Quarteto Fantástico: Primeiros Passos

My god, what is it with superhero films these days? They are just so lacklustre.

After the first trailer, I was unimpressed. I was really not keen on seeing the film, but then my son asked, and we also got to see Galactus in the last trailer, so I thought we would go for it. Even if Galactus is cool and the rest sucks, that would be something.

The film looks great; they nail the comic book look, and I cannot really fault it in that regard. Sadly, that's about it. The CGI ranges from passable to excellent, the script is very dumb in parts....but passable. The "female" Silver Surfer was fine; there was a plot point that made the Surfer's gender a necessary story element. The casting just felt off, not terrible, but something did not click.....And worst of all was the utter waste of Galactus.

Going by trailers, it looked like we would finally get some full-on action, but (no real spoiler apart from what he does) what we get is chatty Galactus, "ouch" Galactus, and walking past buildings Galactus....... Oh, and one other Galactus that made it even worse.

I have to say, right up to the Space trip and meeting (trying to keep details low), I was pleasantly surprised, and I did start to get my hopes up. Lesson learned, I guess.

The movie is set in the 1960s, and I really liked the retro vibe. The visuals, costumes, and music all felt fresh and different from other Marvel movies. Pedro Pascal did a solid job as Reed Richards, and Vanessa Kirby was great as Sue Storm.

The story was okay, nothing too deep. It felt more like an introduction to the characters than a full, exciting story. There wasn't a strong villain presence either-Galactus didn't feel dangerous at all, and Silver Surfer barely had any screen time.

There were a few fun moments and some nice character scenes, but the pacing was off sometimes. Parts of the film felt slow or a bit disconnected. Not much tension or emotion overall.

In short: it's a decent movie to kick off the new Fantastic Four era, but nothing special. I'm curious to see what comes next, but this one didn't blow me away.

I mean I went to theater with quite high expectations. But honestly was a bit disappointed.

Movie tried to explore characters and their depth more but collectively as whole it went bit shallow and mediocre storyline.

It was definitely better than previous ones. But calling it one of the best MCU films? Um nope. Not at all.

Firstly, a good villain is wasted on a single movie who should have been squeezed out over several movies with tonnes of collaborations between several heroes. It is very apparent that F4 are not a match and not well established yet for such a universal threat and that leads to 2nd point.

Pacing. As I mentioned before, this is the reboot so we are not acquainted with the characters yet. We do not know how capable are they, how well received are them among the people, the state of the world and the multiverse they live in. And we do not know anything about the villain and their capabilities as well. They have to cram all these and more in a two hour movie because they are overly ambitious. I did not feel that I belong in their world because they don't have enough show time to set the stage and at times, all I can feel is the poor CGI world, like I am in a game from 2000s. If you don't feel like you belong to that world, you have no attachment leading to no sense of real threat that the villain is supposed to pose. And also since they don't have enough show time to show premonitions and preparations for the villain, the plot had to make up for it with the director turning a blind eyes to glaring plot holes which is the third issue.

Plot holes. The villain can squeeze all of them to death like Darth Vader. The villain can end the world in a blink of an eye. Even all F4 members combined cannot beat the villain's herald not to mention the main villain. Enough said. So they used all kinds of plot holes and "talk no jitsu" to make sense as to why they won. And the worst part? You won't see any real fight scenes. Villain is too powerful to fight head on anyway so they resort to using plot holes and warm holes. And the ill timed forced humour during serious life or death situations like the "clobbering time" joke is such a sad attempt.

Overall, had very good potential to be a good intro movie and followed up by a good sequel but they got greedy and ended up with this.

So, here we are again. Almost 10 years like clockwork we get a new Fantastic Four reboot (1994, 2005, 2015, 2025).

Four times they made a film, Four times I've been disappointed (though I have a little soft spot for the Tim Story films, I fully recognise they are trash).

I adore these characters. Richards, Sue, Johnny and Ben. You could argue they built Marvel.

So I'm so glad that the 5th film is GOOD.

It isn't perfect, but it was very worthwhile to watch. The visuals were brilliant, the family interactions are on point, the action is exciting and interesting. Story wobbles a little, but never enough to be convoluted or distracting. Experienced TV director Matt Shakman succeeded spectacularly in his film debut.

Pascal, Kirby, Quinn and Moss-Bachrah are the definitive Fantastic Four. Not only are they individually great, the chemistry between them is also. Kirby is a powerhouse, and we get the Sue Storm we deserve. Pascal is now positioned to be a driving force for Marvel, and the potential for Quinn and Moss-Bachrach to interact with wider Marvel is huge.

Make mine Marvel.