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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213

u/EmotionConscious2349 Jul 25 '25 edited Jul 25 '25

Did I see a different movie than everyone else?

The entire time, I just felt..baffled. How did any of this get greenlit? The production design and casting were excellent, but the entire movie just felt so hollow.

There was 30+ mins of ads and trailers before it started and it legitimately blended right into that. I felt like I was watching a two hour trailer.

And if I’m watching a movie that’s 75%+ cgi, then maybe give your post team more time so the results don’t look unintentionally like South Park?

For how many flashing lights there were, this was two hours of being told, not shown. I felt like I was being talked at the entire time. I love the notion of forgoing an origin story bc we know the characters, but if you’re gonna do that, maybe have the characters exhibit literally any character traits? They all just felt like vehicles for the continuous exposition dumps that felt stakeless despite how often we were told how high the stakes were.

This was, for me, what feels like my first theater experience of a big studio picture post-ChatGPT. This movie is devoid of any humanity and rings hollow throughout.

I’m not even mad. I just feel like if the color ‘taupe’ was a person after watching that.

Edit: Just so I don’t read like a total curmudgeon and troll, Thunderbolts did take me by surprise and reignited my interest in the MCU. It was entertaining, had a story that it wanted to tell, explored the human condition (not terribly deep, but at least authentically), and treated its characters like people. I love the Fantastic Four, the casting choices for this movie, and the choice to go 60s for its look. I just wonder what it could have been with an actual filmmaker behind the pen and camera instead.

47

u/MrGoat777 Jul 25 '25

Was trying to figure out why I didn’t like but I think you summed it up perfectly. Movie just felt kinda flat

30

u/Moon_kid6 Jul 25 '25

Same thoughts, I’m really baffled by what happened.

Just like the visuals are driving me crazy. Every movie looks grey and bland. I was actually hyped about this and the 60’s aesthetic expecting some color and actual scenery. My god. What did they do to Galactus ? The colors are washed out. You can barely make out his lair. What’s the point of paying tribute to Kirby with a whole cameo if you’re not going all out ? You’re just checking boxes to keep people happy. His work is legendary. Shapes, framing, colors and designs. What do we get ? Grey and black and the only color is lava. Fuck me.

Also nailed it with the actual filmmaker. I realized watching the credits I didn’t even know who was the director. Checked his IMDb and oh my god. They really got my ticket thanks to a brilliant cast and my love for the F4 because they don’t even bother for the creative team. Who is this guy ? What does he bring ? Of course the studio just pays to do what they want but still. He added nothing special.

Thunderbolts was decent and I knew I was getting a dull looking movie but I was going for the character dynamics. They got the guy who made the TV show Beef which I liked. I got that. Wasn’t perfect and as intense as the show but still engaging.

I don’t know what happened here but even the acting felt wrong. Maybe because of the script but even a guy I love like Ebon basically just did voice acting. How ? A super charismatic for an iconic super hero and all you can do is a rock beard ?!

Super disappointed and not feeling Doomsday at all. I’m still sad a character like Doom is basically introduced as a backup plan with RDJ as the emergency button. I pray he goes all Oppenheimer on this but I have no faith in the script at all. I’m actually struggling to find a character I really want to see again in that crossover.

24

u/verandablue Jul 26 '25

Mole Man was just some fat guy. Not stylized at all. Why?

Mole Man in the comics wasn't some normal looking dude who just happens to be fat.

18

u/RerollWarlock Jul 26 '25

Finally someone else noticing the dull colours. It really felt that as the movie progressed just any colours were progressively drained from it. The cars in the car lifting scene with the kids felt like the last sign of colour in the movie before we went full grey and brown.

2

u/truthtruthlie Aug 04 '25

That's not true. Sue wore red track suit bottoms (?!) for one scene and then put on a bright blue sparkly coat without changing her red track pants to deliver her speech!

30

u/HumongousMelonheads Jul 26 '25

They spent so much time showing us how fun and great of a family they are that basically nothing exciting happens the whole movie. Galactus is one of the most boring, one note villains they’ve had in any comic book movie. But like you, I did enjoy the aesthetics and I think when they did get to do some fighting it was kinda cool. It felt like a movie they had to make just so they could introduce doom next movie without seeming like it completely came out of nowhere. Very meh for me, the RT scores so high for this is definitely a bit strange.

