FILM REVIEW: THE FANTASTIC FOUR – FIRST STEPS (12A)ESP RATING: 4/5

Marvel’s First Family could just have provided the course correction that the franchise’s cinematic universe so sorely needed.

It ultimately might not end up in the Top Ten movies since the MCU’s inception in 2008, but does usher in a new era that sets things up very nicely for the forthcoming Avengers: Doomsday.

For starters it’s exciting to see the Fantastic Four done justice. Gone are the hokey (slightly campish) cartoon-esque movies of twenty years ago – and one of the worst Marvel films ever-made with the awful 2015 effort – as Reed Richards’ Mr Fantastic (The Mandalorian star Pedro Pascal) and family are finally given a proper entry to live appropriately in the MCU.

As the only superheroes set on a retrofuturistic sixties-inspired Earth 828 – alternate versions of our planet were introduced after the Time Heist in Endgame as seen in No Way Home and Deadpool & Wolverine – there is a welcome air of freshness to this movie – similarly to what the Guardians of the Galaxy brought to the table in a completely different way – under the noteworthy guidance of Wandavision TV series director Matt Shakman.

Richards, and his scientifically intelligent mega-elasticated alter-ego, is joined by his wife Sue Storm (Misson: Impossible’s Vanessa Kirby) as the force-field generating Invisible Woman; her younger brother Johnny (Stranger Things’ Joseph Quinn) as the airborne fire-manipulating Human Torch; and family friend Ben Grimm (Ebon Moss-Bachrach from TV series The Bear), who has mutated into a Hulk-esque super-strengthed being, covered in a layer of orange rock. And there’s HERBIE (voiced by Matthew Wood) as the family robot too.

As Earth’s protectors (after being exposed to otherworldly rays on a space mission) they are treated like superstars – even having their own cartoon – but that is soon put to the test when a celestial alien, known as the Silver Surfer (Wolf Man’s Julia Garner), turns up to declare the planet has been ‘marked for destruction’ by a world-devouring cosmic entity, known as Galactus (played by former The Office star Ralph Ineson).

To throw a complication into the mix, Reed and Sue have just given birth to their first born – a young boy called Franklin – and Galactus has detected great things in his future, and offers to leave the planet in peace if he is given the child.

This for the first time creates anxiety between the foursome and Earth’s inhabitants as the superhero group refuse to give up the boy – but must now concoct an almighty plan to try and defeat this gigantically-powerful alien monster.

At a bright and breezy ‘under two hours’ pace, there’s no doubting this is fairly linear stuff – not offering anything particularly groundbreaking in plotline terms.

But the enigmatic characters are well fleshed-out, the retro backdrops are a joyously inventive playground – and most importantly it carries a lot of heart (which gives it another half mark).

And for that, its basic ‘A to B’ storyline is – on this occasion – a necessary ‘way to a means’ to introduce an important group to the forthcoming Marvel pantheon.

It’s just sad that it has taken 25 years longer than the X-Men to finally get it right – as this is pretty close to being fantastic.

ESP Rating: 4/5

Gavin Miller

Showcase Cinema De Lux Peterborough & Odeon Luxe Peterborough, Out Now

Cast: Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Joseph Quinn, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Julia Garner, Paul Walter Hauser, Natasha Lyonne & Ralph Ineson

Running Time: 1 Hr 54 Mins

Director: Matt Shakman                               

Film Review Venue: Showcase Cinema De Lux Peterborough

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