Fantastic Four: First Steps – SPOILERS INSIDE!!!

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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

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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 2 months, 2 weeks 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!”.

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Todd, Martin Smith