The Fantastic Four: First Steps is fun, visually splendid, and a tad emotionally aloof

 

It's a 21st-century year ending in the number five, so you know what that means. It's time for a new reboot of the Fantastic Four. This time, Marvel's First Family are directed by WandaVision helmer Matt Shakman and don't waste time with an origin story. Taking place in an alternate dimension in 1964, screenwriters Josh Friedman, Eric Pearson, Jeff Kaplan, and Ian Springer begin The Fantastic Four: First Steps in media res with Sue Storm/The Invisible Woman (Vanessa Kirby) discovering she's pregnant.

 Upon telling the news to husband Reed Richards/Mr. Fantastic (Pedro Pascal), she reassures him, even with a kid on the way, "nothing's going to change."

How ironic she'd say that since the Fantastic Four are more aware than anyone how inevitable change is. This quartet of souls, which also includes Johnny Storm/The Human Torch (Joseph Quinn) and Ben Grimm/The Thing (Ebon Moss-Bachrach), went on a routine trip to outer space and came back with superpowers, after all. You can’t beat back change, no matter how many lives oy save or fires you extinguish.

Further upheaval emerges when the cosmic entity Silver Surfer (Julia Garner) descends into Times Square and tells the Earth’s population that the planet will soon be devoured by her superior: Galactus (Ralph Ineson). Now, the Fantastic Four must save our world while juggling an expanding family.

The last three 21^st century Fantastic Four movies were clearly trepidatious on the unabashedly goofy exploits these characters get into in the comics. That’s why Rise of the Silver Surfer turned Galactus into a cloud, 2015’s Fantastic Four drained all the color from their world, and Doctor Doom was never handled well across all these productions. First Steps, meanwhile, ditches any self-conciousness or Joss Whedon-style quips to lend gravity to these unabashedly ludicrous crime-fighters. These superheroes don’t just suddenly resemble their comic incarnations but are realized with a sense of reverence.

Unfortunately, this also inspires a drier aesthetic that sometimes kept me at arm’s length. In trying to realize The Fantastic Four “properly”, the script is often too buttoned-up for its own good. Extended scenes focus on rehashing Archimedes quotes rather than finding more visually or emotionally exhilarating ways of communicating information. Plus, despite First Steps wanting to be a character-driven piece, awkward filmmaking issues (namely in the editing and pacing) undercut those ambitions.

Grimm’s two nighttime voyages to his childhood home of Yancy Street are especially plagued with distracting continuity issues and clumsy ADR. It’s hard to understand his interior world through such peculiar visual shortcomings. A slower pacing and emphasis on dialogue isn’t enough to lend immediate weight to your movie if we never get closer to the characters or themes.

Thankfully, First Steps is a sumptuous treat in its outfits and sets, which helps keep the endeavor afloat during its choppiest, exposition-skewing sequences. Production designer Kasra Farahani and costume designer Alexndra Byrne’s exquisite work unabashedly leans into a retro-futuristic aesthetic littered with colors. Domiciles like the Fantastic Four’s living room inspire you to crane your neck to catch all the neat details and intricacies in every corner. In a summer where F1, Ballarina, and Jurassic World Rebirth filled movie theater screens with such drab backdrops, First Steps dares to embrace tactile, imaginative scenery.

Similarly commendable is Shakman’s willingness to go whole-hog on cosmic mayhem. There’s a mid-movie chase sequence in the cosmos involving the Silver Surfer that’s like if Interstellar and Baby Driver fused together. Watching this thrilling set piece, it’s hard to remember a time back in 2010 when internet commentors understandably wondered if Thor could ever work in a movie. Galactus, meanwhile, appears on-screen in bright sunlight adorned in a glistening, purple outfit that’s incredibly appealing to the eye.

Juxtaposing that delightfully maximalist material with distinctly 60s elements, such as recording mysterious alien languages on vinyl records, creates irresistibly enjoyable dissonance. Just as entertaining is watching Vanessa Kirby absolutely crush it as Sue Storm/The Invisible Woman. Her immense performing chops from The World to Come are superbly utilized as Storm implores a crowd to express compassion towards her baby. Shakman and the writers exude great confidence in not capping the sequence with either a joke or big action beat. They just let the raw emotions and plea for empathy simmer. Plus, who needs a quip or explosion when the famously visceral talents of Kirby are on hand?

