After nearly a decade of half-hearted reboots, a catastrophic Phase 5, and missed opportunities, ‘Fantastic Four: First Steps’ is the first film in a long time that captured the special nature of Marvel’s legacy characters. Directed by Matt Shakman, the film plants itself firmly in the aesthetics of the past — the 1960s, to be exact — while also being set in the near future, maintaining a confident stride into the MCU’s ambitious Phase Six. With a retro-futuristic aesthetic, a grandiose galactic threat, and a surprisingly intimate family story, ‘First Steps’ is a messy, endearing, and occasionally brilliant step in the right(ish) direction.
Things to do:
- Subscribe to The Hollywood Insider’s YouTube Channel, by clicking here.
- Limited Time Offer – FREE Subscription to The Hollywood Insider
- Click here to read more on The Hollywood Insider’s vision, values and mission statement here – Media has the responsibility to better our world – The Hollywood Insider fully focuses on substance and meaningful entertainment, against gossip and scandal, by combining entertainment, education, and philanthropy.
Review: A Retro Rocket to the Past
Set in 1960 on Earth-828 (if you have not done your Marvel homework, 828 is an alternate universe to the MCU, S.H.I.E.LD. canon thus far), the film follows four astronauts, Reed Richards (Pedro Pascal), Sue Storm (Vanessa Kirby), Ben Grimm (Ebon Moss-Bachrach), and Johnny Storm (Joseph Quinn), as they gain superpowers from a cosmic event and return to Earth as the Fantastic Four. Four years later, they are beloved global protectors, celebrities navigating both interstellar threats and dinner table disagreements.
Right from its opening frames, the film makes its design philosophy clear: this is not just another MCU puzzle-piece in a grander story; it is a love letter to the optimistic futurism of the Space Race era. From the retro typography to Michael Giacchino’s soaring brass-heavy score, every element feels lifted from a Life magazine cover circa 1963. Production designer Kasra Farahani and costume designer Alexandra Byrne craft a lived-in, whimsical world full of mid-century flourishes, bold primary colors, and jaw-droppingly constructed sets like the two-story Baxter Building penthouse and Reed’s three-toned lab. The decision to employ practical sets and even 16mm camera sequences adds texture, often very absent from gray, washed-out, charmless MCU entries.
WATCH THE TRAILER of the Film and the Revolution: ‘Can I Go Home Now?’
The Children Around the World Continue to Ask the question
It is easily one of the best-looking Marvel films in years, dodging the usual washed-out gray in favor of warm, inviting cinematography. The palette pops with dominant reds, blues, and yellows, a pop art playground that again makes comic book aesthetics cinematic without leaning into kitsch, a lá Sam Raimi’s 1990s ‘Spider-Man’ trilogy. However, the VFX falls short. Jonny Storm’s fire-soaked body looks silly, and seeing Pascal’s limbs stretch looks less like Mr. Fantastic and more like Gumby. Whenever we leave the charm of the retro-futurist NYC and plunge into an incoherent CGI landscape, the film almost instantly loses its charm.
A Miscast Core
Casting is a mixed bag. While Ebon Moss-Bachrach and Joseph Quinn bring as much spark and warmth as they can to their underwritten roles, the film falters at its center. Pedro Pascal and Vanessa Kirby, both prestige talents, feel adrift here. Pascal, a typically magnetic actor, makes his Reed Richards strangely charmless, all hollow intellect and little soul. He approaches the role with the muted gravitas of a scientist lost in thought, but there’s no spark behind his eyes, no magnetic pull that sells Reed as either a leader or a lover. For a character who’s supposedly the most brilliant man on the planet, Pascal’s performance often feels disengaged or underdeveloped, like he is skimming equations, not embodying ambition. If allowed to use his acting chops to do a 1960s Mid-Atlantic voice, as he told Vanity Fair he attempted and was shot down, it could have brought some heightened experimentation that differs from the relatively stony performances of former Marvel projects.
Kirby fares worse, through no fault of her own. As Sue Storm, she’s given shockingly little to do besides emote and, well, serve face. Though the film gestures at her being the team’s emotional core and the driving force behind the Future Foundation, her actual arc is thin, and she’s frequently sidelined as just a natural-born Momma Bear with little struggle or frustration with her new child. Even in key scenes like Sue’s cosmic childbirth or the couple’s defiance of Galactus, Kirby is mostly relegated to reactive silence or pure-hearted maternal sacrifice. It’s frustrating to watch an actress capable of volcanic depth reduced to an elegant archetype.
