When Day of the Triffids meets Dawn of the Dead in a decaying Dublin shopping centre
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RTÉ News
22-07-2025
- RTÉ News
The Fantastic Four: First Steps . . . And baby makes five
The Fantastic Four's unhappy history with big screen adaptations finally gets some good news with this zippy and mostly fun reboot from director Matt Shakman. Set in a retro-futuristic New York in an alternative 1960s (VW Beetles but no Beatles), it's no stretch (terrible pun intended) to say it's the coolest looking MCU flick in far too long and it leaves previous efforts at turning the blue-suited nuclear family into a viable franchise looking very lacklustre indeed. It doesn't hang about either. The manageable two-hour runtime flies by and any idea that is a genesis story is knocked on the head early with an entertaining and witty opening montage that tells how our family of astronauts - Reed Richards/Mister Fantastic, Sue Storm/Invisible Woman, Ben Grimm/The Thing and Johnny Storm/Human Torch - got their amazing superpowers. They are now globally admired and adored planetary elders in comfy looking onesies, who preach peace and strive for humanity's best interests, while clobbering baddies with righteous zeal. However, nothing could have prepared them for their latest adversary. This is Galactus (Ralph Ineson), a skyscraper tall super villain with a stadium-filling voice, from somewhere out in the depths of space who survives by literally eating whole planets. His imminent arrival to dine on little old Earth is announced by the cooly fatalistic Silver Surfer, who is played with a well-pitched indifference by Julia Garner. And so, our heroes battle to prevent their newest foe from turning the planet into his latest meal. They do this with an appeal for global cooperation, which might be possible in the film's idealised vision of the 1960s, and some scientific tricks that strain even the parameters of the MCU's built-in credulity. Still, the deeply silly plot does present one or two moral dilemmas for our heroes, not least one involving Reed and Sue's newborn, Franklin. Pedro Pascal, the hottest thing in Hollywood right now, plays patriarch on the spectrum Reed with a quiet authority, Vanessa Kirby is her usual flinty and impressive self as Sue, and the Human Torch may or may not be falling for Silver Surfer; in one of the film's better lines, he asks her "So, are you actually attached to that board . . . ? At one point, The Thing, who already looks like a jumbo Weetabix in a hat, seems like he's going to turn into Cookie Monster, and thankfully the family's cute but slightly irritating robot H.E.R.B.I.E. isn't given too much screen time. A now rehabilitated but still cankerous Mole Man (actor?) is also good value. The inevitable city destroying finale works very well, with Galactus barging around New York like a bored Godzilla. In fact, The Fantastic Four: First Steps keeps its head and isn't as protracted and messy at the usual MCU fare; Shakman even cheekily makes at least two visual references to Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey. When Gallactus laments in his Grand Canyon of a voice, "who can stop this blank, eternal hunger?", those of us perplexed by the planet-eating MCU will similarly wonder if fans will ever fire of the formulaic superhero genre. Still, The Fantastic Four: First Steps manages to find a look, feel and sense of cool all of its own that that sets it apart from the usual big screen Marvel chaos and confusion. However, the question does linger - didn't The Incredibles do all this with much more flair and fun?
Irish Times
19-07-2025
- Irish Times
Books in brief: Eat The Ones You Love, The Book of Records, and Peatlands: A Journey Between Land and Water
Eat The Ones You Love By Sarah Maria Griffin Titan, £9.99 In the 'kip' that is the Woodbine Mall, 'an aspiration towards American luxury ambience transplanted deep in the veins of the Northside Dublin suburbs', a hungry orchid notes a new arrival. Thirtysomething Shell is immediately drawn towards Neve, a beautiful florist whose connection to the murderous plant ended her last relationship, and to the small community of retail workers in the dying centre. Griffin, no stranger to deliciously weird fiction set in haunted, shadowy versions of Dublin, moves into the queer botanical horror subgenre with skill. Her lyricism, if occasionally overwrought, tangoes with a distinctive millennial argot – part therapy jargon, part extremely-online shorthand. Pleasing commentary on class and a sharp eye on the bathos of late-stage capitalism supports but never overwhelms this compelling, gorily gorgeous novel. Claire Hennessy The Book of Records By Madeleine Thein Granta, £20 'The stories that last are the ones about voyages, about odysseys and escapes,' the father of seven-year-old Lina tells her. The pair have escaped China, to seek refuge at 'the Sea', a 'no man's land', rumoured to be a former military outpost. So begins a Beckettian style game of waiting, waiting, waiting. The Booker-shortlisted Canadian author weaves a tale of migration, with the biographies of historical figures, philosopher Hannah Arendt, scholar Baruch Spinoza and the great Chinese poet Du Fu, to explore the existential questions of legacy, truth, memory and the meaning of a good existence. Thein writes with an intellectual mind and a philosophical core that will appeal to readers who appreciate a story of great scope, penned with the fine brush stroke of poetry. Brigid O'Dea Peatlands: A Journey Between Land and Water By Alys Fowler Hodder Press, £20 Bogs are 'strange, funny beings' for the gardener and horticulturalist Alys Fowler, and peat has haunted her imagination for many years. On her quest seeking information on peatlands, she explores parts of Britain and Ireland. Her Irish journey starts in the Wicklow mountains and takes her to Carlow, on to a farm in Co Offaly, and over to Roundstone Bog in Connemara where she finds its heart beating strongly. Her book is a call to sink deep into the dark earth of rugged places, look closely at dragonflies, birds, amphibians and plants that live within them; but also to befriend the fragile, under-pressure bogs, to honour them, learn their mysteries, feel their spirit, and help create a sea-change in attitudes. Paul Clements
Irish Independent
05-07-2025
- Irish Independent
When Day of the Triffids meets Dawn of the Dead in a decaying Dublin shopping centre
Deep in the heart of a decaying Northside shopping centre, something sickly has taken root, feeding on the detritus of late capitalist Dublin. Sarah Maria Griffin's latest novel, her fourth including The Book of Wisdom, is a compelling and well-observed slice of urban fantasy horror, Day of the Triffids by way of The Thing and Dawn of the Dead. It's a propulsive read, populated by engaging characters.
