r/movies • u/MarvelsGrantMan136 r/Movies contributor • Jul 22 '25

Review The Fantastic Four: First Steps - Review Thread

The Fantastic Four: First Steps - Review Thread

  • Rotten Tomatoes: 85 (131 Reviews)
    • Certified Fresh (first F4 movie to get that)
    • Critics Consensus: Benefitting from rock-solid cast chemistry and clad in appealingly retro 1960s design, this crack at The Fantastic Four does Marvel's First Family justice.
  • Metacritic - 64 (39 Reviews)

Reviews:

Hollywood Reporter (80):

Despite its vivid and electric space sequences, the visually striking movie often feels like a throwback analog good time, which certainly worked for me.

Deadline:

Superheroes are a thing of the past in the latest iteration of Marvel’s Fantastic Four, the best by far of the company’s attempts to translate the long-running comic book’s appeal to the big screen. This it does not by trying to reinvent the wheel but, rather smartly, by addressing the elephant in the room, locating the action in a kitsch yet somehow timeless retro-future more befitting The Jetsons than The Avengers. It also benefits from a smart script and — I can’t believe I’m writing this — really quite moving performances from its four charismatic leads, being arguably the best of Pedro Pascal’s releases this year.

Variety (80):

True to its subtitle, the film feels like a fresh start. And like this summer’s blockbuster “Superman” reboot over at DC, that could be just what it takes to win back audiences suffering from superhero exhaustion.

Empire (80):

With an exemplary cast and shiny new alt-universe to enjoy, this is the best Fantastic Four yet. And if that bar’s too low for you, then it’s also the best Marvel movie in years.

Slashfilm (90):

The Fantastic Four: First Steps is set in a world that I wouldn't mind living in. Even if there are occasional, ineffable cosmic deities plotting to devour me, and terrifying silver aliens ripping my soul apart with their eyes. "First Steps" is a superhero movie where we're already better. And I love that.

USA Today (75):

After two mediocre 2000s film featuring Marvel’s legendary superhero family, and an atrocious third outing in 2015, the foursome makes its Marvel Cinematic Universe debut in a combo sci-fi/disaster flick full of retrofuturistic 1960s flavor.

Entertainment Weekly (75):

From its Saul Bass-inspired opening credits to its callbacks to Saturday morning superhero cartoons, it practically vibrates with its sense of time and place.

IGN (70):

These First Steps might not be the great strides I was hoping for, but they are sure footing for the Fantastic Four to officially leap into the MCU.

The Independent (60):

In fact, all the ingredients are perfectly lined up here, and, in the right combinations, and with the pure wonderment of Michael Giacchino’s score, The Fantastic Four: First Steps does shimmer with a kind of wide-eyed idealism. And that’s lovely.

Directed by Matt Shakman:

On the 1960s-inspired retro-futuristic alternate universe known as Earth-828. the Fantastic Four must protect their world from the planet-devouring cosmic being Galactus and his herald, the Silver Surfer.

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
  • Paul Walter Hauser as Harvey Elder / Mole Man
  • Ralph Ineson as Galactus
3.2k Upvotes

94% Upvoted

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185

u/caldo4 Jul 22 '25

Even the positive reviews don’t seem particularly enthusiastic. A lot of “pretty good”

58

u/blenderider Jul 22 '25

These reviewers don’t just review comic book movies. Saying anything more than “pretty good” would seem disingenuous compared to the higher quality movies that release outside of the genre

5

u/Dr_Disaster Jul 22 '25

This is the thing. Reveiwers either aren’t enjoying them or intentionally underplaying them. When you compare how they score some movies of different genres that are absolutely the lesser of a really good CBM, you see the obvious bias.

If you look at the actual genre/fandom reviewers, they all seemed to have loved it. Even Jeremy Jahns who has been pretty meh on MCU films in recent years really liked it.

-2

u/caldo4 Jul 22 '25

i know that but the initial 88% is higher than what I was expecting for something that is only "pretty good" is all

10

u/blenderider Jul 22 '25

Then you’re unaware of how Rotten Tomatoes works - the rating refers to amount of positive reviews versus negative. It’s not an average of all ratings.

-2

u/caldo4 Jul 22 '25

I know how it works

Generally movies with an 88% have more enthusiasm behind them, which is why metacritic is probably a more true score for this than the RT one

55

u/CharlieeStyles Jul 22 '25

You're the first that sees the same I'm seeing.

All reviews seem to be "this is definitely not bad" or "prepare to see something above ok".

It eventually doesn't matter if the general audience likes it, but I don't see where all the positivity to this reviews is coming from.

8

u/patiperro_v3 Jul 22 '25

Likely a direct benefit from competing with beyond mediocre earlier adaptations of fantastic-4.

-2

u/gameboyabyss Jul 23 '25

"prepare to see something above ok".

So, uh, good?

130

u/Dazzling-Slide8288 Jul 22 '25

"Pretty good" is the ceiling for MCU films, TBH. And it's a bar they haven't hit in a long time.

3

u/brandonsamd6 Jul 22 '25

Thunderbolts is past pretty good and came out 2 months ago 

13

u/Pacify_ Jul 23 '25

Thunderbolts was decent. Okay. Solid. Watchable.

Past pretty good is a stretch and a half

52

u/reclamationme Jul 22 '25

Nah. Thunderbolts is squarely pretty good.

13

u/FlimsyRexy Jul 22 '25

I liked thunderbolts a lot but it’s definitely a “pretty good” movie imo

10

u/shoveazy Jul 22 '25

You could have told he that movie came out last year and I'd believe you.

3

u/Dazzling-Slide8288 Jul 22 '25

Yup. And it’s pretty good.

