A Geeky Guy's Guide to The Fantastic Four: First Steps

This weekend I kept my streak of seeing every Marvel movie in the theater when my family and I went to see The Fantastic Four: First Steps. And I am incredibly happy I did. I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of this atypical Marvel movie.

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I must admit, I was a little nervous about the advertising campaign for this movie. I honestly did not think I would like a movie set in the version of Earth that seemed to be a cross between 1950 and 2050. Luckily, when I saw the post credit scene in Thunderbolts, it gave me hope that Fantastic Four would not be entirely set in this campy world. Well I was totally wrong, and I am happy I was.

The story actually worked better in a more fictionalized version of Earth. It somehow fit the vibe much better and made the movie warmer... no kinder... no warmer. It made it easier to embrace the suspension of disbelief that is needed in a movie about "The Power Cosmic" and a magic baby. It also helped add novelty to a movie that bravely decided not to lean on the crutch of mindless action. In fact, there honestly isn't much action in this movie at all. In fact, I think it is the least amount of action in a Marvel movie since Iron-Man kick started the new MCU way back in 2008. But that is OK. This story did not need to rely on action to grip the audience.

The Fantastic Four: First Steps is a great example of how you don't need things constantly blowing up in order to make an entertaining movie. As long as you have good actors, great writing, a cool story and some comic relief, a movie can stand on its own. Now this isn't to say that the movie lacked special effects and action. It just had less than usual. This movie reminded me how spoiled we all are today. Back in the 90s I nearly lost my shit when I saw the T-1000 melt into and then reform from a tile floor. The liquid metal was amazing! Now, that is child's play. i found myself remembering that as I almost forgot to notice how perfect the Silver Surfer animation was in this movie. And that isn't even counting how incredible The Thing looked. The effects animating Ben Grimm as a giant pile of rocks was simply incredible. And this isn't even counting how amazing the skyscraper -sized Galactus looks on a giant Dolby-Vision screen.

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Although the effects were breathtaking, my favorite part of the movie was the fact that at its heart, it is a simple story about family... more importantly the power of family. And I don't just me a husband, wife, baby, and a couple of funny uncles. I mean the family a community forms when it is working together to do good and to love one another. I'm not sure if this was the intention of the writers, but this movie just jumped to the top of our Mother's Day movie list. If you walk out of this movie without thinking about a sacrifice your mom or a mother-figure made for you, you might want to check if your heart is made of more stone than The Thing's.

Because this is a movie about family, there is going to be some drama... but there are also going to be a ton of laughs. This movie is pretty emotional. It could have turned into a slog if the writers were not careful. It seems that they used humor at the exact right point in every scene. For me, that is one of the most important things about superhero movies. They are about people running around in their underwear. If you take that too seriously, the movie can actually seem ridiculous (Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy is the exception here. But those are more than simple popcorn superhero movies. Those are masterpieces).

TLDR; The Fantastic Four:First Steps is definitely worth seeing in the theaters ASAP. Although it won't blow you away with action, you will be entertained in other ways. If you are lucky enough to have a family to see it with, even better!

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