Meanwhile, Ebon Moss-Bacharach and Ralph Ineson leave no crumbs as the most heightened First Steps characters. The former performer especially nailed the lived-in gruffness that’s always made The Thing such a great character. Ineson, meanwhile, channels the towering sense of authority that’s always served him well in projects like The VVitch or The Green Knight. Galactus could’ve just been another CG comic book movie finale baddie. Thankfully, with Ineson around, there’s a palpable danger and commanding aura to this larger-than-life being.

The greatest actor in the feature, though, is Paul Walter Hauser in a brief appearance as Fantastic Four foe Harvey Elder/The Mole Man. In his one big third-act scene, Hauser shows up talking in a slightly higher-pitched voice while his cadence lends dramatic emphasis on every word he says. He doesn’t just apologize to Sue Storm, he’ll say things like “Sorry Sue…(brief dramatic pause) END of days, you know.”

This audacious approach is an absolute riot, especially since it’s so different from this tremendously talented actors prior performances in movies like I, Tonya and BlacKkKlansman. Unfortunately, it also made me wish more of the First Steps cast had gone in that direction. If everyone’s performances (save for Ineson, Moss-Bachrach, and Kirby) had been modulated in this direction, First Steps could’ve leapfrogged from being a fun summertime viewing to something truly special.

The Fantastic Four: First Steps is still an enjoyable watch, though, especially in its little displays of characterization. Anytime Johnny and Ben act like adolescent brothers with their bickering, I was grinning from ear-to-ear. Ditto any of the instances where Johnny’s scratching helpful robot servant H.E.R.B.I.E.’s. head. Best of all, First Steps, unlike other superhero movies such as Eternals (which I do have a soft spot for otherwise), doesn’t abandon its better qualities for a noisy CG-laden finale.

Instead, the climactic showdown with Galactus is a natural extension of pre-established character beats, not to mention a lot of fun to watch. Hinging this duel around Sue Storm is also an inspired decision lending emotional grounding to a very heightened skirmish. As a whole feature, First Steps needed more That Thing You Do! energy and less buttoned-up Interstellar vibes. Thankfully, its emotional moments hit more often than not and its sense of showmanship (especially in the stories second-half) is strong. Contrary to what Sue Storm says, change is indeed inevitable. That reality ensures this latest Fantastic Four reboot significantly improves on its predecessors, even if it’s summer 2025’s weakest superhero feature. 

I Got Suckered Into Watching Pete Davidson's The Home. Now It's Time to Vent About It

 

MASSIVE SPOILERS FOR THE HOME BELOW

Last night, I got cinematically bamboozled, there’s no other word for it. 

So, my local AMC held a Secret Horror Movie Screening on Monday, July 21. Nobody in the audience would know what the film was before those fateful opening logos appeared. I was convinced the screening was for 2025 Sundance sensation Together. After all, this showing's runtime matched Together’s perfectly. Plus, Neon and Bloody Disgusting were hosting word-of-mouth screenings for the film on July 21. Surely this was part of that. 

Nope! 

As the Roadside Attractions and Lionsgate logos filled the screen, it became clear I and the other moviegoers in that room were not in for Together. Instead, we were watching The Home, a fright-fest starring Pete Davidson from writer/director James DeMonaco (Adam Cantor also penned the script). It was unquestionably a chilling movie, just not remotely in any of its intended ways. At least it functioned as a vivid 95-minute reminder of how those Purge movies finally got good once series creator DeMonaco wasn't directing them.

The Home begins depicting lead character Max (Pete Davidson) just coasting through life as a troublemaker. As excessive, poorly-written flashbacks make clear, he’s still haunted by the loss of his foster brother Luke decades earlier. In the present, Max’s dad remarks “ever since Luke died…” like this happened a few months ago, not nearly two decades earlier. Anyway, Max has taken to being a real rascal. He's smoking weed, covered in tattoos, and spray painting environmentally conscious graffiti on buildings. What a rebel without a cause. After getting arrested for that graffiti, Max is sentenced to work at a local retirement home. This is his "last strike" after previous run-ins with the law.

