No assembly RequireD

Taking first steps can be an exciting but often terrifying journey. Especially when everyone is watching you, waiting to see if you are going to stick the landing or fall on your face crying. For Marvel Studios to subtitle a film FIRST STEPS, after 37 feature films is kind of a bold movie from a studio who has not made a consistent lasting impression in what feels like a lifetime. THE FANTASTIC FOUR: FIRST STEPS is not just another attempt at relaunching the first family into cinematic space but also trying to get back to welcoming familiar roots before Kevin Feige and co. deliver what they claim to be their biggest event film to date in “Avengers: Doomsday.” For FANTASTIC FOUR however they are able to mostly succeed thanks to the cast doing the stepping and a director who has seemed to take his theater production design roots quite seriously. It is just unfortunate that every step that is taking forward seems to have its legs kicked from out under them just when they are about to hit their stride. Instead FANASTIC FOUR feels less like first steps and instead another crawl that Marvel has become so keen but still manages to entertain with the audience doing some of the heavy lifting by making more of an enjoyment that may present itself on screen. For being welcomed into this new family it can feel like a warm hug, but often like a family reunion it can be fun for the first hour until you realize everyone is up to their annoying predictable ways. But perhaps that is what makes family so charming at times, a group of people you can rely on always being themselves for better or worse. For real life, its admirable for cinematic purposes less so.

A talk show host walks out to a cheering crowd and states, “Folks we all know the story.” Thirty seconds into director Matt Shakman’s film and it already proclaims some bold statements. FANTASTIC FOUR knows it is technically the fourth time this first family has been brought to the big screen and yet claiming that general audiences knows the story already is quite humorous, especially when followed by a terrific montage that re-introduces us to the Fantastic Four that includes Reed Richards (Pedro Pascal), his wife Sue Storm, (Vanessa Kirby), his best friend Ben Grimm (Ebon-Moss Bachrach), and his brother-in-law Johnny Storm (Joseph Quinn). Four astronauts who were hit with cosmic rays that gave them four very distinct superpowers, Invisibility, limb stretching, fire power and well a rock. The Fantastic Four may be familiar to many but unlike another major superhero film this year, FIRST STEPS refusing to be an origin story that works at first glance until those family bonds start to come into play. Thankfully before we get there FIRST STEPS delivers one of Marvel’s best casts to date. It has been four years since the Fantastic Four have been created and their lives changed forever. Citizens of Earth 828, where 1960’s aesthetic has been kept (thankfully and conveniently none of the prejudice stayed), The Four are celebrities appearing on daytime talk shows, being on the cover of Life Magazine and seen as the greatest cultural icons ever and always at the disposal of the people. Aided by Shakman’s sharp directing and a exuberant blasting score from Michael Giacchino we are given quick glimpses of the Four’s past few years saving the world (but mostly New York) from all sorts of wonderfully ridiculous villains of the week. FIRST STEPS instantly wants us to feel like we have set down in front of our large, boxed TV for a Saturday morning cartoon. And thanks to production designer Kasra Farahani it succeeds. It also helps that since the purchase of Marvel by Disney this feels like the first film in over ten years that carries that same magic you’d find at a Disney park. Brightly lit futuristic sets feel like the better days of Magic Kingdom’s Tomorrowland section. In fact FIRST STEPS gives off such whimsical energy in its first forty minutes that you can practically hear an animatronic start singing “It’s a great big, beautiful tomorrow!” in the background.

But even with all the exciting visuals at hand, the FANATSTIC FOUR needs to be just as engaging. Pedro Pascal as Reed Richards feels tailormade for the hard working actor with the best agent in town. Pascal with his low voice and slower mannerisms captures Richards inability to hold the same grand emotions of his teammates. With news that Sue is now pregnant his fears of being a father are more analytically immediate wanting to study and observe his wife’s stomach (quite literally). His wife Sue however is able to hold the emotions that most mothers and women feel while also being the rock holding them both down. Kirby herself becomes the glue of the film’s heart. Quinn and Bachrach, while admirable and quite charming in their respective roles get limited time to shine as Johnny and Ben before things start going south for their world. Enter the a herald. In the shape of a flying silver woman with a surfboard (Julia Garner) a warning is given to Earth 828 that the almighty Galactus has chosen their planet for total destruction. Galactus one of the Fantastic Four’s and Marvel’s biggest most cosmic villains is a complicated being to bring to the big screen. The bigger you make him the more threatening he can be while also looking too ridiculous with poor CGI. When the Four encounter him we see that the film has mostly succeeded here. With Galactus’ threat being all too real the Four attempt to reason with him, but when Galactus claims he will end his terror if they give him their unborn child it’s a big no go from everyone. That is until Earcth civilians hear of this and start to ponder (quite angrily) the ethics of just handing over now infant Franklin. These moments of true human frustration and fear give the film some of its strongest moments as it even hits the Baxter building as Reed and Sue argue in a scene that would normally be cut from modern day superhero movies. Between this moment and a fight between Lois and Clark, 2025 may be the year we finally bring back real emotions to the superhero franchise.

Unfortunately the the other shoe (Sue?) drops too quickly. The film and its four performers are quickly saddled with a bare bones fight against big bad movie. With four screenwriters it becomes quite apparent in its later half how much of the Kevin Feige chopping block this script went through. Exciting editing is replaced with quick cuts where scenes not only feel disconnected but lines of dialogue themselves are cut short and there is a feeling of missing scenes throughout that were far from useless. Johnny and Ben receive the blunt of this. While its exciting to see a slightly more subdued and highly intelligent Johnny his big purpose is attached to the Silver Surfer, which ends up feeling as rushed as it does unneeded. It doesn’t help that garner herself is given nothing to do behind some pretty dull CGI. Grimm on the other hand has had several years being and looking like The Thing and yet his emotional disgust or acceptance is never addressed which besides some clobbering is the main characterization of Grimm. His screentime is shortened with Sue and Reed that you practically forget that he has been their literal rock all these years. For a film called Fantastic Four they greatly chose only two to get the best treatment. One could almost find the humor that once baby Franklin comes along Uncle Johnny and Uncle Ben get the short end.

This is not to say FIRST STEPS has no capability of having some fun once the sky starts falling. A segment involving a space chase while Sue frantically gives birth in the cockpit is not just intense but goes through a true array of emotions that captures the beauty of the Four. It is one of the rare times we actually get to see them all work together less with brawn and more with brains and heart something that has allowed them to truly survive together this long. The film also wants to carry a sweet message of community as Sue pleads to the people not just for the sake of her child but also the sake of humanity as well. “I will not give up my baby for this world, and I will not give up on this world for my baby.” Admirable and cheer worthy moments that not just feel like a needed hug from a studio that continues to treat us like box office numbers, but also just a feeling of comfort that we want to spend as much time with this family as we can. As a solo adventure it is welcoming to see less world building even if there are small connective tissues throughout. You can practically feel Pascal, Kirby, Bachrach and Quinn beg Feige for one more solo outing before they are forced into fighting for air time against golden boy Downey Jr. But for the time we are given with them, THE FANTASTIC FOUR: FIRST STEPS feels just like that, first steps in a better direction. But it all feels like it is given at a time when much like a baby you applaud it for barely doing anything at all. FIRST STEPS does enough and it does it well but forgive me if this critic doesn’t just want first steps but the whole marathon.

B

THE FANTASTIC FOUR: FIRST STEPS IS NOW PLAYING IN THEATERS EVERYWHERE