“The Fantastic Four: First Steps” had quite a hype train building up to it’s release. Despite repeated rumors of lukewarm audience reactions in test screenings, Kevin Feige seemed confident that Marvel’s first family would be able to make some noise in the box office. In the months before the film landed in theaters, there have been multiple reports of a significant amount of the film getting cutdown, possibly to address the alleged test screenings. The most notable deleted scene was John Malkovich as Red Ghost, which would take the acclaimed actor completely out of the picture.
Going into the Thursday night pre-release, the team at BR wasn’t sure what to expect after the “Thunderbolts*” was critically acclaimed yet slammed in the box office. Friday at the box office made the movie seem unstoppable as it outdid the wildly popular “Superman” film, but by the end of the weekend, James Gunn’s newest iteration had beaten the MCU’s newest team by $2 million, although it’s worth noting that ‘First Steps’ did outdo “Superman” in the international market by $5 million. Warning, beyond this point there are spoilers for “The Fantastic Four: First Steps”.
…there have been multiple reports of a significant amount of the film getting cutdown, possibly to address the alleged test screenings. The most notable deleted scene was John Malkovich as Red Ghost…”
Earlier cinematic versions of the Fantastic Four have opted to include the origin story of the family, but this time Marvel Studios chose to start the story after the heroes had already gained their powers. In their retro 1960’s timeline, the team had already proved their worth and became worldwide celebrities in this alternate version of earth, dubbed Earth-828 which is actually a tribute to Jack Kirby, the co-creator of the Fantastic Four (08.28 is his birthday). This strategy was eerily similar to “Superman”, who jumped in at year 3 of being a hero, although in Gunn’s movie we just had a bunch of titles to explain what had been going on.
The ‘Fantastic Four’ starts off by showing us news footage of the team in various fights with villains in a puff piece done by the adoring media about the super-powered family. This was perhaps more visually appealing than the titles in “Superman”, but the speed at which the viewer is given this info seems a little fast, even for today’s younger audience with their fleeting attention spans and tendency towards shorter content. This is where Malkovich’s scene would’ve happened. We also regret not seeing more of Paul Walter Hauser as Moleman, especially because he does return later to work with the team in saving the planet from Galactus. Once we get past the fantastic intro, the story lulls to give us some insight into the team, something that was missing from other cinematic versions. Sue (Vanessa Kirby) telling Reed (Pedro Pascal) about her pregnancy is obviously the most significant story beat we get from the first act of the film, although that’s partially due to the fact that most Marvel comic book fans know who Franklin Richards is and how ridiculously high his power levels are.
It was also an interesting choice to make the entire team scientists, which is not usually how they’re depicted. In reality, to be an astronaut, each team member would have to have an exceptional level of intelligence, so this tweak from alternate teams in the past is a welcome one. The one story point that rubbed us the wrong way was the vinyl recordings that Johnny was listening to that just so happened to later completely help him understand the Silver Surfer, but we can forgive the convenient coincidence. Once the Silver Surfer appears, things heat up fast, especially for the Human Torch (Joe Quinn), who complains of not finding the right woman up until he meets the Shalla-Bal version of the Silver Surfer (Julia Garner). The Surfer’s intention on the Earth are made pretty clear shortly after she arrives when she basically tells all the people of Earth that their world will end and Galactus (Ralph Ineson) is going to eat the entire planet.
The second act is more science than we’d like, but the team finding out the location of Galactus and figuring out how to get there is a necessary step. Once the FF get to meet the devoured, things take a weird turn. Galactus tells Sue that her baby will succeed the devoured of worlds and finally let him rest. Galactus offers to spare Earth in exchange for the baby, which ends p being a hard no. To the team’s credit, they are honest about their choice to the citizens of Earth, who rightfully believe one being is not enough to justify trading an entire planet. Reed and the rest of the team put their big brains in overdrive to try and figure out a sacrifice-free solution, but the Silver Surfer quickly dashes their hopes.
The third act sees the four try their Hail Mary, while Johnny tries to sweet talk the Surfer, which actually works due to the knowledge he gained from the mysterious vinyl records. The final battle had some intense scenes, but lacked an Avengers level feel. Reed barely did any stretching while The Thing (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) had a few shining moments, but no extraordinary display of power. The Invisible Woman showed up during the home stretch as the MVP, although it was a little jarring to see her single-handedly shoving Galactus around. It is true that Sue is known to be the strongest member of the team in the comics and capable of even damaging celestial due to her Force Fields tapping into the same hyperspace energy as the elder beings, but so early into her hero career it felt more like convenience for he story than an actual skill set Sue had every come close to displaying. The Human Torch did have some great fire powered moments, but again never came close to going supernova or displaying any serious feats of power. Like the 2007 ‘Rise of the Silver Surfer’, the Surfer does end up betraying Galactus and helps send him away, but in this version, the Surfer just put the final nail in the coffin…until Galactus finds his way back for revenge.
Pretty much across the board, this was the best ‘Fantastic Four’ movie, but it did leave something to be desired in the story. Ben’s struggle at is out word appearance was only gleamed over which seems like a missed opportunity as Ebon Moss-Bachrach has such emotional range. Pedro Pascal’s take on Reed was an interesting one, almost making the character neuro-divergent which is an interesting take although his voice sounded ‘nerded’ up kind of artificially at times. Vanessa Kirby gave a solid performance as Sue, although to be honest it seemed Jessica Alba had more range…even if she didn’t cry pretty enough. Joe Quinn as Johnny had some strong moments to shine and delivered for the most part while his ‘love interest’ Julia Garner struggled to emote her character under all the CGI. The end credit scene was a bit disappointing because although Feige confirmed it was RDJ in the Doom costume, we didn’t even get to see his face – so what was the point of using the actor? Just to keep it real?
In it’s theatrical run, the movie will undoubtedly be the biggest MCU film of the year, but taking down “Superman” is going to be a tall order. If word of mouth and their 86%RT score help keep butts in theaters in the coming weeks, there’s definitely a chance – but i they see a steep week 2 drop off, the Disney+ big wigs might start sweating up a storm.
What do you think? Was ‘First Steps’ the first steps needed to get the MCU back on track? Or have fans lost interest and will only show up for major legacy characters like in the cases of “Deadpool & Wolverine” and ‘No Way Home’? Should the movie have been longer with room to breathe? How good was John Malkovich in his cameo? Will there be a sequel after the Avengers events?
Let us know your thoughts about ‘First Steps’ in the comments below!
