Well, it’s that time again. Another trip to the celluloid cathedral for me to tell you about. As a reminder, this Lone Wolf and Stub series of posts are spoiler-free looks at movies I went to go see in the theater. Today, I want to tell you about The Fantastic Four: First Steps.
It’s no secret that Fantastic Four movies in the past have failed miserably. In the pre-MCU days, we had Chris Evans, Jessica Alba, Ioan Gruffudd, and Michael Chiklis portray the title family and that was the most successful movie we’ve had from the foursome, enough to get a sequel even worse than itself. Then we had the utterly misguided misstep that was the Miles Teller-led Fant4stic, and the less said about that movie the better. I did watch it once, but it had the effect of a white noise machine; it made folding and putting laundry away a welcome distraction from paying attention to that disaster of a movie.
I was cautiously optimistic after Thunderbolts*, but everyone knows that one home run doesn’t make for an MVP season and whether or not I would allow myself to be hopeful that the MCU was turning things around would hinge on subsequent films. And now with First Steps, I can officially say I think the MCU is on the road to recovering the magic it had lost.
If you’re not familiar with the Fantastic Four as a group, they are four explorers: Reed Richards, Ben Grimm, Sue Storm (later Richards), and Johnny Storm, her brother. While in space, they were bombarded with cosmic radiation that forever altered their DNA. Reed became Mr. Fantastic, a full size version of Stretch Armstrong. Played by Pedro Pascal (The Last of Us, The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent), a man of whom I am a big, big fan, in one of the most well acted, touching, and emotional roles I’ve ever seen him play. It wouldn’t be too much of a stretch (I’m sorry for the pun) to say that his performance in this movie gave me faith in the concept of fatherhood again. Almost, anyway. Ben Grimm comes back as a large rock monster kind of insultingly called The Thing, and this time he’s played with absolutely sincerity and warmth by Ebon Moss-Bachrach (The Bear, The Punisher, which I suppose means we won’t be seeing his return in any future Punisher projects). Sue comes back as the Invisible Woman, with the power to turn invisible, as it says in the name, and create powerful force fields. Played by Vanessa Kirby (Mission: Impossible, The Crown), she is the heart and soul of the Fantastic Four, and probably the strongest member of the lot, both in power and emotional fortitude. Not only that, Kirby stands out in this film, delivering a wonderful performance I can’t wait to sit down and watch again. But stealing almost every scene is Johnny, who returns as the Human Torch, able to catch fire and fly, played by Joseph Quinn (Stranger Things). In a role that easily could have been obnoxious, Quinn plays it with an earnestness that is incredibly endearing. And how could I forget H.E.R.B.I.E., the Wall-E style robotic assistant to the Four, who is almost almost too adorable? And no, I don’t know what it’s an acronym for and that doesn’t bother me one bit.
They made some very smart decisions with First Steps. Instead of doing another origin story, we see the group already established and an explanation of what happened, quickly at the beginning of the film. It allows them to get right into the story they want to tell rather than retreading the same ground that’s been done before, in a paint-by-numbers exercise. Another thing they did was give proper stakes by setting it in a different universe than the sacred timeline; because you know when someone wants to eat Earth-616, it’s not going to happen. Because all my stuff is there. But here on Earth-828, anything could happen. The 1960s retrofuturistic style of the film gives it a unique look and feel compared to the rest of the MCU films and allows for a very fun and interesting aesthetic that draws you into the world. A complete opposite turn from Fallout, this is the clean, kind version of the retrofuturistic world, the kind of thing you can imagine Walt Disney thinking up when he opened Tomorrowland in 1955. Normally I don’t like multiverse stuff because a lot of that is an excuse for “shocking” moments that ultimately mean nothing because your protagonists are usually tourists in an alternate reality, but in this case, you’re there with them. Their struggles feel real, the people feel real, and, well, when faced with impossible odds, a win isn’t necessarily guaranteed. And all those people who feel real feel like they’re in very real danger. It also avoids questions like “Where are all the other superheroes?” because there aren’t any. The Fantastic Four are the protectors of their world, it is up to them. No one’s coming to save the day, they’ve got to do it themselves.
On top of all that, First Steps is an incredibly wholesome and heartfelt movie. Where Thunderbolts* had a great message couched in a lot of snark and darkness, First Steps is the kind of movie you can watch with your kids after Thanksgiving dinner because there’s something there for everyone and very little that parents wouldn’t want their kids to see. The violence is largely sanitized, the swearing is basically nonexistent, if that’s something you care about, and while there are some scenes that could be a tad bit scary for the youngest of viewers, I don’t think it’s too much for most kids to handle (ultimately, you the parent would have a better grasp of what your kid as an individual can handle or what you want them to be subjected to than I am, and it is PG-13, so, at your discretion, of course). This movie is the beacon of hope—not just for the MCU—that I’ve been hoping to see on the silver screen and for that, I love it. I want to see this movie again and I can’t wait to give you a full post on it in the future.
