The Fantastic Four: First Steps (2025)

The Fantastic Four: First Steps (2025)

 

6/10

Starring

Pedro Pascal

Vanessa Kirby

Ebon Moss-Bachrach

Joseph Quinn

Directed by Matt Shakman

 

Let me start by saying, the retro feel of the movie is amazing, along with the retro effects and musical score, reminding me so much of the Hanna-Barbera cartoon The Jetsons. The whole setup design is cool, you will love it. I also like the idea of it happening on another Earth, where everyone already knows the Fantastic Four.

We get a brief intro into how we got to this point in the movie, in the first like ten minutes. We see them save people and the world they are living in before the real story of the movie starts. So, I need to let you know, there is no time wasted in giving us the origin story of how they got their powers or learned to work together.

Acting wise, this movie boasts A+ performances from everyone involved. That said, I just could not get into Pedro Pascal as Reed Richards and Joseph Quinn as Johnny Storm. I felt the roles did not fit their personalities.

Then the movie starts slow, in a way that I did not appreciate, which made me appreciate the way James Gunn started Superman (2025) more. This whole intro and "baby is coming" part lasted almost 20 minutes before we saw Silver Surfer, who came to tell the Earth that Galactus is coming to consume the whole planet.

Now the movie centres around Franklin, the omega-level mutant who is the son of Sue and Reed Richards. At this time, Sue is still pregnant and has not given birth yet when Galactus shows up. I have to be honest, even after this “Galactus is coming” warning by the Surfer, the movie still stays in like a video game story mode, and it feels like you are waiting for things to get said so you can finally get to the real thing, which starts around the 40-minute mark. That’s when the team travel to Galactus, and he promises to spare Earth if they give him Franklin.

He causes Sue to go into labor, but the team, with the help of Johnny causing some fire chaos, are able to escape back to Earth. Then they come off their spacecraft, not four people, but five, with Franklin in Sue’s arms.

Now, they tell everyone what was said in their meeting with Galactus, and the world is now faced with this terrible choice: turn on the team and give Galactus Franklin or let the team face Galactus and see if they can save the Earth from being consumed.

In the end, the final battle between the team and Galactus was more like a tug-of-war, but I did enjoy the final parts of the movie more than I did the first.

It is worth seeing, that I can say, but note the first half of the movie does not actually give a fantastic cinematic experience like the second half.