Fantastic Four: First Steps

Fantastic Four: First Steps

As good as I could have hoped for, but not the home run it could have been.  Some thoughts:

• I’ve never been a Vanessa Kirby fan, but she does a wonderful job here as Sue Storm.  I liked the inventive, sweet, and creepy sonogram use of her power.  Her hero moment at the end versus Galactus was suitably badass as well, I liked that she was the main driver of their win.  Her inspirational speech was well performed as well.

• There’s something with the parallel between pushing baby Franklin out at birth and pushing Galactus into an interdimensional hole at the finale, but I can’t figure out what it is.  

• Joseph Quinn was fine as Johnny Storm.  I kept seeing Chris Evans in the role.  I like that they gave him more to do than just be a pretty, shallow face with the translation of Silver Surfer’s language, but ultimately he made the smallest impression of the four.

• Ebon Moss-Bachrach was fine as Ben Grimm.  The majority of the kudos go to the CGI team, who perfectly, finally realized The Thing on the big screen.  There was clearly stuff cut out w/ the Rachel Rozman character, those scenes were absolutely pointless.

• Sometime after watching the movie, I realized that Benedict Cumberbatch would have made a perfect Reed Richards, and Pedro Pascal would have been just as good as Stephen Strange.  Now I wish that was the casting the MCU had gone with, as Pascal doesn’t quite work as Mr. Fantastic.  He’s too warm, too emotional here, and the facial hair is really off brand. 

• I didn’t expect Julia Garner as Silver Surfer to be one of the highlights of this film.  Something about her performance hit all the right notes, and Surfer gliding through lava was truly beautiful to watch.  

• The VFX team totally pulled off Galactus.  Awesome stuff.  

• So much of this movie is about the FF failing.  Their initial plan to fly out and stop Galactus in space fails.  Their plan to build a web of teleportation portals fails.  Their plan to lure Galactus to Times Square fails.  But that’s what science, and the FF by extension, is all about, isn’t it?  It’s Thomas Edison in action: "I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.”  They keep trying until they succeed.

• There are SO many plot holes in this film.  I can’t go through them all.

• What kind of idiot tells the world that they have an out, at the measly cost of one baby’s life?  Did he really think that was a good idea?

• No nine-month pregnant mother would go into space.  I mean, seriously.   

• Franklin never looked the same in any of his scenes.  And he aged/de-aged to a shocking degree, and never in the same direction.  

• Who didn’t see baby ex machina coming at the end?  Or Silver Surfer’s last second save?

Regret watching: No

Would watch again: Yes

Would buy on DVD: Yes

Rating: Pretty good

Updated MCU rankings

1. Avengers: Endgame

2. Captain America: Civil War

3. Captain America: Winter Soldier

4. Spider-Man: No Way Home

5. Avengers: Infinity War

6. Shang-Chi

7. Avengers: Age of Ultron

8. Ant-Man/Wasp

9. Avengers

10. Spider-Man: Homecoming

11. Captain America

12. Dr Strange 2

13. Thunderbolts

14. Thor: Love and Thunder

15. Spider-Man: Far From Home

16. Iron Man 2

17. Black Widow

18. Fantastic Four: First Steps

19. Black Panther

20. Iron Man

21. Ant-Man

22. Dr Strange

23. Deadpool & Wolverine

24. Iron Man 3

25. Thor 3

26. Captain Marvel

27. Thor

28. Thor 2

29. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever

30. Guardians of the Galaxy

31. Guardians of the Galaxy 2

32. Guardians of the Galaxy 3

33. Hulk

34. Eternals

35. Captain America: Brave New World

36. Ant-Man/Wasp: Quantumania