*Premise spoilers*
I’ll admit, I haven’t needed a good Fantastic Four movie as badly as some Marvel fans. I don’t really know the characters from the comics, so I haven’t been lamenting the wasted potential of earlier attempts and pining for one that gets the First Family right. And speaking of those previous misfires, I’ve only seen the 2015 version, and that was mainly for Michael B. Jordan, Jamie Bell, and Kate Mara (it wasn’t their fault.) Back in the days of the 2005 franchise, I mainly just went to superhero movies for characters I already knew and liked—like Spider-Man and the X-Men—so I never bothered with those Fantastic Four films, and I’ve heard enough about their dubious quality that I’ve never gone back to check them out. So I haven’t been burned on this IP as many times as some fans, and while I was curious about the movie and looking forward to it, I didn’t come into the theater with a “you’d better get it right this time!” feeling.
On Earth 828, the Fantastic Four is the only name in the superhero game. Reed Richards, Sue Storm, Johnny Storm, and Ben Grimm are famous around the world, but especially on their home turf of New York City. As the four prepare for big personal changes with the impending arrival of Sue and Reed’s baby, they receive a much more unwelcome, disturbing arrival: the Silver Surfer, the alien herald of a cosmic being with godlike powers. She warns them that their planet has been marked for destruction, to be devoured by the insatiable Galactus. The Fantastic Four suits up to figure out how to stop Galactus and the Surfer together.
Again, I don’t really go here, so I can’t say much about whether the film gets the characters and their family dynamic “right,” but I know that I enjoyed the film. It has a fun retro-futuristic vibe that I dig, and after getting so little Avengers tower stuff during the MCU heyday, I appreciate that this film takes the time for family dinners, domestic squabbling, and babyproofing at the Fantastic 4’s home base. H.E.R.B.I.E. the robot is cute and entertaining—I love Johnny scratching H.E.R.B.I.E.’s head like a dog—and I like seeing our heroes navigating fame and personal struggles in between space missions and planet-destroying threats.
Galactus is definitely a formidable foe, and while he’s not really the most compelling, I can appreciate that the film depicts him as an actual being and not just a planet-devouring monster. The Surfer offers more in the way of complexity and motivation. Although she presents herself as very blank and remote, she has more going on under the surface—I especially like her interactions with Johnny. Both antagonists offer up a good fight, and there are some terrific action sequences here. The film does a nice job of juggling the Fantastic Four’s various powers and making space for all of them to be used well.
In their debut film, Pedro Pascal’s Reed makes the biggest impression on me. This isn’t surprising, since Pascal’s a great actor and his Reed is super autistic, but I’m okay with my shameless favoritism—Reed is awesome! I really like seeing how seriously he takes his role as the one who analyzes worst-case scenarios to find solutions, and how heavily his responsibility to the others weighs on him. Vanessa Kirby’s Sue is fierce, determined, and emotionally intelligent. I like seeing the different ways her powers are used within the film because, in many ways, she’s the strongest of the four. Sue and Reed’s interactions with each other are wonderful. Rounding out the family dynamic are Stranger Things's Joseph Quinn as Johnny and Ebon Moss-Bachrach (I still know him best as Skeen from Andor) as Ben. Both of them could have used more screentime, but Reed and Sue clearly take center stage here. I’m not quite sure about Quinn—although I like him, I feel like he might be a little too subdued for Johnny, based on my limited knowledge of the character. I really enjoy Moss-Bachrach’s grounded performance. In his hands, Ben always feels like a person first and foremost. The chemistry of the whole cast is excellent. We begin the film four years into their tenure as superheroes, and everyone sells the long history between them really well. Any combination of group members works well together.
Warnings
Comic book violence, language, drinking, and thematic elements.
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