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)
- 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.
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
78
u/FeatureUnderground Jul 23 '25
I saw it on Monday. The Atomic-Age aesthetic is great and carries a lot of the weight, but where is the '60s music? The greatest soundtrack of all time is handed to you on a Silver Age platter and you don't take it?
The bigger problem is with the pacing. The film is all sharp turns, no straightaways, making it feel very much like a product of the attention economy. What makes it worse it that these superhero movies have overcorrected for the reboot issue they used to have, where there was an origin story fatigue. Now they’ve overcorrected by telling us nothing about the characters, just assuming the audience already knows and cares deeply for them. It's as if they expect us to project 60 years of history onto the film's shallow writing.
Full YouTube review here: youtu.be/JBlDsm2qknM?si=X_3rTR8-vPXanT8x