After plenty of preview screenings involving only 30 minutes of the film, Marvel Studios has unveiled the full “The Fantastic Four: The First Steps” movie to media in the past few days and the results are in.
With 118 reviews counted, the film is clocking in at an 86% on Rotten Tomatoes and a 65 on Metacritic. To put that in perspective, it’s pretty close to both “Superman” (83% RT/68 MC) and “Thunderbolts” (88% RT/68 MC), and far better than “Captain America: Brave New World” (46% RT/42 MC).
Compared to prior Fantastic Four films, it’s easily the winner compared to 2005’s “Fantastic Four” (27% RT/40 MC), “Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer” (37% RT/45 MC) and 2015’s “Fantastic Four” (37% RT/27 MC).
The reviews praise the film’s production design, performances and score but no-one seems to be raving much about the story or villain. Here’s a sampling of reviews:
“Matt Shakman has done something Marvel Studios doesn’t do very well anymore. He’s made a superhero movie that embraces the ‘super’ part. And the ‘hero’ part. And the ‘movie’ part.” – William Bibbiani, The Wrap
“Rather than allowing the action to define the story, the filmmakers let the poignant character-based scenes do the heavy lifting. That should not imply any lack of excitement.” – THR
“For now, we can bask in this movie’s elegant, cathode-ray chic and not have to think too hard about anything else, confident in the colorful delusion that studio executives, much like our benevolent superheroes, have our best interests at heart.” – Bilge Ebiri, Vulture
“First Steps doesn’t reinvent the superhero genre, but it has its own freshness — it’s uncluttered, good-natured and altogether good value — even if it might be the Marvel film ultimately remembered for its nice bathrooms and kitchen fittings.” – Jonathan Romney, Financial Times
“This is a solid, intelligent, occasionally inspired comic book movie that delivers most of what a popular audience demands from the genre plus a little bit more.” – Matt Zoller Seitz, RogerEbert.com
“Strong performances and gorgeous production design enhance an otherwise middling Marvel installment.” – Rafer Guzman, Newsday
“While Superman felt bracingly modern with the political sentiments to boot, The Fantastic Four has a halo of cobwebs it can’t quite shake off.” – Esther Zuckerman, Bloomberg
“What they’ve created is a toybox, a diorama that marries design styles and technology but that never feels like a place where actual people live.” – Alonso Duralde, The Film Verdict
“It feels less like a victory than it does a total surrender. You have to walk before you can run, but at this point the MCU is back to crawling on its knees, and at this point it seems like it might be too afraid to ever stand back up again.” – David Ehrlich, Indiewire
The film is currently tracking for a $130 million domestic and $200 million worldwide opening. It hits cinemas on Friday.