Still, when the team is together, whether quipping over baby-proofing gadgets or arguing in zero gravity, the chemistry sometimes sings.
Related article: – Want GUARANTEED SUCCESS? Remove these ten words from your vocabulary| Transform your life INSTANTLY
Related article: Matt Shakman Spills Secrets on ‘The Fantastic Four First Steps’ at Comic Con – Hollywood Insider
Cosmic Stakes with a (Super)Human Core
The plot kicks into gear when Julia Garner’s Silver Surfer (recast as the gender-flipped Shalla-Bal) arrives to deliver a haunting warning: “Your planet is marked for death. Hold your loved ones close. For your time is short,” which feels chillingly operatic, almost reaching the heights of Thanos’s imposing presence. This announcement of Galactuctus, a cosmic, towering, apathetic being, forces the team into space once more, leaving behind the rich New York setting for a cosmic detour.
Here’s where the film wobbles. While Galactus is visually more faithful to the comics than past attempts (thankfully, no more purple cloud), his faceless enormity does not quite translate to emotional engagement. Ralph Ineson (‘The Witch,’ ‘The Green Knight’) does what he can with the role, and his baritone voice lends weight, but the climax suffers from the MCU’s ongoing struggle with third-act CGI soup. A showdown near a black hole tries for visual spectacle but ends up a bit of a pixelated, stake-less mess.
Related article: EVOLUTION: Every Ryan Gosling Role From 1995 to 2020, All Performances Exceptionally Poignant
Related article: EVOLUTION: Every Henry Cavill Role From 2001 to 2021, All Performances Exceptionally Poignant
Related article: https://www.hollywoodinsider.com/four-pascal-kirby/
That said, the journey to get there is rich. The film embraces the weird: a birth in space, morally ambiguous negotiations with a cosmic god, and a team of heroes confronting their limits. It even lets Reed Richards say the rarest of superhero lines: “I don’t know.”
What Shakman seems to understand is that the Fantastic Four are not just adventurers; they are a family first. The film doesn’t just focus on action but also on watching these characters navigate parenthood, public backlash, and existential terror. It’s charmingly bizarre that we get scenes of Reed baby-proofing the Baxter Building, or Sue going into labor mid-wormhole escape. Birth here is not just an act of nature; it’s superhuman, a welcome feminist adage to a studio that has had problems with representation in the past.
Related article: Understanding the Star Wars Timeline
Related article: A Tribute to Francis Ford Coppola: One of Cinema’s Unforgettable Directors | ‘Megalopolis’, ‘The Godfather’ & More
Related article: #metoo Revolution: Powerful Questions That Need Answers
Related article: FACT-CHECKED Series: Timothee Chalamet and 32 Facts about The Young Superstar
Related article: Marvel Studios’ New Plan For Success – Hollywood Insider
The MCU Reimagined
The decision to forgo yet another origin story was a smart one. We meet the team after they’ve adjusted to their powers, giving the film breathing room to explore character rather than exposition. By doing so, ‘First Steps’ avoids the grim tropes that haunted earlier adaptations. Shakman even made the “heartbreaking” choice to cut out John Malkovich’s villain character, Red Ghost, as it over-extended the run time.
Julia Garner is a standout as the Silver Surfer, playing the herald with stoic elegance and undercurrents of regret. Her motion-capture performance, based on dance-like poses, gives the character a visual rhythm that sets her apart from other CGI-heavy roles. While her arc is underdeveloped, it’s undeniably stylish.
There is also room for playfulness. Shakman infuses scenes with offbeat humor, from sexual innuendos to dirty jokes and awkward found-family banter that feel pulled from his days directing episodes of ‘It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.’ The Fantastic Four have always been a bit weird, from their semi-ridiculous powers to their retro-style costumes, and this film finally embraces that.
Other supporting players shine in moments: Natasha Lyonne and Moss-Bachrach share magnetic energy, though their dynamic is underutilized; Paul Walter Hauser’s Mole Man is surprisingly heartfelt; and Sarah Niles’s (‘Ted Lasso’) CEO of the Future Foundation provides some welcome gravity. The robot H.E.R.B.I.E. (voiced by Matthew Wood) adds a light sci-fi charm without becoming grating.
