The Fantastic 4: First Steps Is A Pleasant Surprise

The Fantastic 4: First Steps Isn’t A Usual MCU Film

The Fantastic 4: First Steps is a weird movie for anyone who isn’t already knowledgeable of the MCU. The creators just assume you know how this franchise’s alternative universes work, for one thing. And while I can appreciate not bothering with another origin story plotline, explaining how the four of them got their powers with a quick montage is also a strange choice.

Especially because The Fantastic 4: First Steps doesn’t actually have that much going on for a nearly two-hour movie. Paradoxically, its plot is very zippy and follows well-worn tropes. There’s just a lot of slower, emotional moments interspersed throughout. They could’ve feasibly worked in some of the team’s origins without losing much momentum. Just cut a scene of Johnny working out the languages or some of Ben’s basically dropped romance plotline.

Some Plotlines Stop Mattering After A Few Scenes

That’s oddly my harshest criticism, by the way. I got it out early. Because the actual answer for why this movie has so many slow scenes is solid. It gives the movie a distinct purpose outside of multiversal shenanigans. The Fantastic 4: First Steps may have misfires, but the familial and parental dynamics are some of the best scenes. The team teases each other. They love each other. They do stuff together but have their own individual dynamics. It grounds a film that otherwise has a lot of wild visuals and cosmic implications that could’ve easily turned it into CGI soup.

In fact, if I may be so bold, The Fantastic 4: First Steps honestly shouldn’t work, but that’s the level of acting on display. Especially from Pedro Pascal and Vanessa Kirby. Watching two parents grapple with an extremely upsetting moral dilemma, while pressured on all sides by the media and the public, is such a good premise I’d watch a movie only devoted to it. It’s an impossible situation, and the frustration and resolute refusal to give in make for incredible drama.

The Dialogue Scenes Are Some Of The Best Ones

And then there’s Pedro’s interpretation of Reed Richards. I can’t speak for certain if Reed is autistic, or how respectful the portrayal would be if he is, but I was enthralled by this character. Reed’s thought processes simply don’t flow the same way as the people around him, and rather than make that the whole plot, rather than turn it into a joke or something that needs “fixing,” it’s simply treated as part of his character. Sue loves him, understands him, and fights with him. Reed is a super genius character, of course, but he’s not presented as a calculator. He never felt to me like a stereotype. Between this and Thunderbolts*,it feels like Marvel is taking its movies in new directions, focusing more on the mental states of these heroes, and I’m super willing to see more of it.

And that feels like a conclusion, doesn’t it? The movie’s a lovely, deep drama full of good characters. I would leave it there, but I’ve not actually touched on the whole Galactus thing. I’ve not gone over the weird series of events that makes this movie hum.

Galactus Exists To Start The Film’s Other Conflicts

Though it doesn’t go about the “end of the world” scenario that so many superhero movies do in a normal way. Despite all the characters having strong powers, there’s so little fighting. Almost every conflict is solved through creative solutions. Mostly solutions involving portals. I would’ve liked a few more flashy blasts and punches, but I suppose I have every other Marvel movie for that. I wonder if, going forward, that’ll be one of the Fantastic Four’s defining features. That they solve most of their plots with tricks and science.

The Fantastic 4: First Steps Is Not About Spectacle

Considering the magic god-baby plotline, that might have to be the case. I touched on this in my Thunderbolts* review, but Marvel has been moving toward bigger, flashier powers lately, from Sentry to Maphesto to Galactus, and unless they want future movies (or shows) to descend into big, big, big explosions and particles as vaguely defined gods trade blows, the franchise will need to account for how heroes like Spider-Man or Ms. Marvel are going to even have a chance. I generally like the way Doctor Who handles those kinds of conflicts, but I also don’t want every new superhero movie to have a scene where they explain the niche, weird way that a particular god/monster/deity can be defeated, and then the rest of the plot is about doing that—with obvious bumps along the way.

But that’s not The Fantastic 4: First Steps problem. It does its version of what I described quite well. Defeating Galactus isn’t just using a magic sword to slay him. It has its twists and turns and drama, even if the solution is already known. I guessed what was going to happen almost every moment of that big fight, but that doesn’t always make for a bad experience. It was still cool, it was still satisfying, and most importantly, it was a strong culmination of character arcs. Good writing wins out, as usual. And The Fantastic 4: First Steps has some of the best writing we’ve got from Marvel.

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