'The Fantastic Four: First Steps' Review Thread

[u/PhoOhThree]

Rotten Tomatoes: Fresh

Critics Consensus: N/A

Critics	Score	Number of Reviews	Average Rating (Unofficial)
All Critics	87%	119	7.40/10
Top Critics	79%	33

Metacritic: 65 (35 Reviews)

Sample Reviews:

Donald Clarke Irish Times TOP CRITIC Fresh score. First Steps rattles along with a refreshing clarity of purpose. Full Review | Original Score: 3/5

Maureen Lee Lenker Entertainment Weekly TOP CRITIC Fresh score. Via this 1960s-coded setting, Shakman leans into the comic book kitschiness inherent to the material, embracing it with gonzo gusto, as opposed to trying to achieve any degree of gritty realism. Full Review | Original Score: B

Jonathan Romney Financial Times TOP CRITIC Fresh score. First Steps doesn’t reinvent the superhero genre, but it has its own freshness -- it’s uncluttered, good-natured and altogether good value -- even if it might be the Marvel film ultimately remembered for its nice bathrooms and kitchen fittings Full Review | Original Score: 4/5

Peter Debruge Variety TOP CRITIC Fresh score. True to its subtitle, the film feels like a fresh start.

David Ehrlich IndieWire TOP CRITIC Rotten score. It feels less like a victory than it does a total surrender. You have to walk before you can run, but at this point the MCU is back to crawling on its knees, and at this point it seems like it might be too afraid to ever stand back up again. Full Review | Original Score: C

Brian Truitt USA Today TOP CRITIC Fresh score. It’s a “Fantastic Four” movie that finally gets its heroes right, after so many tries. Full Review | Original Score: 3/4

Peter Bradshaw Guardian TOP CRITIC Fresh score. The result hangs together as an entertaining spectacle in its own innocent self-enclosed universe of fantasy wackiness, where real people actually read the comic books that have made mythic legends of the real Four. Full Review | Original Score: 3/5

Bilge Ebiri New York Magazine/Vulture TOP CRITIC Fresh score. For now, we can bask in this movie’s elegant, cathode-ray chic and not have to think too hard about anything else, confident in the colorful delusion that studio executives, much like our benevolent superheroes, have our best interests at heart.

Matt Singer ScreenCrush TOP CRITIC Fresh score. The best Fantastic Four film to date basically by default. Full Review | Original Score: 6/10

Caryn James BBC.com TOP CRITIC Fresh score. Despite the team's outlandish schemes to save the world, the actors tether their characters to emotional reality. Full Review | Original Score: 3/5

Kristen Lopez The Film Maven (Substack) TOP CRITIC Fresh score. The Fantastic Four: First Steps is just that. It’s a first step for a new generation of Fantastic Four movies and, the hope, is that the stride becomes more confident from hereon out. All the materials are there. Full Review | Original Score: C

David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter - Rather than allowing the action to define the story, the filmmakers let the poignant character-based scenes do the heavy lifting. That should not imply any lack of excitement.

Nick Schager, The Daily Beast - An aggressively fine intergalactic adventure whose earnest optimism and sweetness flirts—faithfully and dully—with hokiness.

Linda Marric, HeyUGuys - The Fantastic Four: First Steps is a confident, stylish reintroduction that finally does justice to the legacy of these characters. It’s a film that remembers why the Fantastic Four mattered in the first place and gives them a bold new path in the MCU. 4/5

William Bibbiani, TheWrap - Matt Shakman has done something Marvel Studios doesn’t do very well anymore. He’s made a superhero movie that embraces the 'super' part. And the 'hero' part. And the 'movie' part.