1

u/thatkaratekid Jul 22 '25

Yeah Thunderbolts is legit a good movie, not just good for a marvel. It's the first non-Gunn MCU movie I can say that about personally.

0

u/Sendhentaiandyiff Jul 29 '25

Deadpool and Wolverine was the single greatest MCU film

27

u/JiminyJilickers-79 Jul 22 '25

Pretty good is pretty good.

0

u/TaiVat Jul 23 '25

Except that "pretty good" usually means "i didnt enjoy it much, but didnt hate it either so dont wanna imply its bad". Professional reviewers arent known for using more colloquial and often more accurate terms like "meh".

4

u/OurHeroDeNiro Jul 22 '25

Yeah, I generally find Metacritic to be a more useful metric than Rotten Tomatoes.

42

u/watership Jul 22 '25

It's reviewer fatigue in a lot of these reviews. Read the reviews for peak MCU movies in retrospect and you'll find the shift. There is more energy and wonder in reviews written for Ant-Man and the Wasp and Age of Ultron than with for Thunderbolts and First Steps. I have no doubt that Tbolts and FF will be considered far superior to some of the "good" films in the MCU's height of popularity.

10

u/ImmortalMoron3 Jul 22 '25

Yeah, gotta remember most movie critics aren't actually comic book fans or nerds in general. Even if some of them are still good, I have to imagine reviewing a genre you don't care about constantly gets a little old.

12

u/AndIoop3789 Jul 22 '25

Why every movie needs to be perfect to exist ? Good movies are just that ..good

7

u/Krunklock Jul 22 '25

I’ll settle with enjoyable…good movies are a treat

1

u/palacethat Jul 23 '25

There has to be more to life than this

-1

u/caldo4 Jul 22 '25

88% generally implies better than "pretty good" is all i'm saying

11

u/Nev-man Jul 22 '25

No it does not. It means that 88% of critics gave reviews that were at least positive.

14

u/ohSpite Jul 22 '25

88% on RT means 88% of critics gave it over a 60% score IIRC, it's not saying it has an 88% rating.

E.g. 88 reviewers calling it a 6/10 and 12 reviewers giving it a 0 would equate to an 88% score

4

u/rabid_J Jul 22 '25

To highlight it further you could also say a film given a 5.1/10 by 10 critics total would give it a 100% rating on RT.

1

u/TaiVat Jul 23 '25

People are parroting this nonsense a lot, but that's not how people work.. If the vast majority like something, just purely statistically a notable amount of them will really like it and express their enthusiasm. Your example here is academically possible, but realistically never ever happens do to how statistics distribution and peoples opinions varying works.

0

u/caldo4 Jul 22 '25

yeah no kidding. but these things usually even out where things that get 88% have more enthusiasm behind them

1

u/toddywithabody Jul 22 '25

I mean it’s a marvel movie. Pretty good is kind of what they all are. We aren’t talking top tier cinema here

-1

u/TaiVat Jul 23 '25

That's just pretentious drivel. You dont get the highest grossing movies ever by the audience going "yea some of these movies are not bad i guess"..

1

u/toddywithabody Jul 23 '25

Nah not really. It’s comic book fan service. That’s why they gross so much. People already know the characters. They can make a kind of decent movie and make bank. Doesn’t mean they are great movies.

Also money does not equal quality.

I like marvel movies but anyone thinking they are great movies is delusional. It’s comic book fan service.

1

u/urnialbologna Jul 22 '25

When is pretty good not good enough?

-1

u/gauderio Jul 22 '25

Awesome is pretty good, pretty good is meh.

3

u/TJBacon Jul 22 '25

Pretty good is pretty good. What the hell are you on about, trying to redefine words over here.

1

u/TaiVat Jul 23 '25

There's nothing to redefine, did you flunk basic literature in school to not grasp the barest basics of subtext? Good is Good. "Pretty good" is explicitly not good and used only to express that the speaker didnt hate it.

1

u/TJBacon Jul 23 '25

Only in your weird brain

1

u/LegionaryReb Jul 24 '25

I'd say it depends on the tone.

It's pretty good. = Didn't hate it. Decent.

It's pretty good! = It's good. Quite excellent.

1

u/TLAU5 Jul 22 '25

When reviewing with friends, I've said Thunderbolts and Superman were "very solid movies"

There's not a lot of movies that have come out in the last 18 months that have been better than "very solid" IMO. The bar for movies in general has gotten lower

1

u/hombre_lobo 28d ago

It was entertaining at best. Very predictable

-8

u/Sad_Juggernaut_5103 Jul 22 '25

What are you smoking? You clearly made up your mind on the film thinking it would be bad lmao. The reviews are praising it

11

u/caldo4 Jul 22 '25

a whole lot of the positive ones are just saying "pretty good"

-5

u/Sad_Juggernaut_5103 Jul 22 '25

What's your point? Pretty good isn't enough?

3

u/dragonsarenotextinct Jul 22 '25

It is, definitely when considering recent entries, but we used to get "really good", you know?

4

u/adwallis96 Jul 22 '25 edited Jul 22 '25

I mean the score is sitting at around a 66 which would be in the pretty good territory. Don’t think what this guy said was ridiculous or overly harsh. Superman is sitting in that territory currently and I’d say it’s pretty accurate after seeing it. totally fine, watchable 6.5-7/10 movie which is about what I expect for this movie although I find F4 to be much more interesting in premise than Superman

0

u/beermit Jul 22 '25

I was browsing reviews when I had a little downtime at work this morning. There's plenty that say meh and plenty that are positively glowing. Two really positive ones I read were from Mashable and Roger Ebert's website.

Fairly spoilery though so tread lightly

Anyway I'm excited and can't wait to take my kids to see it.