At this domicile, Max is given lots of duties by boss Dr. Sabian (Bruce Altman) as well as a handful of strict requirements. One of those is to never venture onto the establishment's fourth floor. Once Max does that, he discovers a wing full of elderly souls confined to wheelchairs, howling in immense pain. This and other constant bizarre happenings at his new workplace lead him to believe that something terrible is going on. Now this guy's questioning authority once more and diving into the conspiracies of what's going on in this location.

It's borderline impressive how DeMonaco and Cantor's The Home script is so incompetent at building tension. For one thing, the duo immediately makes the retirement community a weird place where elderly ladies seductively flicker their tongues at Max, and people bleed out of their foreheads during pool aerobics. There's no sense of atmospheric pacing in The Home. What you see is exactly what you get in this project. Great horror movies like Society, both Suspiria's, or The Texas Chain Saw Massacre just get more and more unhinged as their stories progress. The Home, meanwhile, just exists as a horror cinema flat-line from the moment the studio logos end. 

Meanwhile, Max's tremendously easy ability to access that "forbidden" fourth floor further undermines internal anxiety. Granted, it's not as devastating to the production as truly wretched instances of ADR (Automated Dialogue Replacement, dialogue recorded in post-production). Tahar Rahim's comically bad ADR in Madame Web would be proud of the awkward execution of various Home lines. Too often, security camera footage or other unnerving images are accompanied by an off-screen Pete Davidson either over-explaining what's happening or dropping superfluous observations like, "what the fuck are you doing, old man?" 

The Home doesn't trust its audience to understand the simplest visuals, which means the whole film is papered over in amateurishly incorporated ADR'd expository dialogue. It's a byproduct of what this feature's shoddily assembled status. Todd E. Miller's editing, for instance, is incredibly choppy, even when it comes to the most mundane, static conversations. At least his poor visual impulses create one or two instances of unintentionally hilarious comedy. Most notably, there's an ominous Home sequence that immediately cuts to a wide shot of Pete Davidson sullenly using a leaf-blower outside. Swerving right from Z-grade horror to an image of Davidson channeling the energy of an eight-year-old forced to do his chores had me chuckling.

Also generating inadvertent chuckles is the utterly stupid interior politics of The Home. Initially, DeMonaco and Cantor's script has constant references to global warming (including through an extended televised "debate" playing as background audio for one scene) and even features a temporary explanation for the retirement home's evil rooted in U.S. government experimentation. Then, the third act swerves to reveal that this whole story has been about elderly people kidnapping young folks. This way, folks like Dr. Sabian and Lou (John Glover) can extract "nectar" behind these youthful right eyes that keeps them eternally young. So it all devolves into imagining "what if QAnon-adjacent nonsense was real?". Where are all these contradictory political leanings going?

Nowhere! It's just sporadically amusing that The Home invokes the most surface-level versions imaginable of leftist and right-wing friendly talking points. This is such a stupid movie, right down to it only knowing political terms like "global warming" without having any thoughts or commentary to offer on them. It's infuriating that such idiotic cinema gets financing and major theatrical releases, but the staggering incompetence is certainly something to witness. Eventually, all those references to 2020s political matters dissipate for the only reason anyone will talk about The Home. For the film's final eight minutes, Max is restored to health through the youthful eye nectar of other fourth-floor patients. Then, he grabs an axe and hammer and proceeds to viciously slaughter all the evil retirement home employees and residents. 

Did you ever watch Oldboy's hallway fight scene and wish Choi Min-sik was played instead by Pete Davidson? For that one weirdo out there, The Home is your must-see movie. The sight of Chad from Saturday Night Live drenched head-to-toe in blood snapping elderly bones is certainly a commendably "WTF" sight. Unfortunately, even this set piece reflects The Home's failure as a movie. After all, there's just not much tension in whether or not Pete Davidson can beat up Lex Luthor's dad from Smallville. Opting for a tidy, happy ending, meanwhile, is just another cop-out in a film full of wasted potential. 

