In times so wildly unpredictable, what’s more comforting than sitting with a massive tub of popcorn watching four superheroes eager to sacrifice themselves to save their world? Add to it a deliciously detailed retro-futurist production design, actors that look like Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Joseph Quinn, and an adorable superbaby.
Even if you’re unfamiliar with the inextricably intertwined intricacies of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, you’ll have no trouble following The Fantastic Four: First Steps. In spite of belonging to a larger cosmos, the film functions perfectly as a stand-alone entity. Its accessibility is its biggest gift. However, it is not the origin story of how the famed quartet came to be. Director Matt Shakman and script-writers Josh Friedman, Jeff Kaplan, Eric Pearson, Ian Springer do the clever thing of dedicating no more than an opening montage to bring you up to speed. The DNA of the Fantastic Four gets altered because of cosmic turbulence while they’re on a space mission, endowing each of them with specific superpowers. Other than his enviable genius, scientist Dr. Reed Richards (Pedro Pascal) also gets the benefit of elasticity, allowing him to stretch his body incomprehensibly. His wife, Sue Storm (Vanessa Kirby) can create force fields and make things (including herself) invisible. Her brother Johnny Storm (Joseph Quinn) becomes The Human Torch, who can turn himself into a flying flame whenever the situation demands it. Reed’s best friend Ben Grimm (Ebon Moss-Bachrach)— with his super-strength and rocky appearance—completes the group.It’s an eclectic bunch that lives together in 1960s New York. An odd family that has taken it upon themselves to be the guardians of their planet and are celebrated by their people for it. All is well until one day when Sue finds out she’s pregnant. Sharp and preemptive as he is, it doesn’t take Reed long to figure out that parenthood might prove to be a lot more challenging than saving the world.
Almost as if on cue, a metallic creature (Julia Garner) from outer space comes bearing the message that they are in danger as their planet will soon be consumed by an invincible intergalactic giant called Galactus (Ralph Ineson). In a cruel twist, the super four are presented with an option to escape their imminent fate but on one condition—they need to give up the newborn in exchange.
Mr. Fantastic and his team’s plans of destroying Galactus and saving the planet get increasingly incredulous and desperate as the movie progresses. It is entirely because of Pascal and Kirby’s rooted performances and the script’s unwavering emotional core that this slick and shiny film never gets reduced to silly-to-the-point-of-no-return. Having said that, if only the plot allowed room for The Human Torch and The Thing to be more than paper-thin comic reliefs and doting uncles.
Quinn imbues Johnny with an earnest ardor to prove his worth and there is an unmistakable loneliness about Ben. The film even features a tangential track of him developing feelings for a neighborhood school teacher. But The Fantastic Four: First Steps is stubbornly uninterested in unpacking these emotions of its key characters any further. Instead, it ambles away a large part of its two-hour runtime on unexciting space sequences of the four of them first trying to find out more about Galactus and then surviving his agile metallic assistant.
Finally, if I dare ask, why are all superbabies almost always boys? Although an insignificant detail in the larger scheme of things (or is it?), I wonder how much longer it would take for us to get to see superheroes moving heaven and earth for a baby girl.
