"The Fantastic Four: First Steps" spoiler-free review
I haven't seen an MCU movie in the theaters for a very long time. I believe the last time was 2022 when "Black panther: Wakanda forever" came out. So, the newest fantastic four movie.
I think it's good. Somebody described it as a space race movie and I agree. It feels like the fantastic four were a group of people who were trying multiple methods to solve the problem at hand. They fail once, and they fail again but they get back up and continue to solve the problem. I think that might be the best part of this film. Unfortunately, they don't really work together that much and the movie doesn't really show us their working. I'll get to this in the next paragraph. This film also gave me a lot of "The incredibles" vibe which is really familiar but feels good.
Let's talk about the exposition in this film and how the film develops. I think it's not done well. A lot of exposition in this film despite not really needing it. Especially a lot of "scientific" talk that is completely unnecessary. Immediately after the "scientific" talk, they finally get to the meat of their conversation (which is how to solve the problem they are faced with). What's very bad is that this film is full of this.
One more thing I need to mention is the main villain being Galactus. Galactus is obviously a very powerful being so the fantastic four was really no match for him. Even in the comics, he's too powerful. In this movie, he feels overtly powerful and yet it feels as if he doesn't really do much. Ralph Ineson is an amazing actor that is completely wasted. Galactus feels like he can do whatever he wants and get away with it which I guess is good for raising the stakes but also makes the audience less confident in the fantastic four as a group of superheroes. SPOILERS IN THE NEXT SENTENCE IN RED.
And yet, somehow nobody dies (except for Shalla-bal who didn't have enough of an arc to die. Also, she might still be alive) in this movie and that makes the audience once again feel that the MCU would never kill of main characters especially if it's their first movie.
Other than that, I think the acting in this film was mostly ok. Julia Garner is underutilized just like Ralph Ineson. Paul Walter Hauser is underutilized. And Natasha Lyonne is underutilized. But the main fantastic four actors work together well and they do seem like good additions to the MCU. Many people argue that the score by Michael Giacchino was the standout of the film: I don't really know about that. I thought it was good especially when the electronic stuff kicked in and the choir stuff kicked in but other than that, it was ok.
Visual effects were impressive. I would say probably the best visual effects in an MCU movie in a very long time. I do wish the 60s look wasn't just for the little show in the movie and I wish the whole movie retained the 60s look. Possibly making the entire film shot in a square aspect ratio? The production design is excellent as it provides that sci-fi look but also a very 60s look too. VERY VERY GOOD PRODUCTION DESIGN. The humor also didn't really work for me. They kept on reusing the same joke that didn't hit in the first place.
Ultimately, I do think that "Thunderbolts*" is slightly better but still a good film nonetheless.
The Fantastic Four: First Steps: 3/5
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