Film Review: The Fantastic Four - The First Steps
Welcome To The Family
INTRODUCTION
This is a quick review of the newly released film The Fantastic Four: First Steps. Please note that this is just one of the many movies I will have watched each year, and my initial grade for this film may change over time, for better or worse. To stay up to date on my thoughts about other movies and any potential changes in my opinion on this one, follow me on Letterboxd.
If you enjoy these reviews, I’d greatly appreciate it if you could share this newsletter with family and friends who might love receiving film reviews, classic movie lists, and Oscars projections straight to their inbox.
PLOT
Via Letterboxd: Against the vibrant backdrop of a sixties-inspired, retro-futuristic world, Marvel’s “First Family” is forced to balance their roles as heroes with the strength of their family bond, while defending Earth from a ravenous space god called Galactus and his enigmatic Herald, Silver Surfer.
REVIEW
Two weeks after seemingly being the only man alive who didn’t enjoy Superman, I found myself back in a packed theater auditorium, settling in for yet another big summer blockbuster superhero reboot. This time, it was Marvel’s turn, with The Fantastic Four: The First Steps, the fourth (and fittingly so) attempt to bring the so-called “First Family Of Marvel” to the big screen. The previous three versions all failed to impress critics and, at best, earned mixed reception from general audiences.
Now, with the MCU entering Phase Six and desperately trying to stabilize after a rocky post-Endgame run, the foursome are finally getting another shot, this time under the banner of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, nearly two decades after the MCU began. And wouldn’t you know it? This one seems to have finally stuck the landing. Critics have embraced it, fans are buzzing, and this reboot seems poised to do for the Fantastic Four what Marvel Studios once did for the Guardians of the Galaxy.
After missing a press screening I wasn’t able to make, I caught it during the Thursday night previews with a general audience, and this was a major crowd-pleaser.
Right out the gate, the film delivers on the two biggest elements I was willing to give Superman props for, with dazzling visual effects and stunning production design. But where this film really shines is in how it immerses you in the feeling of stepping directly into a Fantastic Four comic book, specifically one from the classic fifties/sixties sci-fi era. The aesthetic evokes the era of B-movie films and Cold War science fiction, with a loving embrace of that retro-futurism that immediately pulled me in as a lifelong fan of that sort of classic style.
Where Fantastic Four: The First Steps surpasses Superman for me is in the way it handles its world-building and characters. It’s not an origin story, which is already a smart move at this point, but it never left me feeling lost or like I was missing key scenes. The movie simply drops us into a world where the Fantastic Four are already established superheroes, and it does a great job making that feel organic. Best of all, I didn’t feel like I needed to binge a dozen Disney+ MCU shows beforehand just to follow what was going on. That’s a huge win in this current era of homework-heavy franchise viewing.
The movie's protagonists are played perfectly. Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby (arguably the MVP of the film), Joseph Quinn, and Ebon Moss-Bachrach nail Reed Richards, Sue Storm, Benn Grimm, and Johnny Storm respectively. Each actor gets meaningful moments and defined arcs, and by the end, I found myself genuinely excited to see where Marvel takes each of them next.
The supporting cast adds even more flavor. Julia Garner debuts the female Silver Surfer, marking the character’s first film appearance and doing it justice. Ralph Ineson’s voice work as Galactus is booming, foreboding, and effective; he truly feels like a cosmic-level threat. I only wish Paul Walter Hauser and Natasha Lyonne had more screentime, but both are memorable in the brief scenes they get.
Plot-wise, this is a classic Fantastic Four setup - The Silver Surfer arrives to warn of Galactus’s impending arrival, and the team must rally to stop the destruction of Earth. But the script adds some welcome emotional weight with the subplot of Reed and Sue expecting a child. Their impending parenthood adds layers of emotional stakes, questions of legacy, and themes of sacrifice and responsibility that make the story more than just a save-the-world romp.
Ultimately, between the retro sci-fi aesthetic, cosmic scope, grounded emotional moments, and a family-centric narrative, Fantastic Four: The First Steps struck a perfect balance. It’s easily the first top-tier MCU film for me since Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, and it’s the kind of film that keeps giving me hope that Marvel is slowly starting to get it together on a more consistent basis.
The Fantastic Four: The First Steps is, well, fantastic (pun intended). Fourth time was the charm (again, pun intended). Where Superman’s “comic book come to life” vibe didn’t land for me, this film’s similar approach did. As a classic sci-fi fan, this is one of the better comic book movie adaptations we've gotten in recent memory. My initial grade? A great A-. “The First Family Of Marvel” has finally arrived with a film that longtime fans can embrace as enthusiastically as critics already have.
GRADING