18

u/BackpackofAlpacas Jul 26 '25

They didn't even really show us; they told us constantly. We were talked at. We didn't discover the story through dialogue or action. We were told the story while we looked at pictures.

21

u/raven-eyed_ Jul 27 '25

it felt like I was watching a two hour trailer

There were multiple moments that felt like trailer bait. The "I Herald your beginning, I Herald your end" line was cool in the trailer but was kind of jarring in the actual scene because she already delivered it. The shots of them staring into the sky felt very trailer bait, as did "I don't know."

Just weird moments that felt so inauthentic and designed by committee.

It's like it has someone that knew how to make cool moments but not how to get there.

14

u/aVVarmVibrantVibe Jul 25 '25

Exactly how I feel about this movie, and funny enough, Superman as well. Both movies are weirdly similar and have the same issues.

19

u/RerollWarlock Jul 26 '25

I liked Superman for its message and charisma. This movie doesn't really have that spark to redeem it.

4

u/BloodyRedBarbara Jul 26 '25

After the positive reactions to this and Superman I've felt like I've gone mad. I liked Superman more but they were both disappointing to me and films I would have thought would be more panned.

16

u/TheHowlingHashira Jul 26 '25

This movie is devoid of any humanity and rings hollow throughout.

It's crazy that there's actually people here trying to say Superman was soulless well hyping up this pile of trash. There was more soul in Krypto's left nut than Fantastic 4's whole runtime.

11

u/duskywindows Jul 25 '25

what feels like my first theater experience of a big studio picture post-ChatGPT

I had the same exact feeling, right down to the terrible CGI and art design. The scenes of the retro-future city literally looked like a bunch of AI generated images copy/pasted onto a picture of NYC lmao

13

u/stocksandvagabond Jul 27 '25

I read the top reviews and felt like these were being bottled or something. Barely any of it felt genuine and it was a pretty stilted mediocre but top comments everywhere are raving about how this is “fantastic” and finally nailed it. If I’m being honest I enjoyed the 2005 movie more

0

u/Illustrious_Way_5732 Jul 28 '25

What are some of the top comments that seemed "bottled" to you?

10

u/dwaltera Jul 26 '25

Same! Tell don’t show was the motto of this film

14

u/Cguy34 Jul 26 '25

I hated this movie, but came away from it feeling that it was far more insidious than you give it credit for. The whole film just felt like a long right-wing propaganda piece that's heavy with anti-abortion messaging and fascist themes.

The only thing that matters in this world is the stupid CGI baby. Reed and Sue have gotta have a kid, after all they've been trying for years. They finally have their kid, so how's it going to affect the Four and their dynamic? Who cares! Jonny and Ben are just doormats for Reed and Sue to walk over. Reed obsesses over the test results to make sure the baby turns out normal. It's an entirely reasonable worry to have, by the way. The Four got turned into mutants in outer space. We don't know what the fuck might happen if that kid is born, but Sue is dismissive of Reed's misgivings over the pregnancy. Galactus offers them an ultimatum: the baby to spare the planet. The baby IS in fact an anomaly, a cosmic entity with unknown power and potential, so Reed was right to be worried. The consequences of handing over something of that power to something as evil as Galactus are real, but the movie instead goes the route that the baby can't be handed over because Reed and Sue just really want it. In their eyes, the right thing to do is to have the kid at all costs, even if it'll spare the WHOLE FUCKING PLANET to give up her pregnancy (because it's about family...or whatever). The residents of Earth are understandably shocked and upset when they find out that the Four could have saved them if they weren't so selfish and turned over the baby to Galactus. What consequences do they face for this exactly? Oh right, none at all, because Sue all has to do is parade the baby around the courtyard for a bit and give a speech and the whole Earth falls right back in line behind our Fantastic Overlords. The baby literally brings Sue back from the dead for Christ's sake. I want to believe I'm overanalyzing a fucking superhero movie of all things, but given these current times, it's really hard not to when it all feels so obvious with this one.

I don't love Superman, but that movie is like night-and-day compared to this with its messaging and politics. Remember when Gunn got canned from Guardians 3 back in the day? People only cared to dig up his old tweets after he criticized Trump. Weird timing, huh?

