As a lifelong comic book fan—and more specifically, a die-hard Marvel fan—this was the Fantastic Four movie I had always wanted.
The first two films with Chris Evans as hothead Johnny Storm? They were fine, but mostly forgettable. And the 2015 version with Miles Teller and Kate Mara? Yeah… let’s just not talk about that one.
But this version? The script, the characters? They were the Fantastic Four.
The film kicks off four years after their fateful space mission, where Reed Richards (Pedro Pascal), Sue Storm (Vanessa Kirby), Johnny Storm (Joseph Quinn), and Ben Grimm (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) were bombarded with cosmic rays and transformed into Mr. Fantastic, the Invisible Girl, the Human Torch, and the ever-lovin’ blue-eyed Thing.
We get a fun, comic book-style montage of the team battling villains like the Mole Man (Paul Walter Hauser), the Mad Thinker, and the Red Ghost’s super-powered orangutans. It all felt ripped straight from the pages of those early Fantastic Four comics, and was pure Jack Kirby and Stan Lee. And from that moment on, I was all in.
Then, we find out that Sue’s pregnant, and naturally, there’s concern that the baby might inherit some side effects from all that cosmic radiation. Smarty-pants Reed builds a machine to check the baby’s DNA. The good news: the baby’s perfectly normal. The bad news: Galactus (Ralph Ineson), a cosmic being who literally devours planets to survive, and his herald, the Silver Surfer (Julia Garner), sense the child’s presence and want to take him. The Surfer shows up with a message: give us the child or Earth is toast.
The team heads to space to try and reason with Galactus, a battle breaks out, and they barely make it back to Earth. But the die is cast… Galactus is coming.
Finally seeing Galactus on screen and watching him slowly walk into New York City? Breathtaking.
I’ll admit, when I first heard the casting, I wasn’t totally sold. But boy, was I wrong. Pedro Pascal nails Reed Richards. Vanessa Kirby’s Sue Storm might not be the version I pictured growing up, but she brings strength and power that made me see the character in a whole new light.
Ben and Johnny’s banter is classic Marvel, funny, snarky, and heartfelt. They were both great. (Though, if I’m being a little nitpicky, Ben’s beard? Yeah… that was weird)
The effects were solid, and out of all the past films, this Thing was finally the most Thing-like. And Herbie, the team’s little robot sidekick was like a mash-up of R2-D2 and C-3PO, and honestly? Everyone’s going to want one.
Director Matt Shakman and the writing team (Josh Friedman, Eric Pearson, Jeff Kaplan, and Ian Springer) deserve major props. They finally gave Marvel fans the FF movie we’ve been waiting for. The retro-future world they built, full of bright colors was a perfect backdrop.
And Michael Giacchino’s score? Absolutely incredible. The man’s a genius.
It’s a true, funny, action-filled story worthy of Marvel’s first family.
And stay for the end credits. Duh.
