Fantastic Four: First Steps – SPOILERS INSIDE!!!

Topic

This is the thread to discuss the new FF movie with spoilers!

Here is a positive review:
‘The Fantastic Four: First Steps’ Review: Pedro Pascal Leads A Charismatic Cast In A Satisfying And Stylish Marvel Adventure

Replies

Oo, am I in first?

Saw it this morning (thank you school holidays for 10am showings) and I really liked it. Stylish as heck. Doesn’t punch first and ask questions later, which is nice. Good cast, especially Kirby. Surprisingly restrained in building Earth 828 – sketches in a history for the FF without going “and here’s this world’s Nick Fury!” or whatever.

2 users thanked author for this post.

Dave, Todd

I saw it this evening and quite enjoyed it, much more than I expected to from the trailers.

There’s a sincerity and simplicity to it that I really appreciated. It feels like a superhero movie made in 2006, and I mean that as a compliment. It tells a coherent story without much flab, has some nice action setpieces and visual effects, and there’s a real heart to it.

It’s not perfect – I still think it’s bit miscast, and some of the time it’s a bit flat where it could do with being punchier. A bit charmless maybe. But overall it’s still a very solid superhero movie that does right by the FF – including Galactus, who I think worked really well (and will probably feel even better if you see it in Imax.)

There are some nice themes of community and family that come out in the movie without that self-referential lack of confidence that MCU movies sometimes have about that stuff, the need to puncture moments with a joke. There’s very little of that here and it’s all the better for it.

1 user thanked author for this post.

Todd

I didn’t dislike it, but I found it fairly boring. Very little action, very slow (I never had any sense of how far away Galactus was; the first Surfer scene makes it sound like he’s around the corner, but then months pass), and the tone was surprisingly downbeat. I would have liked at least one action scene before the big finale.

I liked the main cast, but don’t feel that interested in seeing them interact with the MCU folk. The supporting cast were basically nonexistent; I laughed out loud seeing which people were considered important enough to get their own billing in the end credits. Julia Garner as Silver Surfer got almost nothing to do, but she was good in the one scene where she got to show emotion.

For the smartest man alive, all of Reed Richards’ plans sure did fail spectacularly. The teleportation one was especially stupid; you’ve barely teleported one egg, and think it’s a good idea to teleport the entire planet? You don’t want to try a dog or something first?

It’s very funny that Doom has had one second of screentime and has already taken his mask off. Are they merging his relationship with Valeria onto Franklin? I don’t remember comics Doom caring about Franklin much, but there’s a lot of F4 I haven’t read.

I guess this is the last MCU movie until late next year? Spider-Man is still scheduled for next July, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they push it back, considering they haven’t started filming yet.

1 user thanked author for this post.

Todd

paul f wrote:

I would have liked at least one action scene before the big finale.

Did you miss the part where they flew threw an asteroid storm as a planet was devoured, battled Galactus and the Silver Surfer in space, then had to outrun the Silver Surfer at lightspeed through a wormhole, before buzzing a black hole in their invisible rocket to trap her at the event horizon, all while Sue was going into labour?

If so, you picked a terrible moment to take an extended toilet break.

1 user thanked author for this post.

Al-x

I also enjoyed all the action in the opening montage, I’d be up for seeing an extended cut that fleshes that stuff out – presumably that’s where Malkovich was cut from, and I get the impression that there might have been cut Mole Man stuff to better set up his role at the end too.

Dave wrote:

paul f wrote:

I would have liked at least one action scene before the big finale.

Did you miss the part where they flew threw an asteroid storm as a planet was devoured, battled Galactus and the Silver Surfer in space, then had to outrun the Silver Surfer at lightspeed through a wormhole, before buzzing a black hole in their invisible rocket to trap her at the event horizon, all while Sue was going into labour?

If so, you picked a terrible moment to take an extended toilet break.

I consider that a chase scene, not an action scene. I meant a scene where they’re fighting people, like superheroes do.

paul f wrote:

I consider that a chase scene, not an action scene. I meant a scene where they’re fighting people, like superheroes do.

There’s tons of that in the first five minutes alone – from memory there’s all four of them fighting the Mole Man’s monster, Reed fighting the Red Ghost’s apes, Johnny and Sue fixing the monorail track, Ben towing the ship, and probably a lot more besides.

They also fight the Silver Surfer on Earth and on Galactus’s ship using their powers, and Johnny also attacks Galactus at that point if I remember right.

But I think one of the things I liked most about it was that the FF mostly weren’t using their powers to fight people – they were using them constructively, positively, in line with the messages of the movie. It reminded me a bit of All-Star Superman in that respect.

paul f wrote:

I laughed out loud seeing which people were considered important enough to get their own billing in the end credits.

I must admit, it was quite funny that Mark Gatiss got picture billing. I was talking to my dad the other day, mentioned I was seeing this and he asked who was in it. So I tried to think of people he’d have heard of (Pedro Pascal, because he’s watched Mando, Vanessa Kirby surprisingly) and threw in Mark Gatiss but I said “well, he’s just a TV show host, his bit’s in the trailer but I don’t imagine he’s in the film much.” But yeah, given the very thin supporting cast (which I think was fine, given the film focuses on the family) he’s high up there.

One other thing I liked was that the newsreaders and whatnot in the film all felt very 50s/60s. I don’t know if they were deliberately aping Walter Cronkite, but they definitely got that vibe which is distinct from newsreaders today and it was a crucial part in setting the tone of the period.

I saw it today with the wife and we thought it was just okay.

I agree with with Paul’s assessment. It really could have used a bit more action in it. (Christel almost fell asleep during it.)

