Fantastic Four

Marvel really needed this one to land. With all the talk of superhero fatigue and Marvel oversaturating the market with mediocrity the last few years, Fantastic Four could have been a cosmic palate cleanser after James Gunn’s Superman swooped in to deliver some redemption for the genre. Instead, Fantastic Four is more the cinematic equivalent of a casual shrug.

That said, it’s still the best Fantastic Four movie ever made. Let’s not forget the road we took to get here: there was the unreleased Roger Corman version, the two early-2000s entries that leaned too hard into sitcom cheese, and the 2015 Josh Trank disaster that tried to go dark and gritty but ended up more like watching a moody teen stare out a rainy window for two hours. This new version clears that low bar with ease, and for once, feels like it has something resembling a soul.

The story follows Marvel’s “first family,” Reed Richards (Pedro Pascal), Sue Storm (Vanessa Kirby), Johnny Storm (Joseph Quinn), and Ben Grimm (Ebon Moss-Bachrach). The four astronauts get caught in a cosmic accident and come back with strange powers (which happens in a super quick exposition dump). You know the drill: stretchy, invisible, flamey, and rocky. When an unbeatable threat shows up in the form of Galactus the planet eater, they have to rise to the occasion.

The movie sets them loose in a gorgeous retro-futuristic world. Honestly, the production design and costumes alone are almost worth the price of admission. It’s a world you want to live in, even if it’s on the brink of being eaten by Galactus.

Unfortunately, the trailers spoil a lot and suck a lot of the surprise and delight out of the movie. Marvel marketing once again can’t help itself, and what should have been jaw-dropping moments are deflated because you saw them all in a 30-second YouTube ad two months ago.

Still, there are some compelling themes at work. The movie explores Reed’s struggle with human connection and how his big brain makes him a terrible husband and father. It also explores the idea of family (both found and biological) amid cosmic doom. It even manages to sell the creeping terror of impending planetary annihilation in a way that feels unusually bleak for Marvel…before pivoting into the usual inspirational speeches and CGI soup.

Unfortunately, it also suffers from at least one massive plot hole that stuck in my craw. I won’t spoil specifics, but let’s just say Galactus has a tractor beam that can suck up ships and people and anything he wants — until the script suddenly decides that he has to show up in person to give our heroes access to him.

In the end, I did enjoy it. It’s competent. It’s got moments. But walking out of the theatre, I overheard a kid say to his buddy, “That was kinda’ mid,” and honestly, that feels about right. There’s nothing bad here. But there’s nothing especially fantastic either. Maybe we’re looking at the birth of The I Dunno, Okay I Guess Four.

They won’t be back until Avengers: Doomsday, and who knows how much screen time they’ll get there. But if this is just their origin story, let’s hope these first steps lead to something bolder and, dare I say it, more fantastic next time around.

Tags: craig silliphant, fantastic four, movie review, movies

About the Author

Craig Silliphant is a D-level celebrity with delusions of grandeur. A writer, critic, creative director, editor, broadcaster, and occasional filmmaker, his thoughts have appeared on radio, television, in print, and on the web. He is a juror on the Polaris Music Prize and the Juno Awards. He loves Saskatoon. He has horrible night terrors and apocalyptic dreams.