Despite strong performances by Pedro Pascal and others – and for all its “breezy competence and flair” – this retro vision of the future from Marvel doesn’t have enough suspense.Producers make all kinds of claims about their films. But Kevin Feige, producer of the Marvel superhero franchise, was right when he called The Fantastic Four: First Steps “a no-homework-required movie”. What a relief.
For once, no need to scramble to Wikipedia to sort out the characters’ tangled histories and multiple timelines. That’s one of the strengths of this stand-alone film, which leans hard into its 1960s retro-future setting and style. And it benefits greatly from a cast that is believable in unbelievable situations, especially Pedro Pascal as the brilliant scientist Reed Richards and Ebon Moss-Bachrach as his best friend, Ben, aka The Thing, a giant man made of rocks.
How much you enjoy it, though, may depend on how much you might like spending a couple of hours in a theme park, which this pleasant-enough Disney film resembles.The Fantastic Four efficiently sets up the heroes’ story. Mark Gatiss plays a chipper talk-show host who introduces the team by reminding his audience of what happened four years earlier. The four were on a space mission when cosmic turbulence changed their DNA.
Richards, in addition to his genius, now has an elastic body. His wife, Sue Storm (Vanessa Kirby), can emit a force field from her hands and can also become invisible. Her brother, Johnny (Joseph Quinn), became The Human Torch, able to turn into a flying flame.
And Ben looked just like Cousin Richie from The Bear until he became the superstrong, rocklike Thing, a permanent condition. Now they all live together, for some reason, saving the world when needs be. They also created a humanitarian foundation, and it seems that Sue used it to bring about global peace, but that detail goes by fast, part of a sleek montage.The first comic featuring these characters appeared in 1961, and the film’s aesthetic is rooted in that era, down to the Fantastic Four’s identical blue uniforms with 60s-style white boots.
This is not a world where SpaceX or Blue Origin, today’s real-life billionaires’ space ventures, are a glimmer of an idea. It is a land of flying cars, a toddler-sized robot called H.E.R.B.I.E who helps out around the house, and screens with the square shapes of early televisions. For all his scientific genius – he has just discovered how to teleport objects – Reed still figures his equations on a chalkboard.
If you’ve even glimpsed the old television shows The Jetsons or Lost in Space, from the same period as those early Fantastic Four comics, you’ll recognise this cartoonish space-age vision of the future.The team’s family bond is the film’s main theme, even more than saving humanity. As the film starts, Sue learns she is pregnant. Nervous about being a father, Reed has H.E.R.B.I.E.
baby-proof the house and lab. Johnny and Ben are at times the bickering comic relief, but always excited to be uncles.But soon Earth does need to be saved from a space monster called Galactus, a giant in armour, with glowing eyes, who survives by consuming planets. He sends a messenger, the Silver Surfer, to announce his plan to eat up Earth.
In motion capture, Julia Garner plays the Surfer, a lithe, metallic figure – the film’s best, most sophisticated visual effect – whom Johnny instantly has a crush on.As the plot and the action kick in, in its simplicity the film comes to feel like a children’s adventure tale, although an odd one because it also includes Sue going into labour while in space, as the team chases Galactus and is chased by Surfer. The effects are mostly whirls of light along with Johnny in flames flying across the screen. As Marvel action goes, it’s a pared-down look, but in line with the colourful retro aesthetic.Despite the team’s outlandish schemes to save the world, the actors tether their characters to emotional reality.
In the big final action scene, at last we see Reed stretch like rubber, while Sue tries to fend off Galactus with her force field. But mostly Pascal and Kirby bring fierce-mum-and-dad energy to their roles (Sue and Reed’s son, Franklin, by the way, is the most adorable superbaby you’re ever likely to see). And throughout, Moss-Bachrach, almost entirely through his voice, brings Ben to life as a person, a loyal friend and slightly lonely man who exists within that rocky surface.The director, Matt Shakman, has worked mostly in television, and directed every episode of the Marvel series WandaVision.
As he did in that show, here he smoothly balances the characters’ emotions and their magical actions. For all its breezy competence and flair, though, the film doesn’t have enough tension or suspense to grab you the way it should. Marvel has announced that these characters will return in future films, so we know they won’t die.