For me, Reed and Sue were completely miscast. Pascal’s performance never convinced me he was the smartest man in the world. I know Reed is supposed to be caught up in his own head, but his performance felt a little too detached. Kirby just came across as cold. I never felt any warth from her. Even when she was supposed to show passion, it just felt like a line reading.

When I saw Galactus walking on Earth, all I could think of was this:

I know a lot of fanboys wanted the FF set in the 1960s but for me, the “jet age” setting added no value to the film whatsoever. It could have been set in the main MCU and told the same story. That was a complete waste.

Also, I am way beyond ready for the multiverse bullshit to be over. I’m done with it.

Christel and I both said we probably wouldn’t watch this one again. I honestly had more fun with Thunderbolts than with FF.

[Al-x]

Pedro Pascal turned out to be a better Reed Richards than I thought. Ioan Gruffudd looked like Reed more but whatever.
Vanessa Kirby was all right as Sue. Her maternal instincts and using her powers one on one with Galactus was a good scene.
IRL, she is expecting and was on the red carpet.

So many haters on social media when they first found out that the SS would be female, and it worked out Ok.
The whole look of Earth 828 was interesting. Makes me wonder about them getting into 616, and the Thunderbolts post credit.

Galactus came across at times as Japanese Kaiju, but it would be tough no matter what you do to make that work. The bait and switch wasn’t that clever, but why hide Franklin at eye level?

Galactus and his recruiting these guilty conscience heralds…

Moleman – Stingray from Cobra Kai.. Still didn’t care for him.

And… why did Reed say all that at the press conference? TMI in public.
Reed is the world’s smartest man, capable of outsmarting alien entities and creatures much older than humanity. Reed should be just a smart ape to them with his “primitive” Earth tech. And he isn’t that discreet in that Earth and in the Dr. Strange movie talking about Black Bolt 🤣

All in all, the best FF movie so far.

Now I am finishing up Byrne’s run and on to Hickman

• This reply was modified 3 months ago by Al-x.

I liked it, but it was rather a slow movie.

Loved the world-building and designs, and the character interactions were good. The action scenes – the few there were of them – were fantastic. And on the one hand I liked how seriously they took the situation of Galactus approaching Earth, the sense of pervading dread. On the other hand… man, did they take their time to build that. That part of the movie went on too long, and I wish they’d shortened it and instead put some more other ideas and sideplots into the movie, maybe just in the first third to see more of the FF doing their thing. Or a quick adventure in space on their way back.

And the big conflict of the movie – will they give up Franklin? – doesn’t quite work to hold up the middle there. Especially not when it’s resolved by Sue giving a moving speech. At least one guy in the background should’ve shouted “Well, fuck you Sue, we’re still all going to die!”.

2 users thanked author for this post.

Todd, Martin Smith

I really liked this. It all worked very well.

The retro 60s aesthetic was very smartly done, as was the casting. Did I expect Pescal to be as good as he was as Reed? No. I wasn’t sure about that but I’m not a casting director, clearly they saw it and they were right.

The other castings are good too and, more importantly, the story has things for all of them. Johnny is no longer an idiot hothead and Ben is not just the heavy. That changes up the dynamic in interesting ways.

There’s also some neat subtleties in the performances. Like when Reed and Sue are butting heads and Sue is too harsh and knows it, there’s an unspoken recognition of being so, that she knows him better than that.

Other details are thrown out and left to viewer interpretation, like Reed’s line that there’s something wrong with him. One reading is that it’s how Reed sums up his frustrations at not finding a solution. Another is Reed is undiagnosed neurodiverse, which categories might he fall into? Hard to say but, given the coordination he shows off in places, it’s not dyspraxia.

Then there’s the sense of scale, stakes and threat. They are outgunned by Galactus, who is operating on a scale they’re not. And that applies to his herald too. That gives a very effective sense of dread, even though you know they’ll win somehow.

The general public also get better handling than is sometimes the case in superheroes. The demand that they should hand over Franklin over gets countered well and then they veer away from that kind of outlook. Well, save for crap-stirring idiot pundits.

Is the MCU back? For me, it never left. My expectations on their films is a good way to spend a couple of hours, which even their weakest films do. This one? Easily one of their best.

5 users thanked author for this post.

Al-x, Dave, Uncle Retrospective, Martin Smith, lorcan_nagle

Ben wrote:

There’s also some neat subtleties in the performances. Like when Reed and Sue are butting heads and Sue is too harsh and knows it, there’s an unspoken recognition of being so, that she knows him better than that.

Other details are thrown out and left to viewer interpretation, like Reed’s line that there’s something wrong with him. One reading is that it’s how Reed sums up his frustrations at not finding a solution. Another is Reed is undiagnosed neurodiverse, which categories might he fall into? Hard to say but, given the coordination he shows off in places, it’s not dyspraxia.

Yeah, I see I neglected to mention this, but I really liked the Sue/Reed dynamic. Their portrayal as a couple works really well – they clearly know each other inside out, including the weaknesses and the stuff that just drives them mad, but they’re working their way through all that. It’s really nicely done.

As for what’s wrong with Reed, I do think there’s allusions to neurodiversity – it’d certainly make sense for him to be autistic to some extent or something along those lines – but I also liked the bit that’s really spelled out, how his mind always goes to the darkest places, calculates through the worst scenarios in order to be prepared. It also chimes nicely with the Reed portrayals I like best in the comics, the ones where he can be the worst of the Illuminati or just super-manipulative towards his family, simply because he has to be in order to win. That duality is the most interesting thing about Reed Richards – he could easily be a stone-cold villain, or maybe a sort of benevolent tyrant figure who’d sacrifice his pawns without a second thought for the greater good. The thing that makes him better than that is his love for Sue and his family, and the struggle between those two aspects of his personality is what makes him such a good character.

2 users thanked author for this post.

Uncle Retrospective, Ben