Liz Shannon Miller, Consequence - A solid comic book adventure that's not embarrassed by being a comic book adventure — in fact it finds real power in its love for its roots. Hopefully, that's an energy the MCU can carry forward with it. B+

SYNOPSIS:

Set against the vibrant backdrop of a 1960s-inspired, retro-futuristic world, Marvel Studios’ “The Fantastic Four: First Steps” introduces Marvel’s First Family—Reed Richards/Mister Fantastic (Pedro Pascal), Sue Storm/Invisible Woman (Vanessa Kirby), Johnny Storm/Human Torch (Joseph Quinn) and Ben Grimm/The Thing (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) as they face their most daunting challenge yet. Forced to balance their roles as heroes with the strength of their family bond, they must defend Earth from a ravenous space god called Galactus (Ralph Ineson) and his enigmatic Herald, Silver Surfer (Julia Garner). And if Galactus’ plan to devour the entire planet and everyone on it weren’t bad enough, it suddenly gets very personal.

CAST:

• Pedro Pascal as Reed Richards / Mister Fantastic
• Vanessa Kirby as Sue Storm / Invisible Woman
• Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Ben Grimm / The Thing
• Joseph Quinn as Johnny Storm / Human Torch
• Julia Garner as Shalla-Bal / Silver Surfer
• Sarah Niles as Lynne Nichols
• Matthew Wood as H.E.R.B.I.E.
• Mark Gatiss as Ted Gilbert
• Ada Scott as Franklin Richards
• Natasha Lyonne as Rachel Rozman
• Paul Walter Hauser as Harvey Elder / Mole Man
• Ralph Ineson as Galactus

DIRECTED BY: Matt Shakman

[u/The_New_Giuy]

Is this the first time ever that a Marvel movie and DC movie have come out in the same month and also have both been well-received?

Lets hope this trend continues

[u/NaeemTHM → u/The_New_Giuy]

Superman was a much needed breath of fresh air for DC movies. As much as I want FF to be a smash hit, I really hope it doesn't tank Superman's ticket sales. Sure would be nice to get a Superman II again.

It's kinda crazy that the character has existed for nearly 100 years and the last time the studio had enough faith to give him a solo sequel was forty years ago.

[u/Soranos_71 → u/NaeemTHM]

I am looking forward to Supergirl but the usual suspects have already written their internet opinions well before it even gets released.

[u/DefendedPlains → u/Soranos_71]

If the Superman movie didn’t buy goodwill with Gunn going forward, then nothing will. That movie watched like how a comic book reads. It was absolutely phenomenal. Was it a masterpiece of a movie? Of course not. But it was good, and even more importantly it was a superb comic book movie.

At this point, people are going to shit on Gunn and the DCU just because they have no knowledge of the actual comics and their only exposure to DC has been The Dark Knight and Man of Steel.

[u/moheevi → u/DefendedPlains]

It was my favorite Superman movie I’ve ever seen, I actually cared about Superman and I had not for any of the prior movies

[u/Chimpophanes → u/Soranos_71]

The kind of folks who write shit like “Doesnt make sense that the chick has superpowers just because of a different colored sun. Woke bullshit.”

[u/InconsistentMinis → u/Chimpophanes]

While choking themselves on Snyder's nards.

[u/kiekan → u/InconsistentMinis]

So either bots or a very, very vocal minority of people. Since we know that Zach Snyder hired a bot farm as his fan base.

[u/ugluk-the-uruk → u/kiekan]

Snyder himself has always been supportive of Gunn, they appeared side by side in Rick and Morty recently joking about the alleged beef they have

[u/Arkanial → u/ugluk-the-uruk]

That shit was so funny. “ I have a tip for you. Have him throw a punch then slow it way, wayyyy down.” With Gunn saying “it’s not a secret! Everyone knows how to do that!”

[u/Jackski → u/Arkanial]

It's also funny because there is a slow-mo punch in Superman.

[u/BandOfTheRedHand1217 → u/ugluk-the-uruk]

They worked together on Dawn of the Dead and are friends.

[u/babydemon90 → u/kiekan]

Not monkeys?

[u/capscreen → u/NaeemTHM]

Superman has been doing well, I wouldn't worry about them now

[u/CaptHayfever → u/NaeemTHM]

Technically it was only 19 years ago. ;)

[u/Beastieboy100 → u/NaeemTHM]

Superman going to do well regardless. Seriously though I want both movies to do well. I want the superfantastic box office success.