The film nods to the franchise’s past with subtlety. Cameos from the cast of the 1994 unreleased ‘FF’ film provide a wink to die-hard fans, while a mid-credits tease of Doctor Doom suggests there’s plenty more to come. A sequel is already in development, with plans for the team to return in upcoming Avengers installments.
Related article: Top 10 South Park Characters | Who Makes the Cut? Kenny, Chef, Butters, Towelie, Eric?
Related article: In-Depth Analysis | The Unexpected Queerness of ‘Bob’s Burgers’: Why the Show is an Animated Ally
Related article: A Tribute to Pedro Pascal: Soft Power – Hollywood Insider
Not Quite Fantastic, But Good
Marvel tends to overpromise and under-deliver when it comes to reinvention. Yet with ‘First Steps,’ it finally feels like the studio let a filmmaker get weird, get colorful, and take some narrative risks. Not all of them pay off, the visual effects still lag, and the third act predictably flails, but the film’s heart, cast chemistry, and aesthetic clarity make it the studio’s most distinctive work since ‘Guardians of the Galaxy.’
It’s hard to say whether ‘Fantastic Four: First Steps’ will convert superhero skeptics, and as one of them, I am not yet fully on board for the continued development of the post-’Endgame’ MCU, but it’s a solid reset for a team that deserves better than what the 2015 reboot offered. If nothing else, it’s the first time in years that a Marvel film has felt like it wasn’t just checking boxes.
A 2.5 or 3 out of 5? Maybe. But after the forgettable ‘Thunderbolts*,’ that feels like a triumph. It’s a big, bumpy, endearing step toward something greater, and a reminder that sometimes, the smallest steps can leave the biggest impression.
Click here to read The Hollywood Insider’s CEO Pritan Ambroase’s love letter to Cinema, TV and Media. An excerpt from the love letter: The Hollywood Insider’s CEO/editor-in-chief Pritan Ambroase affirms, “We have the space and time for all your stories, no matter who/what/where you are. Media/Cinema/TV have a responsibility to better the world and The Hollywood Insider will continue to do so. Talent, diversity and authenticity matter in Cinema/TV, media and storytelling. In fact, I reckon that we should announce “talent-diversity-authenticity-storytelling-Cinema-Oscars-Academy-Awards” as synonyms of each other. We show respect to talent and stories regardless of their skin color, race, gender, sexuality, religion, nationality, etc., thus allowing authenticity into this system just by something as simple as accepting and showing respect to the human species’ factual diversity. We become greater just by respecting and appreciating talent in all its shapes, sizes, and forms. Award winners, which includes nominees, must be chosen on the greatness of their talent ALONE.
I am sure I am speaking for a multitude of Cinema lovers all over the world when I speak of the following sentiments that this medium of art has blessed me with. Cinema taught me about our world, at times in English and at times through the beautiful one-inch bar of subtitles. I learned from the stories in the global movies that we are all alike across all borders. Remember that one of the best symbols of many great civilizations and their prosperity has been the art they have left behind. This art can be in the form of paintings, sculptures, architecture, writings, inventions, etc. For our modern society, Cinema happens to be one of them. Cinema is more than just a form of entertainment, it is an integral part of society. I love the world uniting, be it for Cinema, TV, media, art, fashion, sport, etc. Please keep this going full speed.”
More Interesting Stories From The Hollywood Insider
– Want GUARANTEED SUCCESS? Remove these ten words from your vocabulary| Transform your life INSTANTLY
– A Tribute to Martin Scorsese: A Complete Analysis of the Life and Career of the Man Who Lives and Breathes Cinema
– Do you know the hidden messages in ‘Call Me By Your Name’? Find out behind the scenes facts in the full commentary and In-depth analysis of the Cinematic masterpiece
– A Tribute To The Academy Awards: All Best Actor/Actress Speeches From The Beginning Of Oscars 1929-2019 | From Rami Malek, Leonardo DiCaprio To Denzel Washington, Halle Berry & Beyond | From Olivia Colman, Meryl Streep To Bette Davis & Beyond
– In the 32nd Year Of His Career, Keanu Reeves’ Face Continues To Reign After Launching Movies Earning Over $4.3 Billion In Total – “John Wick”, “Toy Story 4”, “Matrix”, And Many More
____________________________________________________________________________
