‘The Fantastic Four: First Steps’ is Almost Fantastic
It's been three decades and four failed attempts, but someone finally managed to make a good Fantastic Four film. Why did it take so long? Because it probably requires an extra amount of creativity to make the F4 work. Far before The Avengers leaped on the silver screen, team-up superhero movies were not a formula. No one was able to perfect or even get close to getting it right. It's not like Superman, Batman, or Spider-Man, which are single-character lead films. The Fantastic Four has to focus on four characters, and that's hard to do unless you're Kevin Feige. 
What Feige's team does with this movie is keep the emotional center point of the film focused on two primary characters, while the other two, although background actors, ultimately still carry a certain amount of weight to the material. The story focuses on Reed Richards (Pedro Pascal) and Sue Storm (Vanessa Kirby). Storm becomes pregnant, bringing the four family members closer together. Ben Grimm AKA "The Thing" (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) and Johnny Storm AKA "The Human Torch" (Joseph Quinn) share the screen but aren't given any moment to develop their characters.
In a film with four protagonists, this approach doesn't necessarily harm the narrative, as many previous interpretations attempt to balance each character without a central heart. Instead of checking boxes to develop each person, the story focuses its sentimentality on a husband and wife who are trying to create a better world for their child, preventing the story from becoming overstuffed.
Nobody feels left out. The team works together in perfect unison, avoiding the usual plethora of cameos found in Marvel movies. There is still a significant cameo in the film, but it appears during the mid-credits sequence, and it's something that slightly deflated my hopes for the future of Marvel films. Luckily, it's not nearly enough to sink a very competent, fun movie, that does what a lot of other comic book films I'm surprised haven't done. Take things back to the past. 
The Fantastic Four: First Steps retains the comics' classic, campy style by incorporating the cheesy elements into the mise en scène. Set in the 1960s, the movie has a Jetsons feel. Like the Jetsons, it stars a family set in a future(ish) environment complete with a household robot who's a mix between Rosey and WALL-E. Instead of telling the boring, basic origin story, the Fantastic Four's roots are explained in a neat, lengthy montage that repeats its style throughout the film. Talk show host Ted Gilbert introduces the Four with a collection of old grainy Super 8mm films of the team going to space, getting their powers, and becoming famous. It would make sense for the film to take place during this era, as the first appearance of The Fantastic Four was published in 1961. The retroness is a unique throwback to an America that was once great.
We were once the leading nation in the space race. We were the innovators of the world, putting the safety of the people over the power of corporations. There's even a plot point in the film where the world agrees to make slight adjustments to their lifestyle so they can save the planet. If only we were willing to do that in real life. F4: First Steps highlights times that were the good old days. Well, at least if you were white. It was a time of optimism before JFK got shot and everything dissolved into chaos.
One odd moment in the film where the time feels slightly off is when we hear an address from Richard Nixon, who served as President from 1969 to 1974. Did the movie jump ahead in time? If so, that couldn't be possible since baby Franklin is an infant throughout the film. How could the baby not grow for eight years? With the opening line stating that the year is 828, I suppose the MCU takes place in a different timeline than ours, which would make sense, given that the film mixes Bolex film cameras with 1960s automobiles and talking robots.
Director Matt Shakman's picture evokes a classic comic book issue while maintaining the writing style of a contemporary superhero flick. Aside from style, there isn't much to differentiate The Fantastic Four: First Steps from most other comic book movies. After being inundated with comic book films throughout the decades, the structure of these films has become incredibly familiar. The story in this picture revolves around a team of astronauts who form a family, uniting to face the world's threats. Pretty familiar stuff. If it were not for an interesting moral dilemma plot twist, First Steps could easily be written off as just another Marvel film. Thankfully, the film's approach makes it more than just a typical comic book movie.
It doesn't take a step backward with its characters, unlike when Reed Richards tells Scarlet Witch that Black Bolt can simply open his mouth to end her, resulting in Wanda closing Black Bolt's mouth, effectively ending him. What a dumb move from supposedly the world's smartest man. In First Steps, Reed proves he's the smartest man in the world multiple times. Especially when helping to deliver his child, while a spaceship he's in might immediately explode. Sue Storm could have benefited from having a more distinct personality, rather than just being a pretty face, with a voice that sounds like a young Kathleen Turner. Finally, The Thing doesn't talk like a brain-dead idiot; he's more of a normal person who happens to also be a rock. Additionally, the Human Torch is a kind-hearted, yet arrogant, ladies' man.
Despite some predictable conventionality, The Fantastic Four: First Steps is a step in the right direction, which may inevitably come crashing down when Robert Downey Jr returns to the franchise as a variant. Despite all their many, many mistakes, Kevin Feige proves that Marvel is an institution that knows how to combine characters. It may not be perfect, but the latest Fantastic 4 is a blast from the past that refreshes the stale taste of the usual MCU roster while also providing, by far, the best Fantastic Four film to date.