The antithesis to quality, frightening horror cinema, The Home will become infamous among scary film aficionados for being humorously bad (oh God, I didn't even bring up the exposition-laden "secret room" in Max's childhood home that contains a shrine to the Goddess of youth). Even in that regard, though, this is no Assassin 33 A.D. or Birdemic in the realm of constantly hysterical subpar genre fare. The Home turgidly vomits back up jump scares, plot points, and visuals (including  DeMonaco's love for kooky masks from The Purge) from infinitely superior chilling motion pictures. It's an insultingly bad enterprise that would've gotten on my nerves even if I hadn't had my hopes of seeing Together early dashed.

So How Did Superman Did In its Second Box Office Weekend?

 

It was clear earlier this week that something special was brewing with Superman's domestic box office run. After a strong $125 million start, this title kept having incredibly remarkable holds from one day to the next during the week. That included leaping 33% from Monday to Tuesday, a significantly better than usual hold across those two days for a July superhero movie. Good word-of-mouth was clearly working in Superman's favor...but would it hold on for its second North American frame? The answer turned out to be a resounding yes.

Superman grossed another $58.5 million this weekend, a great 53% drop from its opening. That's slightly better than the second-weekend declines than Deadpool & Wolverine and Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. It's also way better than typical July superhero movie second weekend holds. Usually, these family-friendly titles burn off enough demand in the week that Spider-Man: Homecoming, Captain America: The First Avenger, and Ant-Man and the Wasp have 60-61% drops before stabilizing the following frame. Superman, meanwhile, held steady with a drop in the low 50s. 

Meanwhile, its second gross was noticeably bigger than the second frame of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, despite that 2016 feature having a $40 million bigger debut than Superman. What's going on with these holds and strong figures?

This is totally conjecture on my part, but one has to wonder if there was a segment of the population that was a bit dubious about a new Superman movie. Those individuals may have sat out last weekend, but then decided to give James Gunn's newest feature a go thanks to the positive word-of-mouth of this motion picture. Superman's certainly become a point of positive conversation online and in the real world. Just look at the affectionate memes sprouting up in the last week over things like David Corenswet's Superman grinning while lying down. With the feature taking off like this, initially hesitant moviegoers might've finally dived in just to join in on the chatter. Meanwhile, the bouncy, colorful, and upbeat atmosphere of Superman makes it prime for revisits, which could've also contributed to the smaller holds.

Plus, hey, maybe something this hopeful is actually something people didn't know they desperately needed until the word-of-mouth on Superman took off. The biggest hit movies throughout history tend to satiate audience demands that nobody in Hollywood could've predicted before they debuted. Who thought, for instance, moviegoers would gravitate towards Avatar's classical and brightly-colored storytelling in an era of gritty reboots? Similarly, Superman turned out to be just the blockbuster palette cleanser folks were looking for when it came to the superhero movie realm. Even with The Fantastic Four: First Steps on the way, it's doubtful all this good word-of-mouth is about to vanish. Expect this title to keep on rocking and rolling for the rest of the summer.

Fans of dogs, colorful costumes, and memorable Nicholas Hoult performances unite: Superman is an uplifting treat

A dozen Julys ago, Guillermo del Toro's Pacific Rim clobbered its way onto the big screen. This monster movie took the skeleton of classic Kaiju films but blew them up enormously in scale while maintaining a zippy tone and vibrant color scheme. The point wasn't to translate these older genre films into "grounded" modern contexts. It was to just give them a scope and budget that was never previously possible.

James Gunn's Superman has similar ambitions in mind. However, the screenwriter behind The Specials and The Belko Experiment is not interested in just making a $200+ million version of the George Reeves Superman TV show or the Christopher Reeve Superman movies. Instead, this is the most lavish spiritual and visual Spy Kids sequel one could imagine witnessing.

That's not a complaint either. Superman is a classical, kid-friendly movie to a tee, bursting with enough bright colors to fill up a Lisa Frank coloring book. It's also another indicator that Gunn (following the Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy and The Suicide Squad) has a gift for satisfying crowdpleaser blockbusters. "It just comes natural," as a wise George Strait once crooned.

Beginning in media res, Gunn's Superman picks up three years into Superman/Clark Kent's (David Corenswet) stint as a Metropolis crime-fighter. The kind-hearted Kryptonian is in hot water with certain souls after stepping into a foreign conflict. Specifically, he stopped Boravian (DC's equivalent to Russia or Israel) soldiers from invading the neighboring country of Jarhanpur (DC's equivalent to Ukraine or Palestine). 