(Plus, no one has to stay dead in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. They have timelines to fix that.) The best superhero movies let you ignore how ludicrous the plots are, but the silliness of The Fantastic Four is always in your face.In the end, the subtitle First Steps says a lot. This film feels like a warm-up, introducing characters who will become major parts of the MCU.
The end of the second post-credit sequence announces that The Fantastic Four will return in Avengers: Doomsday, the next instalment in the franchise. These characters are strong enough to stand out amidst the other superheroes, but you can already hear Wikipedia calling. –BBCByCaryn James
Producers make all kinds of claims about their films.
But Kevin Feige, producer of the Marvel superhero franchise, was right when he called The Fantastic Four: First Steps “a no-homework-required movie”. What a relief. For once, no need to scramble to Wikipedia to sort out the characters’ tangled histories and multiple timelines.
That’s one of the strengths of this stand-alone film, which leans hard into its 1960s retro-future setting and style. And it benefits greatly from a cast that is believable in unbelievable situations, especially Pedro Pascal as the brilliant scientist Reed Richards and Ebon Moss-Bachrach as his best friend, Ben, aka The Thing, a giant man made of rocks. How much you enjoy it, though, may depend on how much you might like spending a couple of hours in a theme park, which this pleasant-enough Disney film resembles.The Fantastic Four efficiently sets up the heroes’ story.
Mark Gatiss plays a chipper talk-show host who introduces the team by reminding his audience of what happened four years earlier. The four were on a space mission when cosmic turbulence changed their DNA. Richards, in addition to his genius, now has an elastic body.
His wife, Sue Storm (Vanessa Kirby), can emit a force field from her hands and can also become invisible. Her brother, Johnny (Joseph Quinn), became The Human Torch, able to turn into a flying flame. And Ben looked just like Cousin Richie from The Bear until he became the superstrong, rocklike Thing, a permanent condition.
Now they all live together, for some reason, saving the world when needs be. They also created a humanitarian foundation, and it seems that Sue used it to bring about global peace, but that detail goes by fast, part of a sleek montage.The first comic featuring these characters appeared in 1961, and the film’s aesthetic is rooted in that era, down to the Fantastic Four’s identical blue uniforms with 60s-style white boots. This is not a world where SpaceX or Blue Origin, today’s real-life billionaires’ space ventures, are a glimmer of an idea.
It is a land of flying cars, a toddler-sized robot called H.E.R.B.I.E who helps out around the house, and screens with the square shapes of early televisions. For all his scientific genius – he has just discovered how to teleport objects – Reed still figures his equations on a chalkboard. If you’ve even glimpsed the old television shows The Jetsons or Lost in Space, from the same period as those early Fantastic Four comics, you’ll recognise this cartoonish space-age vision of the future.The team’s family bond is the film’s main theme, even more than saving humanity.
As the film starts, Sue learns she is pregnant. Nervous about being a father, Reed has H.E.R.B.I.E. baby-proof the house and lab.
Johnny and Ben are at times the bickering comic relief, but always excited to be uncles.But soon Earth does need to be saved from a space monster called Galactus, a giant in armour, with glowing eyes, who survives by consuming planets. He sends a messenger, the Silver Surfer, to announce his plan to eat up Earth. In motion capture, Julia Garner plays the Surfer, a lithe, metallic figure – the film’s best, most sophisticated visual effect – whom Johnny instantly has a crush on.As the plot and the action kick in, in its simplicity the film comes to feel like a children’s adventure tale, although an odd one because it also includes Sue going into labour while in space, as the team chases Galactus and is chased by Surfer.
The effects are mostly whirls of light along with Johnny in flames flying across the screen. As Marvel action goes, it’s a pared-down look, but in line with the colourful retro aesthetic.Despite the team’s outlandish schemes to save the world, the actors tether their characters to emotional reality. In the big final action scene, at last we see Reed stretch like rubber, while Sue tries to fend off Galactus with her force field.
But mostly Pascal and Kirby bring fierce-mum-and-dad energy to their roles (Sue and Reed’s son, Franklin, by the way, is the most adorable superbaby you’re ever likely to see). And throughout, Moss-Bachrach, almost entirely through his voice, brings Ben to life as a person, a loyal friend and slightly lonely man who exists within that rocky surface.The director, Matt Shakman, has worked mostly in television, and directed every episode of the Marvel series WandaVision. As he did in that show, here he smoothly balances the characters’ emotions and their magical actions.
