Marvel’s Jetsons-Like Adventure Lacks Heat

Marvel’s The Fantastic Four: First Steps is a pretty, throwback spin on one of the comic book publisher’s first superhero teams. It’s a handsome production, heavy on the retro comic-book imagery (complete with an exclamation point in the title). It has a lot of fun with its comic-book stylings, too, and the cast is spot-on, led by Pedro Pascal and Ebon Moss-Bachrach. But despite its visual charms and winning performances, First Steps never quite gets a full head of steam going.

Marvel producer Kevin Feige may as well have called this a “no-homework-required” movie. Marvel movies, especially the franchise-building ones in recent years, can be pretty dependent on knowing what’s going on in the universe: a multiverse here, a cameo there, or knowledge of some Marvel cartoon, film, or television spin-off somewhere in the mix. First Steps is none of these things. It’s a reboot, with no real attempt to integrate or juggle continuity from previous movies, or even television series like She-Hulk: Attorney at Law. The cast, a group of first-rate actors, is reintroducing Reed Richards, Sue Storm, Johnny Storm, and Ben Grimm, but with minimal setup and exposition. First Steps is very much a standalone movie, and it’s okay with that—sometimes too much.

Opening narration from Mark Gatiss as a talk-show host sets up the origin of these characters. Four years ago, they took part in a space mission where they were exposed to cosmic radiation and their DNA was changed. Reed (Pedro Pascal) got powers of elastic expansion, stretching his body in different directions. Sue (Vanessa Kirby) gained the ability to become invisible and project force fields. Johnny (Joseph Quinn) gained the power to set himself on fire and fly. And, as The Thing, Ben (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) became a rock-covered giant with superhuman strength. Now, they live in a collective suburban compound that’s half comic-book, half mid-century modern utopia. The house has floating cars, chalkboards with equations drawn on them, and a toddler-size robot named H.E.R.B.I.E. It doesn’t even occur to anyone that something is missing, because this is 1960s-style retro-futurism: Square television sets, no smartphones, and there’s an earnest simplicity to the design. It’s as if The Jetsons and Lost in Space met up with a Marvel comic book.

It’s fun, but the movie struggles to generate any real sense of urgency or stakes. The Fantastic Four: First Steps is about family—these four characters in particular—and how close they are. Sue finds out she is pregnant fairly early in the movie, and Reed is both wracked with nerves and suitably adorable. Pascal has a thoughtful quality as Reed, and there’s a lovely scene where he is instructing H.E.R.B.I.E. on how to baby-proof both the house and their science laboratory. The fraternal dynamic between the other two young scientists—Johnny and Ben—is a little silly, but with actors as good as Quinn and Moss-Bachrach, you root for them, while they play up their sibling rivalry/comic-relief bromance with gusto. They also clearly relish the idea that they’re going to become uncles.

But the peace is soon broken as a familiar interstellar presence arrives. Galactus, a giant, armored alien with glowing eyes, is on a collision course with the Earth and is there to eat the planet. He’s headed in, but he’s sending a herald first to give the bad news. The Silver Surfer, a beautiful humanoid being with a silver-skinned body and an ability to glide, appears and duly discomfits these intrepid young explorers. Played by Julia Garner in motion capture, she doesn’t get too much to do in the film before being abducted, in turn, by Galactus. There’s a little romance hinted at between the hot newcomer and the teenage Johnny Storm.

Nonetheless, Galactus keeps coming, and there’s no avoiding the impact. The movie is about to reach a satisfying climax, as Sue begins to give birth to their baby at the same time as the team is tracking Galactus’s ship in space to try and thwart his plans. It’s an odd combination, but there is a kind of surreal kinetic energy in watching Sue in a Marvel-style action pose as she is in labor. At the same time, Ben is also busy, as Sue begins having contractions in space. There’s no real explanation of how any of this is happening, but it’s in keeping with the retro Marvel vibe that if you try to ask questions, you get buzzed by an unseen foe. So, while Sue gives birth on a platform in midair in space, Johnny keeps distracting the Silver Surfer with kisses (true to form, he’s a womanizer from the comics) while Ben manages to activate Galactus’s ship self-destruct sequence. First Steps had been inching along for most of its runtime, building to a conclusion that feels surprisingly mild, especially in its action, given the reputation of the Fantastic Four in comics. And although the space-age colors pop, the comic-book imagery (Galactus’s ship emits smoke rings, while attacks from the Silver Surfer produce stylized bursts of light) evokes the pastel past rather than any future age.

Marvel’s Fantastic Four: First Steps is a pleasant, well-acted movie. It’s a delight to look at and a hark back to an earlier age. But, while these characters have had stories that are truly operatic in scale (even a proper space opera one), First Steps lacks that sense of drama, as if by eschewing connections to any pre-existing Marvel property, they’ve neutered themselves. It’s no-fuss, no-fusion, and it works for some. But for those that like their Marvel with a little more whimsy, and less world-ending, it may be just right.