The Fantastic Four's unhappy history with big screen adaptations finally gets some good news with this zippy and mostly fun reboot from director Matt Shakman.
Set in a retro-futuristic New York in an alternative 1960s (VW Beetles but no Beatles), it’s no stretch (terrible pun intended) to say it’s the coolest looking MCU flick in far too long and it leaves previous efforts at turning the blue-suited nuclear family into a viable franchise looking very lacklustre indeed.
It doesn’t hang about either. The manageable two-hour running time flies by and any idea that this is an origins story is knocked on the head early with an entertaining and witty opening montage that tells how our family of astronauts - Reed Richards/Mister Fantastic, Sue Storm/Invisible Woman, Ben Grimm/The Thing and Johnny Storm/Human Torch - got their amazing superpowers.
They are now globally admired and adored planetary elders in comfy looking onesies, who preach peace and strive for humanity’s best interests, while clobbering baddies with righteous zeal. However, nothing could have prepared them for their latest adversary.
This is Galactus (Ralph Ineson), a skyscraper tall super villain with a stadium-filling voice, from somewhere out in the depths of space who survives by literally eating whole planets. His imminent arrival to dine on little old Earth is announced by the cooly fatalistic Silver Surfer, who is played with a well-pitched indifference by Julia Garner.
And so, our heroes battle to prevent their newest foe from turning the planet into his latest meal. They do this with an appeal for global cooperation, which might be possible in the film’s idealised vision of the 1960s, and some scientific tricks that strain even the limits of the MCU’s built-in credulity. Still, the deeply silly plot does present one or two moral dilemmas for our heroes, not least one involving Reed and Sue’s newborn, Franklin.
Pedro Pascal, the hottest thing in Hollywood right now, plays patriarch on the spectrum Reed with a quiet authority, Vanessa Kirby is her usual flinty and impressive self as Sue, and the Human Torch may or may not be falling for Silver Surfer; in one of the film’s better lines, he asks her "So, are you actually attached to that board . . . ?
At one point, The Thing, who already looks like a jumbo Weetabix in a hat, seems like he’s going to turn into Cookie Monster, and thankfully the family’s cute but slightly irritating robot H.E.R.B.I.E. isn’t given too much screen time. A now rehabilitated but still cankerous Mole Man is also good value.
The inevitable city destroying finale works very well, with Galactus barging around New York like a bored Godzilla. In fact, The Fantastic Four: First Steps keeps its head and isn’t as protracted and messy as the usual MCU fare; Shakman even cheekily makes at least two visual references to Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey.
When Gallactus laments in his Grand Canyon of a voice, "who can stop this blank, eternal hunger?", those of us perplexed by the planet-eating MCU will similarly wonder if fans will ever tire of the formulaic superhero genre.
Still, The Fantastic Four: First Steps manages to find a look, feel and sense of cool all of its own that sets it apart from the usual big screen Marvel chaos and confusion. However, the question does linger - didn’t The Incredibles do all this with much more flair and fun?
The Fantastic Four: First Steps is in cinemas on Thursday, 24 July
