Fantastic Four: First Steps - Was it Fantastic?

IMDB

Catch up time. Saw this about two weeks ago.

The MCU begins the final phase of the Multiverse Saga (that's been hit and miss, we all know this). Fantastic Four: First Steps had its hands full having to do a lot of things all at once. They needed a win since the last few films haven't done as well as they had hoped. Captain America and Thunderbolts* underperformed at the box office. The latter actually being pretty good and loved by most fans. They're closing out the final stages of poorly recieved Saga. Most importantly however, they had to make a Fantastic Four movie that didn't suck.

Taking aside the lost tv pilot of the 80s/90s, Fantastic Four has had a rough go of it. The first two (early 2000s) were barely okay. They had some decent visuals and were fun enough. The stories were a bit weak, especially the second one. They introduced, like in this one, Silver Surfer and Galactus. Fans didn't take it too kindly when the great and powerful Galactus was just a floating space cloud. The acting didn't help. It only seemed like Chris Evans as Johnny Storm was putting effort in the last one. As much as a young actor could.

Fast forward a decade or so with the 2015 version. I think we all know how this dark, voidless movie came out. So, Marvel had to get it right. How did it fare? In my opinion...yes, but also...no.

Let's see what worked and what didn't.

Visuals...the look and the feel of this movie was 100% straight out of the comic book. It looked like the 60s, but with Richards tech. The characters visual representations of their powers worked and looked like they would in the real world. Galactus actually looked like he did in the comics. HUGE and imposing. The music and the look of the movie is what a comic book movie should be. Out of reality and, if you'll excuse the unintended pun, fantastical.

Acting...what you have here is a very well assembled group of actors. If there's one thing that Marvel gets right every single time, is its casting. Papa Pedro was of course at his best. Reed in this was different than the other versions. Already married with Sue, he's every much the leader of the group. Highly focused on his projects to an almost OCD level. The way Pedro played him I felt he was on the spectrum. Not Sheldon level or Rain Man, but high fuctioning.

Vanessa Kirby was brilliant as Sue Storm. The heart of the family. The Momma Bear that will do whatever it takes to keep her family safe. She lit up every scene she was in. The more I see Kirby in, the more I adore her. Given the right script, right director, there's nothing she can't do.

Joseph Quinn did a great job as Johnny. He played the immature (with a heart) younger brother. He doesn't always take things seriously, but when he does he gives it his all. The plan to use his boyish charm on the Surfer to get her to help them was a bold strategy. Watch the movie to see how that worked out.

Rounding out the group was Ebon-Moss Bachrach as Ben AKA The Thing. It's hard to emote as a big piece of rock, but Ebon did fine in the role. He wasn't that much of a center piece in the story. He had his moments, especially when paired with Johnny. That's when there was a lot of comedic gold. His scenes with Natasha Lyonne were nice. Again, while hard to emote, you could tell he had a little bit of a thing for her.

The story...this is where it wasn't that great. Silver Surfer and Galactus worked fine, but they weren't centric in the story. The main story was preparing for them. Sue finds out she's pregnant as Surfer herald Galactus. The team prepares to head to space to meet Galactus and find out what's what. After a failure, they make it back to earth...and prepare for another plan until the climactic battle.

That was the problem I had with the movie. Half of it was preparing for space trip and preparing for a plan to hide the planet from Galactus so it wouldn't be destroyed.

There are a lot of good moments in the movie. No fake baby was used like in other movies. The core of the story was about family. What would you do to protect them. It has a lot of heart. The look and the feel of it was firing on all cylinders. It was just a weak story for me. Everything else about it worked. It was more prep work than them fighting a threat as a team. Perhaps Galactus would have been better used in a sequel and another villain (not Doom, another one) would have made a good first outing.

It wasn't terrible and I had a good time, I just wish the flow of the story would have been better.

4/5