The Fantastic Four: First Steps Review
The Fantastic Four: First Steps (2025) Film Review, a movie directed by Matt Shakman, written by Josh Friedman, Eric Pearson and Jeff Kaplan and starring Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Joseph Quinn, Ralph Ineson, Julia Garner, Natasha Lyonne, Paul Walter Hauser, Sarah Niles, Mark Gatiss, Matthew Wood, Jay Underwood, Michael Bailey Smith, Alex Hyde-White and Rebecca Staab.
Matt Shakman’s unique new vision of The Fantastic Four comes to theaters at a time where audiences need heroes to look up to in order to provide viewers with hope as some forever-changing realities are unfolding around us in real life. The Fantastic Four: First Steps offers audiences excitement and solid characterizations as the film has a great time with its cheesy and humorously entertaining homage to old-time American values. This film excels in its presentation of some terrific action set pieces.
This movie lays out the accomplishments of The Fantastic Four (as a superhero team) right away in a charming series of montages. It really starts, however, when Sue Storm (Vanessa Kirby) takes a pregnancy test and discovers she is, indeed, pregnant with Reed Richards (Pedro Pascal who is everywhere this summer)’s baby. Of course, these two characters moonlight as the superheroes, Invisible Woman and Mister Fantastic.
There are two other members in the “Fantastic Four.” Ben Grimm/The Thing is played by Ebon Moss-Bachrach. The Thing is an orange guy made of stone who likes to say, “It’s clobbering time” only when the time is right, not when kids in the neighborhood ask him to say it for them. Johnny Storm/Human Torch is played by Joseph Quinn. Johnny thinks he and Ben are going to make good uncles to the son that is going to arrive when Sue eventually gives birth.
Natasha Lyonne plays Ben/The Thing’s love interest, Rachel Rozman. This part Lyonne plays is the most innocuous part of the picture as Rachel starts to bond with Ben when he interacts with the local kids at the school in which she works. Lyonne has some delightful, albeit brief, scenes that are sweet to watch even though not many things really stem from the two characters’ cute interactions.
The unique and surprising development of Shalla-Bal/Silver Surfer (Julia Garner) is one of Shakman’s movie’s best assets. Silver Surfer piques the romantic interest of Human Torch, Johnny, but Garner’s character also plays one of the biggest roles in the picture towards the movie’s conclusion in a way that will have audiences cheering.
In space, Sue does give birth in an extended sequence that is simply thrilling to behold. Sue’s boy is born just around the time the vicious Galactus (Ralph Ineson) claims that he wants her son which, unfortunately, is the only possible means of achieving peace with Galactus. When the movie’s plot has New York City evacuate the streets so The Fantastic Four can try to manipulate Galactus into arriving to try to attempt to take the new “fantastic” baby, Shakman ups the stakes, and the audience will enjoy the results immensely.
Vanessa Kirby plays the mom role quite well. She’s headstrong and, ultimately, a formidable opponent for Galactus. Pascal is ordinarily fabulous as the stretchy Mr. Fantastic who Galactus tries to stretch to the death in a terrific part of the movie which will have audiences in suspense. There is a robot along with our “Fantastic Four” as well who may not get enough screen time but looks awfully cute as it tries to protect the new baby from the wrath of Galactus.
Julia Garner’s mysterious Silver Surfer is pleasantly brought into the action at given intervals, and one may forget about her for a bit, but she arrives just in time to steal the show late in the proceedings. Bachrach and Quinn are fun to watch, too, although they feel like the sidekicks right from the get-go. There’s no chance that these characters would be deserving of their own standalone movie, but as additional characters in the action, both actors are genuinely likable in their roles.
The movie’s set design is, perhaps, awards worthy. This film’s vision of Times Square (where its late action takes place) is perfectly realized. Galactus is a strong villain who could just make for the most difficult opponent our Fantastic Four has ever faced. Watching a shot with Galactus and the State of Liberty is simply awe-inspiring as well.
The Fantastic Four: First Steps would be a lot less entertaining without the baby. As Mr. Fantastic administers CPR on a character, things start to look a little bleak. When the small child is placed on the key character’s chest to try to pay respect to the person who may be gone, there is a certain level of innocence and hope the movie portrays by suggesting that a child could potentially have the power to bring someone back from the dead.
Though I thoroughly enjoyed The Fantastic Four: First Steps, there are a few minor notes I had. After the space scenes where the heroes confront Galactus early on, some of the following scenes drag a little. More could have been done to give the characters more background information to help them leap off the screen just a little bit more. Still, it’s hard to fight city hall when the action is this enjoyable and Pascal and Kirby simply can do no wrong in any role they take on these days.
The Fantastic Four: First Steps is just what the Marvel doctor ordered to keep audiences from becoming bored. The mid-end credits sequence will have viewers cheering in the aisles at the promise of what is to come next! Thankfully, when Sarah Niles’ character, Lynne Nichols, offers The Fantastic Four an opportunity to put the new baby in a specific outfit, Kirby’s Sue refuses. This movie knows the difference between cheesy and “awesomely entertaining throwback,” and the film, quite simply, “throws it back” old school for an enjoyable time at the movies. Fantastic fun all around.
Rating: 8/10
Leave your thoughts on this The Fantastic Four: First Steps review and the film below in the comments section. Readers seeking to support this type of content can visit our Patreon Page and become one of FilmBook’s patrons. Readers seeking more film reviews can visit our Movie Review Page, our Movie Review Twitter Page, and our Movie Review Facebook Page. Want up-to-the-minute notifications? FilmBook staff members publish articles by Email, Mobile App, Google News, Apple News, Feedly, Twitter, Faceboo