The new Fantastic Four film has finally been released, and all the buzz centered around its ability to redeem the superhero genre seems to have been just that. Nothing has been done to the movie to improve it that makes it noteworthy. Interestingly enough, it doesn’t fall into the exceptional/awful category. This film just doesn’t bring the thrill that was thought to save the superhero movie genre, or specifically the Fantastic Four. It seems to only offer a mild disappointment, the kind you would experience after going on a roller coaster that was labeled as the biggest and fastest, only to slightly lift your expectations.
The Fantastic Four, with that whole retro 60s vibe, is really neat and sets it apart from other superhero films. And the cast—Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Joseph Quinn, and Ebon Moss-Bachrach—they’re all great. You can tell they have chemistry, and it’s fun to just watch them hanging out and interacting as a team. The problem is, they don’t get enough time to really be a family. The movie is so busy and feels so rushed that the character stuff, which is supposed to be the core of the Fantastic Four, gets glossed over.
Nonetheless, the biggest issue is the pacing. The movie rushes to introduce the iconic characters and their powers- and without any warning, there they are, fighting an enormous cosmic threat. The film does not offer any quiet moments to reflect on the fact that the characters’ lives have changed completely. The pacing is faster than the entire movie put on overdrive. This expression makes it really clear that the director wanted to avoid any slightest hint of boredom. Unfortunately, the villain was also underdeveloped, which is not a new issue for these types of movies. Nevertheless, from the beginning of First Steps, you can tell that the pacing makes it impossible to make the villain feel menacing for the required amount of time.
Fantastic Four: First Steps is somewhat disappointing, an allusion to its potential. The visual graphics are striking, the cast is fantastic, and there are also a few magnificent parts of the movie. But it’s an exception to the rule of what is expected from a good movie, as it begins immediately with an attempt to be epic (and it is an extensive mistake to make). In general, it can be said that as the first film in the universe, it has a good score, but it carries a lot of features that you long to scrub away.
