3 min to read
Fantastic Four First Steps
How is Marvel Studios' rendition of the First Family?
Review: This movie is fantastic, and it’s easily the best Fantastic Four movie we have ever been graced with. The movie’s sole focus is on the Fantastic 4 family, and what makes the movie work is that the family was extremely well cast, they had great chemistry, and the writing/dialogue between the characters were incredible.
The movie takes place in its own universe, completely separate from the remaining MCU; as such it was necessary for the movie to provide a backstory to the team and their world. In most films this would potentially be a point of issue since the movie would take too much time to tell backstory, completely detracting from the purpose and flow of the movie. This movie gives the team’s backstory in the form of a television interview/story at the start of the movie. By doing it like this, they were able to give you all of the necessary information in a short amount of time, but it was kept simple, allowing it to flow perfectly into the start of the story.
In addition to the family and the perfect transition to the story, the visual language in this movie was impeccable. The movie takes place in a retro 60’s world, and after watching several interviews, I was able to learn that they tried to shoot as much of the movie in camera to allow the real, practical sets to bring the world to life. By doing this, the movie has the perfect blend of feeling modern but looking vintage, especially in regards to the various sets of the movie taking place in New York.
In addition to getting the visual language looking great, the visual effects of the movie are nearly perfect. The look and the shots with the Silver Surfer may be some of the best in the MCU, especially when the Fantastic Four and the Silver Surfer are in Space. On top of that, Galactus was nearly perfectly depicted. Ralph Ineson (Galactus) was wearing an actual Galactus suit while shooting his scenes, and the tangibility of the suit is beautiful. He would also shoot some scenes with miniatures, having his scenes in NYC be real instead of fully CGI. All of this together, along with additional great effects, the movie is a visual fest for Fantastic Four and super hero movies fans. The only questionable visuals are various scenes with the baby (I’m keeping this intentionally vague).
There are also various sequences that take place in space, and those sequences are beautiful, having a nearly interstellar experience in a super hero movie. In conjunction with the powerful score by Michael Giacchino, these sequences went from beautiful to breathtaking.
The only real downer to the movie was that I just wanted more. I wanted more of the family figuring and using their powers. I wanted more of Galactus. I wanted more of the Silver Surfer. If there was just a bit more, that itch would have been scratched, and this would have been nearly a perfect movie. I know they cut like 15 minutes of the movie about a month or two ago, and I think if they kept that I would have solved all of my issues.
Overall, this movie is just a lot of fun to watch, and I just adored the family and the family dynamic. I’m so glad that Marvel Studios has had a year with fantastic movies, this one being the best of the year. This is also one of those movies where if you watch it multiple times it gets better. I watched this twice opening week, and I still noticed the things I didn’t enjoy nearly as much, but I appreciated what I enjoyed about the movie even more.
Rating: 4.5/5
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