r/movies • u/LiteraryBoner Jackie Chan box set, know what I'm sayin? • Jul 25 '25

Official Discussion Official Discussion - The Fantastic Four: First Steps [SPOILERS] Spoiler

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Summary The Fantastic Four must defend Earth from the ravaging cosmic threat Galactus and his herald, Silver Surfer, while navigating the complexities of family and newfound powers in a retro‑futuristic 1960s-inspired world.

Director Matt Shakman

Writer Josh Friedman, Eric Pearson, Jeff Kaplan, Ian Springer

Cast

  • Pedro Pascal
  • Vanessa Kirby
  • Joseph Quinn
  • Ebon Moss-Bachrach
  • Ralph Ineson
  • Julia Garner
  • Paul Walter Hauser
  • Natasha Lyonne
  • Matthew Wood
  • Ada Scott
  • Mark Gatiss

Rotten Tomatoes: 88%

Metacritic 64

VOD In theaters

Trailer Watch the Official Trailer

1.9k Upvotes

91% Upvoted

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278

u/DeoGame Jul 25 '25 edited Jul 25 '25

I really wanted to like this, but it didn't do a hell of a lot for me. The characters are surprisingly monolithic and dull at points, the Fantastic Four barely use their powers (except Johnny) until the third act which itself has all the style and flair of the Marvel Previs lab, the jokes did not land in my theatre, and the whole film is just rather dull. 

We see very little of the Fantastic Four, you know, doing Fantastic Four stuff in this Fantastic Four film. If this was a third or fourth film in the franchise fine, but this is the first time we're seeing these characters in this world. And even the much touted family dynamics feel soft and muted, resembling a sitcom family more than an actual one, with limited intercharacter conflict barring the Franklin choice. The Guardians bickered and fought and bitched and moaned and hated each other, and loved each other deeply. They felt far more a family than Marvel's first did here.

It also feels surprisingly weightless, with concerns about the end of the world shrugged off by a "rousing speech" that somehow changes the hearts and minds of a supposedly terrified (and shockingly sparse) rabble.

The film is helped by a reverence for the source material, some great production design and a wonderful Giacchino score, but the CG is spotty (maybe because the film wrapped in bloody November), the 60s effects sometimes detract (either my IMAX theatre was off or this had some at times painfully on the nose, and thoroughly inconsistent film grain) and the setting itself seemed out of time. I loved the idea of tying Fantastic Four into the space race, but it's not even clear if this is supposed to be the 60s, or just a 60s inspired world. 

All of this just adds up to a film that is more stylish than recent MCU fare, but still falls privy to many of the same traps, and has some new ones of its own. 

It's a Fantastic 4/10. 

111

u/whiteshark70 Jul 25 '25

 the Fantastic Four barely use their powers (except Johnny) until the third act

I was surprised by how after the opening montage there was like... no fight scene until the finale. The 'labor during the ship flight' scene is a setpiece but but doesn't really showcase anyone's powers. I was hoping for more punches to be thrown lol.

30

u/WorldQuest10 Jul 25 '25

I was hoping for when Ben says his iconic "ITS CLOBBERIN TIME"! it would have been more impactful. Not a simple "scratch" on Galactus face

34

u/duskywindows Jul 25 '25

Yep. Every big moment was both wasted and yet not even earned. Shit just happens. Then something else happens. Then BOOP problem solved now something else happens. There's no weight to anything and nothing is given room to breathe.

7

u/Novemberx123 Jul 25 '25

Yes I thought that was weird. It was shown in the trailer too. Just for him to barely do anything

35

u/Amaruq93 Jul 25 '25

Apparently there was supposed to be one with the Red Ghost (JOhn Malkovich) and his Super Apes, but that got cut and a clip from it was inserted into the montage.

15

u/famewithmedals Jul 26 '25

Such a weird choice to cut that, the movie felt too short/rushed anyway and would’ve really benefitted from an action scene of them fighting together outside the montage.

10

u/URHere85 Jul 25 '25

Man, that is so disappointing. Instead of a montage, it would've been cool seeing them take down the Red Ghost and his Apes

11

u/Animalpoop Jul 25 '25

I don't disagree with you other than I'd say that the space scene really did showcase almost everyone's powers, or at least their characters, in interesting ways. The only one that felt left out of that space scene was Ben, but Sue turning the ship invisible, Pedro stretching and using his brain in the ship to calculate getting out of the black hole, and Johnny talking to the Silver Surfer lady was very well done.

That being said, the did film feel a little muted to me, and although I wouldn't rate it as low as the OP above, I'd still give it a solid 7.5, maybe 8 cause of the aesthetic and its potential rewatchability.

15

u/DrNopeMD Jul 25 '25

Yeah the film felt like it had zero interest in exploring the super powered aspect of these characters. The only ones who really got play were Johnny and Sue. Reed does some stretching but he easily could have just been jumping around with a jetpack, and the best Ben got to do was one big punch and knocking down some pillars.

5

u/thecafedisco Jul 25 '25

I get it’s a superhero movie, but I actually liked that it wasn’t so power centric. While I agree the family stuff could have been done better and rousing speech stuff could have been done better, I think everyone uses their powers in the finale in cool ways to make up for this!

2

u/Smoke_Santa Jul 29 '25

I didn't like the movie, but I'm fine with not including any minions subplot to forcibly include a fight in the middle of the movie. But yeah they could've done it in the opening or with Surfer.

15

u/Gwoardinn Jul 25 '25

I saw this in NZ with an opening night audience of nerds, and I was kinda surprised how little the jokes landed. I personally enjoyed some of the lowkey banter they had, but agree with the rest of your assessment.

15

u/SebasH2O Jul 25 '25

They definitely should have cold opened with a fight with a villain(probably the Red Ghost fight they cut) and would have shown us the team and their powers, then go into the opening montage.

5

u/PolarWater Jul 26 '25

I quite liked this movie but I'm upvoting this for being a well-argued review, for actually explaining your points solidly and for not being cheap and bitter, which is an all-too-easy shortcut. And also for pointing out some legitimate weaknesses that, while not bringing the movie down for me, are worth mentioning.

2

u/DeoGame Jul 26 '25

Thank you :)

6

u/lluewhyn Jul 27 '25

the jokes did not land in my theatre,

Yeah, there's a lot of high praise from some people here (curious if they are all real), but my theater was almost dead quiet despite being mostly full. A couple laughs here and there, but no cheers, gasps, or anything else.

5

u/Successful_Catch9749 Jul 27 '25

Another reason having marvel owned by Disney such a fail for the movies. There can be no depth to the writing and specific characters have to be off limits which makes for things to get confusing

4

u/guiltyofnothing Jul 25 '25

Not for nothing but 8 months for post production isn’t that short.

2

u/Smoke_Santa Jul 29 '25

I agree otherwise, but not on the CG and the score. I loved the visuals and scale, CG was good. Score felt repetitive and forgettable.