Even while mired in controversy, Superman's opening scene shows that this friendly alien isn't stopping his quest to protect the innocent. When he isn't fighting robots or monsters, Superman takes on the alias of mild-mannered Daily Planet reporter Clark Kent. Also working at this institution are intrepid reporter Jimmy Olsen (Skyler Gisondo) and dynamic journalist/Kent's love interest Lois Lane (Rachel Brosnahan).

Superman's juggling of these two halves of his identity becomes even more challenging thanks to Lex Luthor's (Nicholas Hoult) wicked machinations. This billionaire's seething hatred for this Kryptonian inspires a complicated evil plan that involves infiltrating Superman's Fortress of Solitude and getting the public to turn even more hostile towards the symbol of truth, justice, and DC Comics merchandise. "Who am I?" is the question Superman grapples with as Luthor's cruelty ramps up and threatens even more innocent lives. Also factoring into the proceedings are Justice Gang superheroes Mister Terrific (Edi Gathegi), Kendra Saunders/Hawkgirl (Isabela Merced), and Guy Gardner/Green Lantern (Nathan Fillion), as well Luthor's nefarious helpers like The Engineer (María Gabriela de Faría).

Call Superman a key line from Smash Mouth's All-Star because this thing "hits the ground running." Picking up right as Superman is in the middle of a battle with a mechanical adversary, this superhero film wisely eschews origin stories for its principal heroes and villains. Why build up the entire movie to Luthor's head finally getting shaved? Much like the animated Spider-Verse movies, Superman recognizes that its oversized, colorful characters are pretty self-explanatory. Nathan Fillion's immediate jerky swagger as Guy Gardner, for instance, says more about this character's interiority than any 100-minute origin story ever could. Why not, then, just hop right into the fun stuff instead of dragging everyone's feet through yards of lore?

The drawback to this plot approach, though, is that the more grounded human character in Gunn's Superman script often struggles to get heard. Big costumed crime-fighters and expository dialogue about "pocket dimensions" and Luthor's wicked plans are the storytelling priorities. Players like the Daily Planet crew, meanwhile, vanish for long stretches of screentime. Granted, I'm biased in craving more of Mikela Hoover's adorably-realized Cat Grant. Still, a third act where these journalists are immensely disconnected from the action encapsulates how Superman's crowded script can't give everyone the room they need. Even Lois Lane sometimes feels like an afterthought in these spectacle-driven proceedings.

Luckily, what Gunn's script excels at is comic book mayhem and pathos. Happily, the former element involves plenty of bright colors, including Mister Terrific's use of vivid red hues in his drones or the various complexions populating an ominous river Superman briefly gets trapped in. Much like how Gunn previously made no bones about bringing characters like Rocket Raccoon and Starro to live-action, so too do the likes of Metamorpho (Anthony Carrigan) or Krypto leap to the silver screen with transfixing visual conviction. All these qualities inform a slew of fun action sequences (such as squabbling superheroes fighting a monster with everything from robots to massive oven mitts) brimming with excitement. The third act especially delivers a cornucopia of awesome crowdpleaser moments destined to send audiences everywhere (and a certain bimbo lady film critic) into fits of gleeful clapping.

In addition to just being a lot of fun to watch, Superman also demonstrates how much Gunn has grown as a screenwriter in terms of pathos. Gunn's earliest days featured a borderline nihilist streak in his non-Scooby-Doo work (an inevitable byproduct of his Troma upbringing). In 2000s The Specials, every ramshackle superhero had seething contempt for each other while the "normal" people were mostly idiots. 2006's Slither, meanwhile, saw Gunn viewing rural America as being full of "yokels" whose only value was in getting monstrously transformed by slug aliens.

Since then, Gunn has used his superheroes to grow as a writer and exhibit a more nuanced approach to the human race. The guy who previously used his characters as just punching bags for sometimes amusing dark comedy now crafts films where King Shark longingly gazes out at the "ordinary people" he wishes he could be. Much like with the most heightened Guardians of the Galaxy and The Suicide Squad moments, Superman exhibits tremendous affection for its silliest concepts and characters.  Some comic book movies make "yellow spandex" jokes about their source material's most outlandish qualities. Superman continues the welcome James Gunn trend of not just embracing comic book silliness, but uncovering the rich pathos within conceptually ludicrous material. 