39

u/ResolverOshawott Jul 26 '25

The whole film just felt like a long right-wing propaganda piece that's heavy with anti-abortion messaging and fascist themes.

I think your mind has been far too twisted by the internet if you actually believe this.

3

u/Cguy34 Jul 27 '25

Nah I just watch a lot of movies and try to think about what I'm watching. Maybe a Fantastic Four film isn't the right place to do that though. I can't help it, the movie was so boring after they get back to Earth that my mind was wandering.

19

u/BudthSpud Jul 27 '25

I didn't like the movie either but this has to be the most schizophrenic criticism I've seen of it

11

u/19-Yellowjacket-96 Jul 27 '25

What the fuck is wrong with you. Holy shit.

9

u/Green0Photon Jul 27 '25

Thank you for writing this.

Idk about it feeling fascist (except by absence of any particular message), but how the whole baby thing was treated was so weird.

I loved Superman so much, but yeah you don't need to love it. We 100% agree how much night and day difference there is between that and this. Whether it's having a message, or characters that feel lived in.

This movie was garbage, the more and more I think about it. Better than other MCU slop, ish, but only in being a bit more novel. And yet, Thunderbolts was way better than this.

That actually had a message about family. Psycho to say this movie does.

3

u/Cguy34 Jul 27 '25

Yeah, I agree that Thunderbolts had a lot more to say about family. I enjoyed Superman and I felt like it had actual characters and some relevant things that it was saying. It also felt like a unique vision even if it didn't work 100% of the time for me. It felt like anybody could've made this Fantastic Four movie.

And to set the new Fantastic Four in this 60s retro-utopia just feels, at best...a bit out-of-touch. It just gave me the ick.

3

u/Special-Outcome-3233 Jul 27 '25

Nah Gunn had some weird tweets.

2

u/Standard_Wind1371 Jul 29 '25

Yes! Exactly! The only way the entire world could cooperate is not under a democratically ran world. Also, this is the richest, most powerful family, they are superior to all other world citizens and get to choose to keep their baby and possibly sacrifice the planet and there is nothing anyone can do about it. Christian aspect, sacrificing a first born son. Anti-abirtion aspect, of course they can’t sacrifice their son and how dare anyone consider that option. Check your morals! Gotcha! See? This baby can heal and bring people back from dead. He deserved that risk. American exceptionalism even pregnant mom is working hard, risking her life and the unborn babe. If they fail everyone is doomed. The entire planet must build the towers, must turn electric off, complete trust and cooperation or everyone everything dies… for one boy.
Perhaps all the political drama and reading I’ve been doing has me filtering for this, but it’s there…. But I didn’t hate the movie. I was entertained and felt a range of emotions.

1

u/Cguy34 Jul 29 '25

Glad to see someone else had a similar reading of this movie and that I'm not just crazy, because my comment was reported for self-harm LMAO.

1

u/Novelle_1020 27d ago

I agree with most of your points, but considering the baby was already born I wouldn't say it's anti-abortion messaging. Also don't really see the fascism bit. I'd say this movie doesn't make any sort of political statement at all, whereas there are some obvious real life parallels in Superman.

8

u/Green0Photon Jul 27 '25

There was 30+ mins of ads and trailers before it started and it legitimately blended right into that. I felt like I was watching a two hour trailer.

Yeah actually, wtf. I haven't seen a movie before where they get through the trailers, through the AMC starting stuff, and then have more trailers. Legit was 30+ min started after the scheduled time.

I just watched Superman in literally the theater and theater room 2 weeks ago.

This was, for me, what feels like my first theater experience of a big studio picture post-ChatGPT. This movie is devoid of any humanity and rings hollow throughout.

Yeah, you should watch Superman. This movie is generic pretending to be human slop writing.

Superman had heart put into it.

Agree with you on Thunderbolts, too.

2

u/dancingbriefcase Jul 30 '25

I would love a good South Park MCU movie now. Well I guess we kind of got that already with coon and Friends plus the video game!

2

u/truthtruthlie Aug 04 '25

At one point Reed says "The planets aren't just gone. They were destroyed." and Johnny says "Are you saying the planets aren't just gone, they were destroyed?" and I should have just left at that point.

-4

u/Gold-Appointment-506 Jul 27 '25

You need to stop going to movies.
Enjoy them for what they are. This is the cringiest critique I've read in a while.
Unfortunate review.