Directed by Matt Shakman | Written by Josh Friedman, Eric Pearson, Jeff Kaplan, and Ian Springer, based on comics by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby | 115 min | ▲▲1/2
This is a fresh approach for a Marvel movie. Anything fresh is welcome after 37 features and a whole passel of TV series in this enormous franchise — after a strong start on Disney+ even the shows have gone stale.
Director Shakman was responsible for the excellent WandaVision, the first Marvel Studios series, which convincingly recreated classic TV sitcom visuals. Here he puts together a future as imagined from the 1960s, like a live action Jetsons. He’s made a wholesome, self-contained superhero movie with a dramatically different look.
Like the recent Superman, the filmmakers aren’t going to bother overmuch with the origin story — we had two very kids-oriented FF movies in the oughties, and that real disaster no one speaks of in 2015, so we know what we’re getting into. Instead they spin a clever newsreel update on where Marvel’s first family is at as we’re reintroduced.
But unlike Superman, which aims for sweet and wholesome but errs on busy, overstuffed visuals, this is paced a whole lot better — we get two large action set-pieces, that’s it. The rest of this is character-driven. Doesn’t seem like rocket surgery, does it?
Mr Fantastic, Reed Richards (the ubiquitous Pedro Pascal) and his wife, The Invisible Woman, Sue Storm (Vanessa Kirby), have just discovered she’s pregnant. Loudmouthed Human Torch, Johnny Storm (Joseph Quinn), and best buddy, The Thing, Ben Grimm (Ebon Moss-Bachrach), are thrilled. They all live together in an East Side Manhattan skyscraper, wearing matching baby blue and white uniforms, with a cute housekeeping robot, HERBIE.
Cue a What To Expect When You’re Expecting domestic drama, except that with superheroes who got their powers from Cosmic Rays what does this mean for the kid? In the middle of this arrives The Silver Surfer (Julia Garner), heralding the coming of giant planet eater, Galactus (Ralph Ineson).
That first big action sequence is prefaced by a let’s-all-get-ready-for-space-flight sequence, which is where the movie is the most sluggish. That said, who wants the hectic energy of interconnecting action set-pieces? Beyond the impressive sets and coordinated design elements, this movie is simply told, which is its strength.
Johnny’s easily the least interesting of the family, though he proves in the third act that he does pay attention in key moments. Ben gets a brief, potentially romantic interlude with a lady played by Natasha Lyonne — more of her onscreen would’ve been good — and Paul Walter Hauser makes a terrific subterranean leader, Harvey Moleman. Pascal does anxiety well, his Reed is better with facts and figures than emotions. Kirby’s Sue has the emotional intelligence and is the glue keeping them together. She’s also the most powerful of the four, which she gets to prove at a key moment.
And all of this makes for an OK time at the movies, if not an exceptional one. Longtime comic fans will likely be pleased by the most faithful live-action Galactus we’ve ever seen. Did I wish for more emotional range from the Surfer and Ben Grimm, both transformed by enormous power? Yes. A Ben Grimm who seems entirely at peace with being a rock monster is true to some of the comics, but managing that balance between humanity and monstrosity is a key part of who he is.
Could First Steps have been a lot funnier? Absolutely. Chris Evans got all the gags as the Torch back in the day, a few more of those jokes should’ve landed here from Quinn.
Probably the best thing going on here, along with an excellent theme from Michael Giacchino, is that retro Jetsons look. The filmmakers create an appealing, utopian world that never existed and will likely never exist. It’s fun to visit, though.
