“Marvel finally gets the Fantastic Four right, but tells a very familiar origin story that doesn’t have the ‘wow’ factor!”
Did Marvel Studios finally get the Fantastic Four night? I think so, but is it a great movie? Well, at this point anything that’s just “okay” when it comes to Marvel movies can be great. I’m not telling you that I hate this movie, I actually enjoyed it very much, but I will admit upfront that it did not “wow” me. Earlier this year I talked about Marvel was starting to find the magic again after Thunderbolts. Thunderbolts may not be a great movie, but it felt like a Marvel movie we would have seen 8 or 10 years ago, one we know is leading to something bigger. The new Fantastic Four movie is just that. By itself it’s merely okay, but as for setting up these characters in a large universe and introducing us to Galactus, the movie does exactly what it’s supposed to do. That’s the reason I would consider it great, at least these days. It’s a good origin story without having to tell the origin story like we’ve seen before. The use of flashback scenes to catch up the audience to current events is brilliant just like we saw in the Edward Norton Incredible Hulk movie. Fantastic Four: First Steps tells the audience everything we need to know about the Fantastic Four Even if it doesn’t fully explain the world they live in. One of my biggest issues is having all this great technology like solving the problem of teleportation, but the look and the technology seems like it’s from the 1960s. Aesthetically it may look good, but is not necessarily believable. Then again I guess that really doesn’t matter when Captain America was created in the 1940s with a super serum. I might be nitpicking just a little bit, but I want to know more about this particular world they live in and how everything works without just accepting it as fact. Perhaps this is where a Disney + series could’ve work and served as a prequel.
After 37 Marvel movies and countless origin stories introducing characters that will be part of the bigger picture, we get the full Fantastic Four. John Krasinski’s appearance s read Richards doesn’t really count. But one of the best parts of this movie is the cast and great performances. I honestly have to admit that Pedro Pascal nailed it as Reed Richards and I love Vanessa Kirby as Sue Storm. Joseph Quinn does a great job as Johnny Storm, but I have to admit I’ve always been more partial to Chris Evans’ version. Overall, the entire cast does a great job with this version of the Fantastic Four. They seem to embody the characters perfectly. When we are introduced to the Fantastic Four it’s 4 years after gaining their powers and they have been established as the world’s saviors. What we see is a good family dynamic and already established world with a mixture of drama and comedy especially when Sue finds out that she’s pregnant. When she is 9 months pregnant that’s when the Silver Surfer shows up to announce that Galactus is coming. This is where the story starts to take off and we get to see the Fantastic Four travel to his location and tried to bargain with him to spare their earth. Obviously, it doesn’t work and Galactus will eventually show up to destroy their planet. It’s a good story in the sense that soon-to-be Avengers have the first interaction with Galactus, which is important for the upcoming Avengers movies. The film does a good job telling this part of the bigger story and if you have seen Thunderbolts then you already know the “end of credits” scene is the Fantastic Four finally arriving to that particular universe.
As I mentioned it’s a good introduction to the Fantastic Four without having to retell their origin story, but here’s my biggest problem with the movie. There’s so much story that’s trying to be told in 2 hours, we don’t really have time to catch our breath. I understand the need not to retell this origin story, but as the audience we need a lot more context and backstory of how the Fantastic Four came to be within their particular world and a 2-hour movie can’t really get us there as much as a series on Disney + show could. The problem with Marvel is it’s been established that there are different universes so every time we’re introduced to a new one it’s almost like we have to tell an origin t story to introduce as to what’s going on in that particular universe. For me the biggest question is why the Fantastic Four in what seems like the 1960s with advanced technology. The movie doesn’t explain any of this. It just wants to tell us that here are the Fantastic Four and they’re going to be the first Avengers to be introduced to Galactus. In every other Marvel origin story, we have been given enough information to set up these characters and how they will become part of the Avengers. We easily understand their world and how it will come into play in overall stories. There’s too many lingering questions in my opinion. To tell a proper story, one must take the time to set up the characters and send them on their journey. We easily see that with Captain America, Iron Man, and Thor first movies. This adds an emotional weight to their hero’s journey, but we don’t really see that with the Fantastic Four. They exist and we should just know what’s going on. Also, if the Silver Surfer gets a bit of an origin story, then why not Galactus? Unless you’ve read the comics, there’s not really any backstory. We know he devours planets, but there’s no setup to why he’s the villain. That was not the case with Thanos. The biggest flaw of this movie is it’s not like other origin stories where they develop the character and give us an emotional connection right off the bat. Again, as the audience we are dropped into their world of the Fantastic Four and are supposed to accept it as is. We need more build up than that and would love to see a Fantastic Four Series on Disney +. It would certainly be better than Ironheart.
Overall, I do think this is the best Fantastic Four movie that Marvel Studios has made. It seems to fit perfectly within this Marvel Universe even though technically they’re on another Earth. And it doesn’t take away from the Jessica Alba and Chris Evans movie which seem like more standalone movies than anything else. We can definitely forget about the last Fantastic Four movie which while it had an interesting family dynamic, was always destined to be shit because of the troubled production. I think we can all agree at this point that Robert Downey Jr. is going to nail it as Dr. Doom. For me this is a good enough origin story that sets up the Fantastic Four characters in a bigger story, much like they did with Captain Marvel. Her origin movie wasn’t great, but it did exactly what it needed to do to introduce her character and show the beginnings of the Avengers initiative. But the best part of this movie really is the aesthetics, it’s an interesting concept and while it may rely too much on the nostalgia for Captain America: The First Avenger as having that classic feel because it’s set in a different time period, it does work even if it leaves us with too many lingering questions, which I hope that they explain down the line… that’s just me. Perhaps the majority of fans don’t need that, just a really good movie that sets up the Fantastic Four and how they interacted with Galactus, and how they get to the Marvel Universe we know for the new version of the Avengers. But the cast is really good. The chemistry is obviously there and the comedic banter makes for a very entertaining movie. Even though for me it doesn’t have that “wow” factor, I will say that this is the kind of movie that I would have expected to see 15 years ago when Marvel Studios was setting up the framework for the first Avengers team. It feels like a classic Marvel movie in a lot of ways even if it doesn’t deliver in quite the same way, but I admit, nothing is ever going to be as good as introducing the legacy characters and teams like the Guardians of the Galaxy. Everything may seem way too familiar now, but that’s to be expected after 37 Marvel movies. But after Thunderbolts and this new Fantastic Four movie, Marvel studio seems to be getting back to what made them great in the beginning. Maybe it’s too early to say that the magic is back, but it’s definitely a lot better than all the lackluster movies we endured over the last six years. And more importantly, yes, Marvel didn’t screw up the Fantastic Four, It’s about time they finally got those characters right!