For all its breezy competence and flair, though, the film doesn’t have enough tension or suspense to grab you the way it should. Marvel has announced that these characters will return in future films, so we know they won’t die. (Plus, no one has to stay dead in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
They have timelines to fix that.) The best superhero movies let you ignore how ludicrous the plots are, but the silliness of The Fantastic Four is always in your face.In the end, the subtitle First Steps says a lot. This film feels like a warm-up, introducing characters who will become major parts of the MCU. The end of the second post-credit sequence announces that The Fantastic Four will return in Avengers: Doomsday, the next instalment in the franchise.
These characters are strong enough to stand out amidst the other superheroes, but you can already hear Wikipedia calling. –BBCByCaryn James
The Fantastic Four efficiently sets up the heroes’ story. Mark Gatiss plays a chipper talk-show host who introduces the team by reminding his audience of what happened four years earlier.
The four were on a space mission when cosmic turbulence changed their DNA. Richards, in addition to his genius, now has an elastic body. His wife, Sue Storm (Vanessa Kirby), can emit a force field from her hands and can also become invisible.
Her brother, Johnny (Joseph Quinn), became The Human Torch, able to turn into a flying flame. And Ben looked just like Cousin Richie from The Bear until he became the superstrong, rocklike Thing, a permanent condition. Now they all live together, for some reason, saving the world when needs be.
They also created a humanitarian foundation, and it seems that Sue used it to bring about global peace, but that detail goes by fast, part of a sleek montage.The first comic featuring these characters appeared in 1961, and the film’s aesthetic is rooted in that era, down to the Fantastic Four’s identical blue uniforms with 60s-style white boots. This is not a world where SpaceX or Blue Origin, today’s real-life billionaires’ space ventures, are a glimmer of an idea. It is a land of flying cars, a toddler-sized robot called H.E.R.B.I.E who helps out around the house, and screens with the square shapes of early televisions.
For all his scientific genius – he has just discovered how to teleport objects – Reed still figures his equations on a chalkboard. If you’ve even glimpsed the old television shows The Jetsons or Lost in Space, from the same period as those early Fantastic Four comics, you’ll recognise this cartoonish space-age vision of the future.The team’s family bond is the film’s main theme, even more than saving humanity. As the film starts, Sue learns she is pregnant.
Nervous about being a father, Reed has H.E.R.B.I.E. baby-proof the house and lab. Johnny and Ben are at times the bickering comic relief, but always excited to be uncles.But soon Earth does need to be saved from a space monster called Galactus, a giant in armour, with glowing eyes, who survives by consuming planets.
He sends a messenger, the Silver Surfer, to announce his plan to eat up Earth. In motion capture, Julia Garner plays the Surfer, a lithe, metallic figure – the film’s best, most sophisticated visual effect – whom Johnny instantly has a crush on.As the plot and the action kick in, in its simplicity the film comes to feel like a children’s adventure tale, although an odd one because it also includes Sue going into labour while in space, as the team chases Galactus and is chased by Surfer. The effects are mostly whirls of light along with Johnny in flames flying across the screen.
As Marvel action goes, it’s a pared-down look, but in line with the colourful retro aesthetic.Despite the team’s outlandish schemes to save the world, the actors tether their characters to emotional reality. In the big final action scene, at last we see Reed stretch like rubber, while Sue tries to fend off Galactus with her force field. But mostly Pascal and Kirby bring fierce-mum-and-dad energy to their roles (Sue and Reed’s son, Franklin, by the way, is the most adorable superbaby you’re ever likely to see).
And throughout, Moss-Bachrach, almost entirely through his voice, brings Ben to life as a person, a loyal friend and slightly lonely man who exists within that rocky surface.The director, Matt Shakman, has worked mostly in television, and directed every episode of the Marvel series WandaVision. As he did in that show, here he smoothly balances the characters’ emotions and their magical actions. For all its breezy competence and flair, though, the film doesn’t have enough tension or suspense to grab you the way it should.
