The Fantastic Four: First Steps

My god, what is it with superhero films these days? They are just so lacklustre.

After the first trailer, I was unimpressed. I was really not keen on seeing the film, but then my son asked, and we also got to see Galactus in the last trailer, so I thought we would go for it. Even if Galactus is cool and the rest sucks, that would be something.

The film looks great; they nail the comic book look, and I cannot really fault it in that regard. Sadly, that's about it. The CGI ranges from passable to excellent, the script is very dumb in parts....but passable. The "female" Silver Surfer was fine; there was a plot point that made the Surfer's gender a necessary story element. The casting just felt off, not terrible, but something did not click.....And worst of all was the utter waste of Galactus.

Going by trailers, it looked like we would finally get some full-on action, but (no real spoiler apart from what he does) what we get is chatty Galactus, "ouch" Galactus, and walking past buildings Galactus....... Oh, and one other Galactus that made it even worse.

I have to say, right up to the Space trip and meeting (trying to keep details low), I was pleasantly surprised, and I did start to get my hopes up. Lesson learned, I guess.

This movie is so unimaginatively silly that it feels stuck on the level of a mid-90s Power Rangers episode. At best, it might be aimed exclusively at kids, but honestly, I think even today's kids would simply find it dumb. I struggle to imagine that anyone could genuinely enjoy this film, and if someone does, I'd honestly love to hear why.

The script: bad.

Casting: bad.

Villain: bad.

CGI: not great either.

Honestly, this movie feels like it was made just to set up the Fantastic Four so they could be folded into the Avengers universe. I personally enjoyed the 2005 Fantastic Four way more.

Pedro Pascal is a talented actor, no doubt, but I just can't buy him as a superhero. To me, he fits much better in a villain role than as a member of the Fantastic Four.

It seems pretty clear now that the "Comic book" film is on its last legs. The combination of an oversaturated market married with a steep decline in quality has the genre about to join the Western in the mausoleum of pop culture. Can one great movie change that? No. A string of good to pretty good ones? Again, no. This is a nosedive that even Chuck Yeager couldn't pull out of. Enter: 'The Fantastic Four: First Steps', a film so mid, so meh, that your super power will need to be not falling asleep.

Ironically this is the fourth try at a live action F4 adaptation (If you include the Corman hoax from the early 90's, which I do). That's a whole lotta effort for an IP that really doesn't have much "cool" factor or cultural currency. But Marvel never met a toothpaste tube it couldn't squeeze dry, so here we are.

Filled with atrocious CGI f/x, a wafer-thin story and a total lack of emotional connection, the two best things I have to say about this movie are that it's short and that I enjoyed the retro futuristic visuals. That's it. Forgettable score. Poor casting. I could go on and on. Everything else here is a swing and a miss.

This isn't the worst movie in the increasingly inconsequential MCU, but it sure isn't good enough to act as a course correct for Disney's once Titanic brand.

I mean I went to theater with quite high expectations. But honestly was a bit disappointed.

Movie tried to explore characters and their depth more but collectively as whole it went bit shallow and mediocre storyline.

It was definitely better than previous ones. But calling it one of the best MCU films? Um nope. Not at all.