Fantastic Four: First Steps Review — Too Big To Fail

'Fantastic Four: First Steps' nails its atmosphere; it captures the tone of its source material well, but it falls short of creating a fulfilling narrative experience. It's neither undercooked nor overdone but it's just not enough to feel like a full meal. 

This is the third onscreen theatrical movie adaptation of the Fantastic Four comics that were created by writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby. It depicts a family of scientists with super-powered abilities that use them for the good of humanity.  

They are loved and celebrated the world over, becoming celebrities in the process, with action figures, Saturday morning cartoons, and guest features on ritzy talk shows. 

They are suddenly faced with a serious moral dilemma when the alien Silver Surfer comes with a message from towering space demigod Galactus, who intends to devour the earth and convert it into energy to fuel himself. 

This outcome can be averted if they choose to make a soul-crushing moral sacrifice, giving up one of their own to the cosmic being in order to save the whole planet from certain demolition.  

Directed by Matt Shakman of ‘WandaVision’ web series fame, the superhero film takes place in an alternate universe from the mainline Marvel Cinematic one, where the storytellers can work without all the aesthetic and narrative continuity which it would have otherwise been shackled with. 

The world they inhabit has the most character and independence in its visual and tonal identity seen in a Marvel film since 'Thor' all the way back in 2011.  

The cinematography is some of the best that the MCU has seen with jaw-dropping vistas and genuinely breathtaking visuals.

The movie is set in an alternate early 1960s which commits to an atompunk aesthetic. Jazz, pencil moustaches and pompadours of yesterday exist alongside the flying cars of the future. This alternate 1960s heavily references the space race, but is conveniently devoid of the cold war paranoia fueling it. 

It builds a retro- futuristic world from the ground up just for this movie, and one can see the passion put in by the set designers in everything, be it Flash Gordon style space tech; slick, curved and larger than life sixties furniture or even nostalgic brick and mortar neighborhoods where everybody knows each other’s names. 

The world, at times feels more lived in than the people it's trying to flesh out. 

The character design and costuming is also excellent with Galactus especially doing a fantastic job of communicating his awe-inspiring size, towering over the Fantastic Four, who seem like ants in comparison. Actor Ralph Ineson brings to the table his iconic deep and booming voice, donning the physical Galactus suit during his performance making the character feel real. 

The titular protagonists have similar but distinct costumes with a vibrant and warm blue and white colour scheme, distinguishing itself from the dreary body-horror inspired suits from the 2015 film and the early 2000s leather spandex version that the first movie adaptation sported. 

Vanessa Kirby’s performance as Sue Storm is an exceptional standout capturing a version of the character never seen before in any iteration. Sue is steely, steadfast and composed with an ironclad will.   

In contrast to her comic book version, who was more of a generalised doting mother, anxious sister and sometimes neglected wife, not really having her own identity outside of those gender roles. 

Her emotional depth makes her the de-facto leader of the group, despite it being powered by her husband, Reed Richards, the smartest man on the planet, who also designed their suits after they received their powers. 

Reed Richards is the nominal leader of the team, played by Pedro Pascal, who communicates the imposing weight of responsibility that this intellect brings on his shoulders with finesse. Reed is often tasked with figuring out the solutions to existential problems that would stump even the most accomplished scientists and philosophers.  

They are joined by Johnny Storm, Sue’s brother who can burst into flames and fly about, calling himself ‘The Human Torch’. 

Played by Joseph Quinn, his signature youthful charm and bravado feels a bit muted in this version, with Marvel consciously trying to steer him away from his flirtatious roots, which made him a source of entertainment and levity.  

This is replaced by him making quips and pining after characters, making his hopeless romanticism the butt of the joke. The idea being that his flirty cockiness is something the in-universe marketing team played up to make him more marketable. 

Last but certainly not least, is Ben Grimm aka The Thing played by Ebon Moss-Bachrach of 'The Bear' fame. The character that gets the worst end of the superpowered stick, having superhuman strength and muscle mass at the expense of a body solely made up of space rocks.  

The film wrestles with the emotional implications of this a bit, but does not dwell too much on it as previous adaptations had already done so. 

The Fantastic Four in the movie work as a family; they squabble, they argue, and they mess up, or intentionally mess with each other. And their villains were often sympathetic with complex moralities, leading to many of them even reforming and attempting to do some good. But the plot does not complement the characters well enough. 

The resolution of the compelling moral dilemma they face isn’t very conceptually innovative. The heroes end up bashing the villain of the week and putting them behind bars. 

Well, bars sturdy enough to hold a cosmic demigod that makes the Burj Khalifa look like a toothpick. 

This simplistic plot resolution, despite the memorable dialogue, makes it feel like it has more in-common with the fictional in-universe Saturday morning cartoons spoofing them than it probably intended. Its short length and anti-climactic ending makes it feel like an extended TV pilot with a large budget rather than a full-fledged major motion picture. 

This makes the overall narrative journey feel ‘okay’ rather than ‘Fantastic’. 

One can tell that the movie was seen as too big too fail, but this may have also been to its detriment with Marvel Studios not giving the story adequate space to breathe and thrive, doubting its audience’s attention span and consequently perhaps, its intelligence.