The Fantastic Four: First Steps review – A-list cast struggle to make the script flow and drama feels undercooked

The Sun

3 days ago

The Fantastic Four: First Steps
(12A), 114mins
★★★☆☆
3
THE first challenge for this Marvel superhero reboot of a reboot of a reboot was to clear a very low bar.
It had to be better than the forgettable 2007 effort starring Chris Evans and the earnest 2015 remake with Miles Teller.
I never got to see the 1994 original because it was so bad that it wasn't released in the UK.
So is this fourth time lucky? Almost.
The ever reliable Pedro Pascal plays genius scientist Reed Richards, leading a team of remarkable humans who had their DNA altered in strange ways when they went into space.
Reed has an elastic body, his wife Sue Storm can make herself invisible, Ben Grimm clobbers as The Thing and Johnny Storm is the Human Torch.
Futuristic gadgets
So let's start with the positives. I am truly grateful to director Matt Shakman for dispensing with the whole 'origins' bit.
How the quartet got their powers is dealt with in a very swift news reel.
That means the running time is kept below two hours, which makes a ­welcome change from the current trend for bloated blockbusters.
The Fantastic Four also looks great, with its mixture of retro 1960s styling and futuristic gadgets. The set designers have set a very high bar.
Vanessa Kirby as the inspirational Sue, Joseph Quinn as the handsome Johnny and Ebon Moss-Bachrach as gentle giant The Thing are all very talented.
And they keep this light and amusing. Sadly, the charisma of The Bear's Ebon is wasted behind the CGI costume.
And the cast struggle to make the script flow.
A lot of the drama feels forced or undercooked, particularly Johnny's rivalry with his brother-in-law Reed.
More problematically, the baddie Galactus is about as scary as a stationery sales rep — no offence to The Office's Ralph Ineson, who is tasked with voicing this maudlin giant with an unexplained desire to destroy planets.
With Earth's very existence at stake, the storyline should have put me on the edge of my seat.
But instead, I just sank back in the chair and enjoyed the film's super- impressive visuals.
With any luck this version of The Fantastic Four is just finding its feet, and the next time it will really live up to its name.
THE BAD GUYS 2
(PG), 104mins
3
★★☆☆☆
ONE of the rules of cinema is that sending normally Earthbound characters into space has an even lower success rate than one of Elon Musk's rockets.
Moonraker and F9 are two examples of how going beyond the Karman line leaves a vacuum where the plot should be.
It was way too early for this likeable animated kids movie about a gang of thieves to resort to such overblown ideas.
In The Bad Guys 2, the master criminals led by Mr Wolf (Sam Rockwell) are trying to go straight after serving their prison sentence.
But no one wants to hire a bunch of ex-cons.
No matter how hard Mr Snake, Mr Shark, Ms Tarantula and Mr Piranha attempt to do the right thing, they end up deeper in trouble.
The comic timing is off with gags failing to land among the frenetic pace. The slapstick moments pass before they've even been set up.
Kids, though, are sure to enjoy the constant stream of ever bigger and more extreme chases. I'm sure they'll laugh their heads off at the fart joke which is the one funny moment.
But you'd have to be a very good guy to sit through this with them.
BRING HER BACK
(18), 104mins
★★★★☆
3
THE term 'chewing the scenery' normally refers to an actor seriously hamming things up.
In the case of this spine-chilling movie, a character does literally chomp on a kitchen worktop.
It's one of many deeply disturbing moments in Bring Her Back that felt so real that my shoulders shuddered uncontrollably.
The above phrase certainly should not apply to actress Sally Hawkins, whose malevolent Australian foster parent Lara raises this movie way above the standard horror fare.
She undermines the bond between orphaned siblings Piper (Sora Wong) and Andy (Billy Barratt).
Lara plays it all lovey dovey with Piper, while secretly doing her best to break Andy's spirit.
The brother and sister have no idea what their foster mum is up to, but the audience should have a pretty good one due to the film's title.
Bring Her Back would have garnered top marks if it wasn't for the well-worn horror movie plot turns that give so much of the game away.
It is reprieved by the ending, which takes an unusual course. Expect a sequel.