‘The Fantastic Four: First Steps’ welcomes Marvel’s first family to the cinematic universe

Simply by following an unreleased and illegal 1994 production from low-budget maestro Roger Corman, two so-so entries from the mid-2000s starring a pre-Captain America Chris Evans as Johnny Storm, and an embarrassing 2015 reboot that now mostly survives as a piece of mockery, “The Fantastic Four: First Steps” is … fantastic.

Look, I knew I had to use that pun at least once throughout this review, so it made sense to get it out of the way. Beyond just the simple humor of the wordplay, it’s an apt description for this fourth official introduction to Marvel’s first family.

In the 37 entries of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, there hasn’t been a film that has committed more to the bit than “First Steps.” Even the opening IMAX and studio logos are dressed with the retrofuturist space-age design akin to “The Jetsons.”

On this version of Earth, specifically called Earth-828 (the rest of the MCU takes place on Earth-616), live The Fantastic Four. In a quick television special montage, we get their backstories, the origin of their superpowers, and their newfound purpose as protectors. They’re Earth’s mightiest heroes, with the public adoring them for their friendly neighborhood charm and upstanding morals.

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It was nice to see that director Matt Shakman and screenwriters Josh Friedman, Eric Pearson, Jeff Kaplan and Ian Springer share our sentiment about pushing past all the cursory facts that we’ve had over 60 years to study.

Shakman helmed all episodes of “WandaVision,” everyone’s favorite pandemic comfort watch. His knack for mixing the stylistic influences of classic and modern television shows is mimicked here, with the art direction, costuming and soundtrack greatly supporting the notion that this marks a new, separate entry in the MCU.

The Thing casually walks around in a trench coat and fedora, with the rest of the team donning fashionable turtlenecks as their official uniform. The group’s robot butler, H.E.R.B.I.E., is an analog computer with artificial intelligence, zooming around a bit like WALL-E, making beeps and blips as comic relief.

Through their mixture of brains and brawn, The Fantastic Four have been able to vanquish every threat that has come their way.

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That is, until the Silver Surfer (Julia Garner) arrives with a warning that this Earth has been marked for death by Galactus (Ralph Ineson), the unstoppable godlike destroyer of worlds. His introduction feels plucked straight out of the concept art, with his sheer size and superior tone reminding these heroes that they are mere mortals.

Initially, “First Steps” makes the refreshing decision not to devolve into an endless punchfest or a fetch quest for the MacGuffin that will stop the threat from happening. This is not an action-packed movie, as it largely relies on its characters to carry our interest. The well-cast actors accomplish this task with ease.

The internet may have officially deemed Pedro Pascal as overexposed (he can currently also be found in theaters with “Materialists” and “Eddington”), but that doesn’t mean his popularity among casting agents is unwarranted. His version of Reed Richards takes the blame for the group acquiring what he refers to as “anomalies,” and is frightened by the fact that his status as the smartest man on the planet isn’t enough to outthink the doom that Galactus brings.

There’s also the impending addition of a new member to the family in the form of a baby with wife Sue. Vanessa Kirby affectingly portrayed birth and motherhood in real time in “Pieces of a Woman,” making this version merely a walk in the park.

Joseph Quinn and Ebon Moss-Bachrach supply the best interpretations yet of Johnny Storm and The Thing, respectively. Each punches above their weight class compared to the material handed to them – especially Moss-Bachrach, who has to push through the barrier of motion-capture performance.

Of course, things do end with a variation on the giant-sky-beam cliché, and there are just as many shoddy special effects shots as good ones. “The Incredibles” retains its title as the best version of this general concept. We’d have to dive into a thorny chicken-and-egg scenario to define who’s copying from whom.

Still, that’s an incredibly high bar to clear, and this valiant effort is worth commending, especially with this serving as one of the final stepping stones until “Avengers: Doomsday.”

Walt Disney Studio Motion Pictures will release “The Fantastic Four: First Steps” in theaters nationwide on July 25.

Eden Prairie resident Hunter Friesen is a film critic who owns and operates The Cinema Dispatch, a website where he writes reviews, essays, and everything in between. He currently serves as the president of the Minnesota Film Critics Association and travels the globe covering film festivals both big and small. To view his entire body of work, you can visit his website and Instagram.