emotionally impactful, and just plain fun to watch, The Fantastic Four: First Steps has legs to stand on. This is the movie this family’s been waiting on far too long.
4/5
Review by: Benjamin Garrett