Laser vision and ice breath are not Superman's greatest superpowers. Instead, it's those quiet, affecting moments (devoid of any self-conscious, intrusive quips) that are this feature's greatest strength. "You see everyone as...beautiful," Lois Lane tells Superman at one point. Gunn's script also sees beauty in everyone who inhabits this world. From everyday Kansas residents like Ma (Neva Howell) and Pa Kent (Pruitt Taylor Vance) to folks selling falafel on the street to robots with no consciousness to Lex Luthor's girlfriend Eve Teschmacher (Sara Sampaio). 

Modern misguided attempts at "old-school" comic book movies like Wonder Woman 1984 failed partially because they didn't seem to love their characters. Superman, meanwhile, wants to give even its most fleeting inhabitants a hug. Gunn's camera lovingly lingers on the little bits of life in this universe, like Krypto playing with cows or ordinary citizens looking out for one another when disasters strike Metropolis. Best of all, there's an outstanding sequence where Pa Kent comforts a dejected Clark with words of wisdom like "parents aren't good at letting their kids discover themselves...we give them the tools to make fools of themselves." Who knew the man behind the sometimes wearily edgelord dialogue of The Specials would one day write such intimate poignant dialogue.

That's another great virtue of this latest reimagining of Jerry Siegel and Joe Schuster's lastingly influential creation. Every cast member gets to leave a positive impression, a happy byproduct of Superman's default heightened acting style. That includes David Corenswet, an extraordinary discovery as the film's main superhero. There's nary even a hint of irony in his delivery of Superman lines like "dang it!" or "what they hey, dude?" He just feels like he walked right out of a classic Superman comic (or All-Star Superman, the more modern publication that heavily influenced this 2025 film). 

Corenswet also had dynamite chemistry with Rachel Brosnahan, whose spunky Lois Lane is an endless delight. Nicholas Hoult, meanwhile, is a deliciously wicked treat as Lex Luthor. Hoult's performance absolutely radiates ceaseless malice just in his insufferable facial expressions. It's a delightful turn, especially following up his wildly varied (yet consistently impressive) work in late 2024 features like The Order and Nosferatu.

Among supporting players, Gathegi is the MVP as Mister Terrific, particularly in how he's able to maintain a consistent stoic expression while demonstrating outstanding comic timing. Gisonodo is also a hoot, I'm so glad Gunn's screenplay features a mid-movie digression where his Jimmy Olsen basically goes on his own mini-adventure. Superman's great discovery, though, is Sara Sampaio channeling big Chrissy Chlapecka energy as Eve Teschmacher. Right from this movie's first post-title card scene, Sampaio's physicality portraying Teschmacher snapping selfies had me rolling. There's also such love in Sampai's performance, though, that makes the character extra transfixing. This performer isn't realizing Lex Luthor's girlfriend as a caricature but with real affection and humanity (all while scoring big laughs).

Superman's flaws (like certain sets or colors not looking as sharp as they could've been if captured on film) are unmistakable, particularly when it comes to an exceedingly crowded plot. However, it's hard to care that much when the feature nails the poignancy, performances, and fun with so much flair. Channeling Spy Kids vibes turn out to be a good look for Superman, especially since it means James Gunn unabashedly embraces sentimentality and heightened spectacle. With such confidence, no wonder Superman produces so much showmanship and excitement.

It took Hollywood 44 years, but this superhero finally got another sublime movie. If you're looking for an energetic summer blockbuster that'll make you cheer, well, to paraphrase a pair of tunes from the 1966 Broadway musical It's a Bird... It's a Plane... It's Superman*, Superman has  "got what [you] need" since it's "super nice".

* = Hey, I actually saw this show during its summer 2010 Dallas Theater Center run. I had no idea it was at the time "reviled" and odd to do a revival of the show. 14-year-old Lisa Laman just assumed, since Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark was in the news at the time, that every comic book superhero eventually got a Broadway musical. I also remember being very confused why Superman was facing off against generic scientists and bank robber baddies instead of contending with Lex Luthor or Brainiac.