by James Coulter
The Fantastic Four’s luck on the big screen has been anything but fantastic. Their first “official” movie in 2005 was largely panned by critics, yet managed to make enough at the box office to warrant a sequel, Rise of the Silver Surfer, in 2007. That movie flopped so hard in the box office and reviews that it ended the franchise.
Nearly a decade later, a darker, grittier reboot of the Fantastic Four was released in 2015, and–well, a dark gritty version of the Fantastic Four sounds as appealing as a dark, gritty version of Winnie the Pooh. But while Pooh: Blood and Honey proved to be so bad it’s (ironically) good, Fan4Stic, as it was called by fans, proved to be so bad it’s garbage.
Arguably, the only “good” theatrical adaptation of the Fantastic Four was an unreleased 1994 film by famed shlock director Riger Corman, and that movie never saw the light of day because it was only created so that the studio could keep the film rights to the comic book franchise.
Now, the film rights are in the hands of Disney and Marvel Studios, which has released its own version of the Fantasic Four for its cinematic universe–or, rather, the cinematic multiverse. But will this film open up possibilites as infinite as the multiverse itself? Or is the Fantastic Four so dead-on arrival it might as well be part of the Marvel Zombies franchise?
Set in an alternate reality apart from the rest of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Fantastic Four takes place four years after the main characters returned from space with their superpowers. Since then, the titular superhero quintent have used their powers for the good of planet Earth and, doing so, gained super popularity.
However, shortly after Sue became pregnant, a new threat has emerged to devestate the planet. An interteresstial being known as the Silver Surfer arrives to announce that her master, Galactus, will soon devour their planet. The Fantasic Four have the opportunity to avert disaster, but at a personal cost. Will the Four pay that price? Or will they find another way to save their planet from being Galactus’ next gourmet meal?
As with the latest Superman movie, this latest theatrical adaptation of the Fantastic Four decides to forgo the supehero team’s origin in favor of diving right into the main plot. The movie offers a brief glimpse of the Fantastic Four’s origin story via flashback, but otherwise, it fully acknowledges that, like most other superhero origins, the audience is already well aware of how the Fantastic Four got their superpowers. As such, the film dives straight into its own unique story set within a unique pre-established world.
And what a unique world it is! The Fantastic Four revels in its retro-futuristic setting, with sleek space-age architecture and art styles, giant computers, talking robots, and flying cars. It’s as if the entire world was transformed into Walt Disney’s vision of the future circa 1960s Tomorrowland. The only thing missing is “It’s a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow” playing in the background. (Though, interesting enough, one montage actually plays the original Disney monorail music from that time period.)
The four main characters are played very well by their respective actors. And their chemistry together certainly feels like a family of superheroes who have been living and working together with their superpowers for many years. Pedro Pascal especially does an excellent job playing the elastic patriach of the family, Reed Richards. Then again, I have yet to watch a bad Pedro Pascal performance. From The Mandalorian to even Wonder Woman 84, ever role he plays is golden.
Perhaps the most surprising performance (for me at least) was Johnny Storm. Normally, he’s depicted as an impulsive, hot-headed, and even reckless show off, a real pig-headed abdolescent who’s only part of the group because he’s Sue’s brother. However, in this movie, Johnny proves to be just as intelligent and capable as the other characters, even as much as Richard. No spoilers, but part of his arc involves him effortlessly deciphering an alien language to help unveil a secret that proves pivotal for the plot.
As for the plot itself, it’s simple yet effective. The Fantastic Four are forced to make a difficult choice: either give up something of theirs, or allow their world to be consumed by Galactus. Again, no spoilers, but this plot points ends up complicating matters further by turning public opinion against them. Now, the Fantastic Four have to beat the clock and their soured public perception to discover a third option.
And, well, they certainly come up with an alternative solution. No spoilers, but…well, it’s the dumbest solution that the smartest person can come up with, a solution so dumb that if if the movie wasn’t good and wasn’t reveling so much in its Silver Age comic book aesthetic that it could have easily ruined the movie. Gladly, it’s a plot point so stupid only a Silver Age-style comic book movie could pull it off. (And to its credit, that plot point ends up failing, only to lead to an actually smart solution.)
Overall, while this Fantastic Four movie may not be the best superhero movie of the year (that honor goes to the new Superman movie), it’s undoubtedly the best Marvel movie of the year and hands down the best Fantastic Four movie ever made. A real Fantastic Four out of five!
