Film reviews: Fantastic Four's First Steps is goofy, ridiculous and enjoyable

Irish Examiner

4 days ago

THE Fantastic Four have yet to connect with the moviegoing audience in the same way as their Marvel peers – Spider-Man, Ironman, the Avengers et al – and it's unlikely that Fantastic Four: First Steps (12A) will propel the quartet into the blockbuster franchise bracket.
It has its own charm, though: Reed Richards / Mister Fantastic (Pedro Pascal), Sue Storm / the Invisible Woman (Vanessa Kirby), Johnny Storm / the Human Torch (Joseph Quinn) and Ben Grimm / The Thing (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) are already established superheroes as the movie opens, beloved as the Earth's protectors and peacemakers.
So when the Silver Surfer (Julia Garner) arrives from deep space to inform humanity that it's doomed to be consumed by the planet-devouring Galactus (Ralph Ineson), the foursome suit up and blast off into the galactic depths to confront the voracious 'space-god'.
So far, so expected, but do keep an eye on that subtitle, because the Invisible Woman, and despite what we assume is all medical advice to the contrary, goes rocketing off into battle with Galactus whilst heavily pregnant.
Which, yes, sounds a touch preposterous, but to be fair Fantastic Four: First Steps takes no more liberties with biology and physics than the vast majority of superhero movies.
There's a good chemistry between the four leads, with Vanessa Kirby first among equals as she plays a woman with all manner of unusual gifts but whose real super-strength is her maternal instinct, while Julia Garner's Silver Surfer is one of the coolest things to happen to the genre in the past decade.
And then there's the production design, which situates the story in a kind of retro-futuristic 1960s and allows this iteration of the Fantastic Four to hark back to simpler times, when uncomplicated superheroes only ever had to deal with binary issues of good and evil.
Endearingly goofy and frequently ridiculous, First Steps is the most enjoyable superhero flick of the year so far.
GAZER.
Gazer
★★★★☆
Cinematic release - review by Declan Burke
Gazer (15A) stars Ariella Mastroianni as Frankie, a young mother who struggles to perceive time correctly due to a condition called dyschronometria, and thus focuses more closely than usual on other people and events as she tries to centre herself in the here and now.
When she encounters Page (Renee Gagner) at a grief counselling session, Frankie finds herself drawn into the tangled web of Page's life, and quickly finds herself the main suspect when Page's dead body is discovered in the trunk of her car.
Written by Mastroianni and Ryan J. Sloan, with Sloan directing, Gazer is an unconventional, slow-burning and highly stylised film noir that feels like it's been freshly plucked from the 1970s.
Ariella Mastroianni is brilliantly befuddled as the cognitively impaired patsy stumbling through the mean streets of New Jersey searching for answers — due to Frankie's condition and paranoia, we're no wiser than she as to what is really going on — and there's strong support from Renee Gagner as the hard-as-nails femme fatale.
Jonah Wren Phillips in the movie 'Bring Her Back.'
Bring Her Back
★★★★☆
Cinematic release - review by Cara O'Doherty
Following the success of their 2023 hit Talk to Me, Australian brothers Danny and Michael Philippou return with Bring Her Back (16s), an exploration of grief through a horror lens.
When Andy (Billy Barrett) and Piper (Sora Wong) find their father unconscious, Piper desperately tries to save him, but it's too late.
The kids are sent to live with much respected carer, Laura (Sally Hawkins), but while Piper gets a warm welcome, Andy faces a cold reception.
Confused by the hostile treatment and the presence of a strange non-verbal foster child, Andy begins to sense that something is amiss.
His instincts prove accurate as the situation escalates darkly. The film takes some truly gory turns, but the real horror lies in the lengths people will go to deal with grief.
The kids are impressive, but it's Hawkins who steals the show, expertly eliciting sympathy from the audience despite her numerous wrongdoings.