Fourth time’s the charm. There have been three past cinematic iterations of Marvel’s First Family, including the Roger Corman-executive produced, low-budget The Fantastic Four (1994), Fox’s bigger-budgeted Fantastic Four duology (2005-2007), and the critically and commercially clobbered reboot Fant4stic (2015). But only The Fantastic Four: First Steps — the first film of the MCU’s Phase 6 and the first Fantastic Four film produced by Marvel Studios — has the distinction of receiving a fresh score on Rotten Tomatoes.
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Director Matt Shakman’s retro-futuristic superhero flick debuted on the review aggregator Tuesday with a fantastic 88% “certified fresh” rating at the time of publishing, making The Fantastic Four: First Steps the Fab Four’s best-reviewed film in three decades — and the first version to receive a fresh score.
2005’s Fantastic Four flamed out at 27% “rotten,” and its 2007 sequel, F4: Rise of the Silver Surfer, was devoured by critics with 37% “rotten.” The doomed Fant4stic reboot in 2015 received a dismal 9% “rotten.” (1994’s The Fantastic Four went unreleased, but with bootleg copies widely available online, the low-budget quickie has a 33% “rotten” based on 12 reviews.)
ComicBook critic Spencer Perry gave the film a 3.5 grade, writing, “The Fantastic Four: First Steps has an appropriate subtitle, because it really does feel like this is a starting point that has stumbling blocks. The good news is that the characters work, the actors are good, but overall, there’s a spark missing. Maybe it’s the disconnect between this movie and the larger MCU, maybe it’s that Marvel is checking off specifics about this team to make sure they’re fully set up, or maybe it’s that more often than not, there’s not much new being added. On the whole, The Fantastic Four: First Steps is the best Marvel movie of the year, with a tremendous score and some hilarious moments. But considering what preceded it, that’s damning with faint praise.”
Other reviewers heaped praise on the film’s quartet, which includes Reed Richards/Mister Fantastic (Pedro Pascal), Susan Storm/Invisible Woman (Vanessa Kirby), Johnny Storm/the Human Torch (Joseph Quinn), and Ben Grimm/the Thing (Ebon Moss-Bachrach), who must defend the Earth against the planet-devouring Galactus (Ralph Ineson) and cosmic-powered herald the Silver Surfer (Julia Garner).
Here are some excerpts from around the internet:
USA Today: “All four main players nicely inhabit these superheroes that have been around in comics since 1961 — Kirby especially shines in grounding a fantastical narrative in heartfelt emotion. It’s a Fantastic Four movie that finally gets its heroes right, after so many tries. So much so that the biggest gripe about First Steps is it doesn’t spend enough time with them and their immersive world before space villains pop up to dole out impossible choices and major property damage. Then again, that’s what a sequel’s for – with extra clobberin’, too, please.”
RogerEbert.com: “This is a solid, intelligent, occasionally inspired comic book movie that delivers most of what a popular audience demands from the genre (including interstellar voyages and massively scaled action sequences) plus a little bit more, mainly through thoughtful and grounded lead performances and production design.”
EW: “The Marvel Cinematic Universe has long excelled in its casting, and The Fantastic Four: First Steps is no exception. Pascal at last gets a superb filmic vehicle for his charms, one that allows him to exude both his classic movie star swagger and his more modern sensitivity, which simmers beneath the surface every moment he’s on screen. Kirby lends Sue an ethereal sensibility, which speaks to the paradox of her heroism and her maternal role in the storytelling (she gives new meaning to the notion that a mother could lift a car to save her child). Quinn brings Steve McQueen cool to Johnny Storm, making him more the epitome of mid-century aloof masculinity than a cocky man-child, while Moss-Bachrach imbues Ben Grimm with the greatest humanity of the four, despite his igneous exterior. All four performers capture something quintessential to the 1960s vibe — a sense that they are of a piece with this world and products of their time.”
Variety: “Marvel has made clear that the studio is preparing the Fantastic Four’s most iconic nemesis, Dr. Doom, for a forthcoming film, but the planet-obliterating combo of Galactus and Silver Surfer hardly feel like second best. If anything, they trump even Thanos, a force so strong it took uniting all the Avengers to defeat him … True to its subtitle, the film feels like a fresh start. And like this summer’s blockbuster Superman reboot over at DC, that could be just what it takes to win back audiences suffering from superhero exhaustion.”
The Hollywood Reporter: “Shakman skillfully balances the humor of the family dynamic with the gravity of the situation they are facing, steadily amping up the suspense as the story builds to Galactus’ inevitable descent to Earth, dropping out of the sky into the East River and stomping through the Lower East Side with thundering noise that rips right through you. (The movie packs a visceral charge seen in IMAX.) Rather than allowing the action to define the story, the filmmakers let the poignant character-based scenes do the heavy lifting. That should not imply any lack of excitement, but the clashes are fueled by the deep love of the four principal characters for each other and their corresponding urge to keep the people of their world safe.”
Marvel’s The Fantastic Four: First Steps is only in theaters July 25.
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