Marvel has announced that these characters will return in future films, so we know they won’t die. (Plus, no one has to stay dead in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. They have timelines to fix that.) The best superhero movies let you ignore how ludicrous the plots are, but the silliness of The Fantastic Four is always in your face.In the end, the subtitle First Steps says a lot.
This film feels like a warm-up, introducing characters who will become major parts of the MCU. The end of the second post-credit sequence announces that The Fantastic Four will return in Avengers: Doomsday, the next instalment in the franchise. These characters are strong enough to stand out amidst the other superheroes, but you can already hear Wikipedia calling.
–BBCByCaryn James
The first comic featuring these characters appeared in 1961, and the film’s aesthetic is rooted in that era, down to the Fantastic Four’s identical blue uniforms with 60s-style white boots. This is not a world where SpaceX or Blue Origin, today’s real-life billionaires’ space ventures, are a glimmer of an idea. It is a land of flying cars, a toddler-sized robot called H.E.R.B.I.E who helps out around the house, and screens with the square shapes of early televisions.
For all his scientific genius – he has just discovered how to teleport objects – Reed still figures his equations on a chalkboard. If you’ve even glimpsed the old television shows The Jetsons or Lost in Space, from the same period as those early Fantastic Four comics, you’ll recognise this cartoonish space-age vision of the future.The team’s family bond is the film’s main theme, even more than saving humanity. As the film starts, Sue learns she is pregnant.
Nervous about being a father, Reed has H.E.R.B.I.E. baby-proof the house and lab. Johnny and Ben are at times the bickering comic relief, but always excited to be uncles.But soon Earth does need to be saved from a space monster called Galactus, a giant in armour, with glowing eyes, who survives by consuming planets.
He sends a messenger, the Silver Surfer, to announce his plan to eat up Earth. In motion capture, Julia Garner plays the Surfer, a lithe, metallic figure – the film’s best, most sophisticated visual effect – whom Johnny instantly has a crush on.As the plot and the action kick in, in its simplicity the film comes to feel like a children’s adventure tale, although an odd one because it also includes Sue going into labour while in space, as the team chases Galactus and is chased by Surfer. The effects are mostly whirls of light along with Johnny in flames flying across the screen.
As Marvel action goes, it’s a pared-down look, but in line with the colourful retro aesthetic.Despite the team’s outlandish schemes to save the world, the actors tether their characters to emotional reality. In the big final action scene, at last we see Reed stretch like rubber, while Sue tries to fend off Galactus with her force field. But mostly Pascal and Kirby bring fierce-mum-and-dad energy to their roles (Sue and Reed’s son, Franklin, by the way, is the most adorable superbaby you’re ever likely to see).
And throughout, Moss-Bachrach, almost entirely through his voice, brings Ben to life as a person, a loyal friend and slightly lonely man who exists within that rocky surface.The director, Matt Shakman, has worked mostly in television, and directed every episode of the Marvel series WandaVision. As he did in that show, here he smoothly balances the characters’ emotions and their magical actions. For all its breezy competence and flair, though, the film doesn’t have enough tension or suspense to grab you the way it should.
Marvel has announced that these characters will return in future films, so we know they won’t die. (Plus, no one has to stay dead in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. They have timelines to fix that.) The best superhero movies let you ignore how ludicrous the plots are, but the silliness of The Fantastic Four is always in your face.In the end, the subtitle First Steps says a lot.
This film feels like a warm-up, introducing characters who will become major parts of the MCU. The end of the second post-credit sequence announces that The Fantastic Four will return in Avengers: Doomsday, the next instalment in the franchise. These characters are strong enough to stand out amidst the other superheroes, but you can already hear Wikipedia calling.
–BBCByCaryn James
The team’s family bond is the film’s main theme, even more than saving humanity. As the film starts, Sue learns she is pregnant. Nervous about being a father, Reed has H.E.R.B.I.E.
baby-proof the house and lab. Johnny and Ben are at times the bickering comic relief, but always excited to be uncles.But soon Earth does need to be saved from a space monster called Galactus, a giant in armour, with glowing eyes, who survives by consuming planets. He sends a messenger, the Silver Surfer, to announce his plan to eat up Earth.
