Fantastic 4: First Steps - Matt Shakman
The 2005 version of Fantastic Four is something that lived in my DVD player growing up. But after the 2015 attempted reboot, and the consistently underwhelming Marvel releases over the last few years, I headed into the cinema with low expectations. And I guess they were exceeded? The performances were solid, and it was nice not to have a third origin story in 20 years (hopefully this is becoming a trend after Batman, Superman, and this film avoided retreading the start of their hero’s journey). But ultimately, the story let the film down. It’s not like they were ever going to kill the baby, so the main tension of the film is kind of hard to be invested in. The set was really cool, and the characters were set up well, but it is hard to fit in a full story for each of the four protagonists in the runtime. I think we needed more time in this universe—maybe a Disney Plus series before this film—to come to terms with each character and get to play around in the exceptional set design.
4/5