I think this movie should have been named ‘Fantastic Four: Playing It Safe.’ It’s a good movie, which, with the legacy of the previous F4 movies, is an achievement. But the only thing that stood out to me was the interesting ’50s retro vibe.

Characters

I like the characters, and I think the story is balanced and shines a light on the personality of each of the main characters. However, the journey is for the viewer to learn about the characters, but none of the characters evolve. I don’t feel that any of the characters evolved during the story.

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Villain

There’s a saying that a superhero movie is only as good as its villain. That might be this movie’s biggest limitation. Galactus is a troubling villain to work with. He comes across as more of a force of nature than an individual. The Silver Surfer even describes him as such. But he’s not a force of nature because he can be reasoned with. In this story, Galactus is like the natural disasters in ancient times, when people thought they could sacrifice a virgin or something to appease some god and spare them from calamity. Only this calamity can actually tell them what it wants as a sacrifice.

The best villains are those that are sympathetic, and there’s none of that here for Galactus. The movie does present the Silver Surfer that way. There’s just barely enough backstory to make her backstory work. She feels immense guilt over what she’s doing to help Galactus, so my question is, why did she choose Earth in the first place? In her situation, it just makes sense to choose dead planets, and there have to be enough of those to quench Galactus’s craving.

Setting

The setting was, to me, the best character in the movie. Since they’re in an alternate timeline, they can present they can present the ’50s in an idealistic manner, with all of the innocence of nostalgia without the baggage that it was only idealistic for a specific ethnic group and gender. Honestly, I would have gone with creating a lot more content in this setting, and not just one movie. I would love to see the width and depth of the culture of the planet in this setting as an illustration of how our culture could be if we gave up greed and racism.

Grade: B-

About The Peetimes: I really like the 2nd and 3rd Peetimes. Both are plenty long and noting crucial happens.

The first Peetime isn’t bad, but it’s short and important stuff follows.

There are extra scenes during, or after, the end credits of The Fantastic Four: First Steps.

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dd33803, 07/05/2023

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Plot
Forced to balance their roles as heroes with the strength of their family bond, the Fantastic Four must defend Earth from a ravenous space god called Galactus and his enigmatic Herald, Silver Surfer.