In motion capture, Julia Garner plays the Surfer, a lithe, metallic figure – the film’s best, most sophisticated visual effect – whom Johnny instantly has a crush on.As the plot and the action kick in, in its simplicity the film comes to feel like a children’s adventure tale, although an odd one because it also includes Sue going into labour while in space, as the team chases Galactus and is chased by Surfer. The effects are mostly whirls of light along with Johnny in flames flying across the screen. As Marvel action goes, it’s a pared-down look, but in line with the colourful retro aesthetic.Despite the team’s outlandish schemes to save the world, the actors tether their characters to emotional reality.
In the big final action scene, at last we see Reed stretch like rubber, while Sue tries to fend off Galactus with her force field. But mostly Pascal and Kirby bring fierce-mum-and-dad energy to their roles (Sue and Reed’s son, Franklin, by the way, is the most adorable superbaby you’re ever likely to see). And throughout, Moss-Bachrach, almost entirely through his voice, brings Ben to life as a person, a loyal friend and slightly lonely man who exists within that rocky surface.The director, Matt Shakman, has worked mostly in television, and directed every episode of the Marvel series WandaVision.
As he did in that show, here he smoothly balances the characters’ emotions and their magical actions. For all its breezy competence and flair, though, the film doesn’t have enough tension or suspense to grab you the way it should. Marvel has announced that these characters will return in future films, so we know they won’t die.
(Plus, no one has to stay dead in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. They have timelines to fix that.) The best superhero movies let you ignore how ludicrous the plots are, but the silliness of The Fantastic Four is always in your face.In the end, the subtitle First Steps says a lot. This film feels like a warm-up, introducing characters who will become major parts of the MCU.
The end of the second post-credit sequence announces that The Fantastic Four will return in Avengers: Doomsday, the next instalment in the franchise. These characters are strong enough to stand out amidst the other superheroes, but you can already hear Wikipedia calling. –BBCByCaryn James
But soon Earth does need to be saved from a space monster called Galactus, a giant in armour, with glowing eyes, who survives by consuming planets.
He sends a messenger, the Silver Surfer, to announce his plan to eat up Earth. In motion capture, Julia Garner plays the Surfer, a lithe, metallic figure – the film’s best, most sophisticated visual effect – whom Johnny instantly has a crush on.As the plot and the action kick in, in its simplicity the film comes to feel like a children’s adventure tale, although an odd one because it also includes Sue going into labour while in space, as the team chases Galactus and is chased by Surfer. The effects are mostly whirls of light along with Johnny in flames flying across the screen.
As Marvel action goes, it’s a pared-down look, but in line with the colourful retro aesthetic.Despite the team’s outlandish schemes to save the world, the actors tether their characters to emotional reality. In the big final action scene, at last we see Reed stretch like rubber, while Sue tries to fend off Galactus with her force field. But mostly Pascal and Kirby bring fierce-mum-and-dad energy to their roles (Sue and Reed’s son, Franklin, by the way, is the most adorable superbaby you’re ever likely to see).
And throughout, Moss-Bachrach, almost entirely through his voice, brings Ben to life as a person, a loyal friend and slightly lonely man who exists within that rocky surface.The director, Matt Shakman, has worked mostly in television, and directed every episode of the Marvel series WandaVision. As he did in that show, here he smoothly balances the characters’ emotions and their magical actions. For all its breezy competence and flair, though, the film doesn’t have enough tension or suspense to grab you the way it should.
Marvel has announced that these characters will return in future films, so we know they won’t die. (Plus, no one has to stay dead in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. They have timelines to fix that.) The best superhero movies let you ignore how ludicrous the plots are, but the silliness of The Fantastic Four is always in your face.In the end, the subtitle First Steps says a lot.
This film feels like a warm-up, introducing characters who will become major parts of the MCU. The end of the second post-credit sequence announces that The Fantastic Four will return in Avengers: Doomsday, the next instalment in the franchise. These characters are strong enough to stand out amidst the other superheroes, but you can already hear Wikipedia calling.
–BBCByCaryn James
As the plot and the action kick in, in its simplicity the film comes to feel like a children’s adventure tale, although an odd one because it also includes Sue going into labour while in space, as the team chases Galactus and is chased by Surfer. The effects are mostly whirls of light along with Johnny in flames flying across the screen. As Marvel action goes, it’s a pared-down look, but in line with the colourful retro aesthetic.Despite the team’s outlandish schemes to save the world, the actors tether their characters to emotional reality.
