Cast: Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Joseph Quinn, Julia Garner, Sarah Niles, Mark Gatiss, Natasha Lyonne, Paul Walter Hauser, Ralph Ineson
Crew:
Based on Fantastic Four by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby
Written by Eric Pearson, Jeff Kaplan, Ian Springer, Kat Wood, Josh Friedmen
Cinematography by Jess Hall
Music by Michael Giacchino
Editing by Nona Khodai, Tim Roche
Directed by Matt Shakman
Produced by Kevin Feige
Fantastic Four has been one of biggest Marvel Superheroes in the comics but they did not enter into MCU, due to rights issues for long. Now, they have been included with The Fantastic Four First Steps film. Let’s discuss about it in detail.
Plot:
Reed Richards (Pedro Pascal) has announced his superpowers and starts taking video classes as Dr. Fantastic. His wife Sue Storm/ Invisible Woman (Venessa Kirby) is pregnant but she takes care of diplomatic issues between nations. Johnny Storm /Human Torch (Joseph Quinn) and The Thing/ Ben Grimm (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) settle with them in Baxter Tower. They are Fantastic Four and people celebrate them as Earth’s mighty superheroes.
Shalla-Bal/ Silver Surfer (Julia Garner) arrive to the earth and announces that Galactus (Ralph Ineson), a 14-billion year old creature is gearing up to eat planet earth. Fantastic Four have to fight against him but he asks for their new born child to spare Earth. Will they sacrifice their baby? Can they stop Galactus? Watch the movie to know more.
Analysis:
Fantastic Four comics have been the biggest page-turners for Marvel post Spider-Man and Avengers. So, studios have been working towards developing films based on these characters but except for the first adaptation, none became successful at the box office.
With MCU entry too, the first family of superheroes could not really evoke a strong emotional connect with them. The script tried to stay true to the comics but the characters did not look like they have been fully developed. It felt like a random episode rather than building on the stakes.
With Thanos, MCU could build a gigantic villain and threat over time but Galactus, even more terrifying villain doesn’t look that big of an issue. The stakes seem simple for the kind of movie they are mounting with a family of superheroes. Almost they have sidelined The Thing and it feels like producers rushed into making this film.
Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Joseph Quinn are good but the story needed enough high stakes drama which is ineffectively dealt with. The movie is an improvement over recent MCU films but the feeling of watching another TV episode doesn’t wash away.
Bottomline:
Better than previous MCU films but ineffective.
Rating: 2.5/5
Disclaimer: The views/opinions expressed in this review are personal views/opinions shared by the writer and organisation does not hold a liability to them. We would encourage viewers’ discretion before reacting to them.
