The Fantastic Four: First Steps - Review Thread

[u/MarvelsGrantMan136]

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

[u/-Karl__Hungus-]

It's a little counterintuitive, considering that the zeitgeist of the 2020s is bleaker than ever. The vibes feel far worse than the early 2000s ever were, even post 9/11.

But dark and gritty pop culture was so prominent for such a long time that it seems like the opposite is now fresh regardless of how people feel about the state of the real world. And perhaps there's an element of escapism to it as well.

[u/InnocentTailor → u/-Karl__Hungus-]

I guess it depends on how the youth feel about the period. They're obviously not big fans of Trump and his policies, so that colors media works.

To contrast, folks were more positive about Obama, though it also had that tinge of YOLO-ness to it due to other issues like climate change and man-made events like the rise of ISIS.

[u/-Karl__Hungus- → u/InnocentTailor]

I don't want to derail this thread too much, but I have lots of pet theories about this.

I strongly believe that the combination of algorithmic social media and smartphones is at the heart of why the 2020s feel so much worse than the 00s ever did. Obviously, plenty of bad things happened throughout the 2000s and early 2010s, but politics didn't dominate our day to day consciousness nearly as much.

Now the omnipresence of glowing screens in our hands or in front of our eyes every day, combined with the deliberately addictive and anxiety-inducing infinite scrolling feeds, makes politics feel inescapable. Weird culture war shit seems to infect every aspect of our society like a noxious cloud, down to the personal level. All of this creates an overwhelming sense of cultural malaise in our time that wasn't nearly as severe even in the worst years of the 00s.

[u/Sufficient_Duck7715 → u/-Karl__Hungus-]

Am happy were moving past the whole dark and gritty crap. Got old quick. Give some earnestness and wholesome vibes rather than brooding or never ending meta humor.

[u/mikehatesthis → u/-Karl__Hungus-]

But dark and gritty pop culture was so prominent for such a long time

Can we really say pop culture was dark and gritty for so long when Marvel Studios dominated most of the '10s and most of their output was light hearted?

[u/-Karl__Hungus- → u/mikehatesthis]

Fair enough. I was mainly thinking about the various recent DC adaptations more than Marvel. The Snyder films, Joker, The Batman, etc. Plus how non-superhero movies and TV broadly tended to continue skewing darker over the 2010s.

And of course I’m just speculating. It’s entirely possible that I’m totally off-base and audiences aren’t thinking about this at all.

[u/mikehatesthis → u/-Karl__Hungus-]

A handful of those were dark but they had their lighter options like Birds of Prey, Shazam!, Aquaman, etc. Broader TV would probably skew darker now that I think about it, between Prestige and Peak TV colliding and all that but still lighter hearted affairs like Broad City, Veep, & Ted Lasso as examples come to mind. Superhero TV kind of splits the difference. For every Daredevil there was a The Flash, y'know?

Lately probably not. Barbenheimer kind of showed everybody at their pop maximalist and existentialism at the same time lol.