In the big final action scene, at last we see Reed stretch like rubber, while Sue tries to fend off Galactus with her force field. But mostly Pascal and Kirby bring fierce-mum-and-dad energy to their roles (Sue and Reed’s son, Franklin, by the way, is the most adorable superbaby you’re ever likely to see). And throughout, Moss-Bachrach, almost entirely through his voice, brings Ben to life as a person, a loyal friend and slightly lonely man who exists within that rocky surface.The director, Matt Shakman, has worked mostly in television, and directed every episode of the Marvel series WandaVision.
As he did in that show, here he smoothly balances the characters’ emotions and their magical actions. For all its breezy competence and flair, though, the film doesn’t have enough tension or suspense to grab you the way it should. Marvel has announced that these characters will return in future films, so we know they won’t die.
(Plus, no one has to stay dead in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. They have timelines to fix that.) The best superhero movies let you ignore how ludicrous the plots are, but the silliness of The Fantastic Four is always in your face.In the end, the subtitle First Steps says a lot. This film feels like a warm-up, introducing characters who will become major parts of the MCU.
The end of the second post-credit sequence announces that The Fantastic Four will return in Avengers: Doomsday, the next instalment in the franchise. These characters are strong enough to stand out amidst the other superheroes, but you can already hear Wikipedia calling. –BBCByCaryn James
Despite the team’s outlandish schemes to save the world, the actors tether their characters to emotional reality.
In the big final action scene, at last we see Reed stretch like rubber, while Sue tries to fend off Galactus with her force field. But mostly Pascal and Kirby bring fierce-mum-and-dad energy to their roles (Sue and Reed’s son, Franklin, by the way, is the most adorable superbaby you’re ever likely to see). And throughout, Moss-Bachrach, almost entirely through his voice, brings Ben to life as a person, a loyal friend and slightly lonely man who exists within that rocky surface.The director, Matt Shakman, has worked mostly in television, and directed every episode of the Marvel series WandaVision.
As he did in that show, here he smoothly balances the characters’ emotions and their magical actions. For all its breezy competence and flair, though, the film doesn’t have enough tension or suspense to grab you the way it should. Marvel has announced that these characters will return in future films, so we know they won’t die.
(Plus, no one has to stay dead in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. They have timelines to fix that.) The best superhero movies let you ignore how ludicrous the plots are, but the silliness of The Fantastic Four is always in your face.In the end, the subtitle First Steps says a lot. This film feels like a warm-up, introducing characters who will become major parts of the MCU.
The end of the second post-credit sequence announces that The Fantastic Four will return in Avengers: Doomsday, the next instalment in the franchise. These characters are strong enough to stand out amidst the other superheroes, but you can already hear Wikipedia calling. –BBCByCaryn James
The director, Matt Shakman, has worked mostly in television, and directed every episode of the Marvel series WandaVision.
As he did in that show, here he smoothly balances the characters’ emotions and their magical actions. For all its breezy competence and flair, though, the film doesn’t have enough tension or suspense to grab you the way it should. Marvel has announced that these characters will return in future films, so we know they won’t die.
(Plus, no one has to stay dead in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. They have timelines to fix that.) The best superhero movies let you ignore how ludicrous the plots are, but the silliness of The Fantastic Four is always in your face.In the end, the subtitle First Steps says a lot. This film feels like a warm-up, introducing characters who will become major parts of the MCU.
The end of the second post-credit sequence announces that The Fantastic Four will return in Avengers: Doomsday, the next instalment in the franchise. These characters are strong enough to stand out amidst the other superheroes, but you can already hear Wikipedia calling. –BBCByCaryn James
In the end, the subtitle First Steps says a lot.
This film feels like a warm-up, introducing characters who will become major parts of the MCU. The end of the second post-credit sequence announces that The Fantastic Four will return in Avengers: Doomsday, the next instalment in the franchise. These characters are strong enough to stand out amidst the other superheroes, but you can already hear Wikipedia calling.
–BBCByCaryn James
Source: Dailynews
