Fantastic Four Review

Putting the F in Family

The Fantastic Four was known as Marvel's 'first family' back when they were originally invented in the 1960’s. Bombarded by interstellar rays while on a space flight, they were bestowed with amazing super powers, and the Fantastic Four was born.

Reed Richards, AKA Mr. Fantastic with his ability to stretch and extreme intelligence, his wife Sue Storm AKA Invisible Woman, with her ability to create light bending force fields to make her and other things invisible, her brother Johnny Storm, AKA the Human Torch, with the ability to set himself on fire and fly, and Ben Grimm, Reed’s best friend, AKA The Thing, with a rock-like exterior, who now has super strength and rock hard skin.

As a kid, I read a lot of their adventures but always felt like they were the more plain jane, vanilla of all of Marvel's slate of heroes. Just a happy family that works together to overcome adversity, with the biggest drama coming from the Thing hating his rocky appearance. It wasn’t until the 80’s and 90’s that they really got more of a personality.

That follows suit with a lot of the film adaptations as well. There has always been a struggle adapting the Fantastic Four, because as a property made in the 1960s, there’s always been a lot of campyness in how it was written. Characters using phrases like “it’s clobbering time” can generate a lot of eye rolls, and while the 2005 and 2007 sequel really leaned heavily into the campit was more of a 2000’s style camp, which was generally a lot less fun.

Still, even those were a breath of fresh air when compared to Josh Trank's 2015 gritty reboot that forced an edge onto the characters to the point of being completely unrecognizable. It seemed impossible to find the right kind of angle to attack these characters, and most had given up hope. 

Considering the MCU is long in the tooth at 17 years running, how does the Fantastic Four’s own brand of quirkiness fit? And the answer is generally, it doesn’t, so don’t include it.

The current MCU is going through a phase of multiverses and what better way to use them then by having them in their own retro future universe that looks similar to the world of The Jetsons.

Here is where our story takes place, and from the start of it, the film is visually stunning. Everything from the television graphics to the lovingly crafted Baxter building where the Fantastic Four reside. Also, I am loving this new trend in superhero movies where we skip the origin story we’ve heard so many times before and are shown an already established world.

The Fantastic Four are the only heroes of this universe, and have been doing their thing for a couple of years, having become quite the celebrities in their own right--to the point of having Coppertone style sunscreen ads. It’s all very tongue-in-cheek, but it works in building a lived-in world.

Next we are introduced to our heroes. Pedro Pascal, playing Mr Fantastic - is there anything this man cannot do? As a big fan of the source material, Pedro was not my first choice here, but he did his best to play the character right.

Invisible Woman, played by Venessa Kirby, is the linchpin of the family, and she holds the role with a quiet reserved strength that is very on brand for her character, Susan Storm. The Human Torch is played by Stranger Things’ Joseph Quinn, and while this character has always been displayed as a playboy, Quinn provides new context for the character, making him more of a scientist than previously portrayed and it gives a real sense of depth to him.

Rounding out the cast is Ebon Moss-Bachrach, as the Thing, who plays the hulking rock with a sense of humanity that makes you feel for him as a person outside of just a muscle bound brute with silly catch phrases. Overall, the cast really plays off each other well, and you feel the family in every quiet moment. Galactus and his herald The Silver Surfer, played by Ralph Ineson and Julia Garner, are menacing with their powerful demeanor of impending doom. Whenever they are on screen, they draw all attention. 

The primary focus of the film is that family dynamic, especially when we are presented with sizzle reels of all of the action that’s happened in previous years, interspersed with homey Sunday dinners.

There’s a lot to love about this family, but that harmony is disrupted when Galactus the Devourer of Worlds comes to eat Earth. Of course, he could leave Earth alone - in exchange for Susan and Reed’s unborn child Franklin. While most super hero movies would push into a massive large scale battle, the Fantastic Four do what they do best: Research!

Inevitably they are able to outsmart Galactus by using their combined intelligence and the strength of co-operation, which is pretty much the point of the Fantastic Four. Still, I guess the question is, is that entertaining? And the answer is....kinda?

While it’s easy to punch your way to a solution like most Marvel shows and movies tend to do, this new crop of films, first Thunderbolts and now Fantastic Four, we are choosing a different route. Thinking through our issue and coming to a solution that’s more about outsmarting our enemy. In preparation for this movie, I re-read some of my favorite Fantastic Four comics, and what always struck me with them was how often they were kind of slow-moving, dull or anti-climactic, and this movie hits that chord particularly well. Still, this is a welcome change to the mindlessness we’ve seen in the previous clunkers in the multiverse saga, I’m looking at you Thor Love and Thunder. 

Despite feeling the lack of action beats, Fantastic Four First Steps properly introduces us to the new First Family in a way that gives proper context for their chemistry and history as a team, complete with their robotic helper H.E.R.B.I.E. (Dear Lord please give me more H.E.R.B.I.E.!) That being said, the overall plot feels relatively low energy.

There are a few moments of excitement in chase sequences and the final face off against Galactus, but generally the movie is a story about a family, and the world that loves them. Humanity united around their protectors and what that means to all involved. It’s written well, and I’m excited to see how they are incorporated into future films. It’s not the best Marvel film but it’s exactly what Marvel needs right now. Grounding, levity, and a little bit of wholesome family.

Fantastic Four First Steps and Thunderbolts tells me that Marvel is definitely in need of a sea change, and these two films show me a bright future in looking inward, as opposed to dumbed down fisticuffs.