‘I’ ON CULTURE
Disney’s Marvel Universe is back, sort of, with Fantastic Four: First Steps. It is probably the best of the post Avengers: Endgame Disney Marvel films. For reference purposes, Spider-Man: No Way Home was also a top film, but it was made by Columbia Pictures. The new movie is good, although not great. But it also has something often lacking in the more recent Marvel Universe films — heart. This is, surprisingly for recent Disney films, pro-family. The most important element of the movie is the family’s protection of their new child.
The film begins with a TV recap of the origins of the group. The four, Reed Richards/Mr. Fantastic (Pedro Pascal), his wife Sue Storm/Invisible Woman (Vanessa Kirby), her brother Johnny Storm/Human Torch (Joseph Quinn) and Reed’s best friend Ben Grimm/The Thing (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) were off on a space mission and were irradiated by cosmic rays and got superpowers. Reed and Sue soon learn they are having a baby.
Right after that, the Silver Surfer (Julia Garner) comes to the planet to announce they will be swallowed by Galactus (voice of Ralph Ineson), a giant cosmic being. The four go off on a mission to negotiate and discover that the only price that the being demands is the unborn child. They refuse, escape and come home to a world where people at first seem to not understand why they won’t do that minor thing.
Most of the rest of the film is the story of how they fight, using both brains and superpowers, against the giant enemy. And it works pretty well, although there are a lot of asides, and the movie occasionally does slow down.
The cast is good, Kirby is a great actress who does really well in parts where she can portray a strong woman. Here, where she can control force fields as well as going invisible, she can combine both the ferocity and tenderness of a mother. She is the standout among the cast.
Quinn is also really good. Johnny is often played essentially as a dumb kid. Here, he is smart and sensitive and is essential in figuring out how to fight. Moss-Bachrach was good, with great lines, although just about all of his visuals were motion capture or computer-generated images, similar to what was done for the Hulk in other movies.
Pascal was the one weak spot. Although not bad, he just did not live up to the name Mr. Fantastic. He seemed more like a hen-pecked, rather boring professor when he was not fighting than like a real leader. He is supposed to be the leader of the group, but in this film, he abdicated that role to his wife. He did the acting job decently but almost disappeared into the scenery at times. That did not happen with the other members of the group. Paul Walter Hauser as Harvey Elder/Moleman was excellent in a key smaller role. He could be a useful player in what will probably be sequels as the ruler of Subterranea, an underground city beneath New York.
The action, taking place in an alternate universe from our own, during the 1960s, was plentiful. There were great action sequences. My favorite was one right near the end that was reasonably long but seemed to go by really fast as I could barely catch my breath.
But as I wrote earlier, what really sets the film apart is the focus on family. Of course, the focus on the baby and the willingness to sacrifice everything for a child is vital. But the characters brought up their humanity in it. The infant seemed clearly loved and valued. And putting the survival of one person as a key element in who we are as a human race, was a great touch. We all have been seeing stories about people risking and even sacrificing to save others, particularly children, during disasters and everyday incidents. This is a key element of humanity, and it comes to the fore in the picture.
This is the first in a series of movies that will involve the Fantastic Four. They are already set to be in Avengers: Doomsday next year. I look forward to it.
This movie is actually worth the price of admission, although, again, for a large family, waiting a bit to either buy it or rent it might be a better value.
