>>149800788That’s a really good description of the comics. The trouble and irony is that Fantastic Four: First Steps doesn’t manage to be a good sci-fi movie, or an engaging drama.
First Steps just doesn’t work as a drama. It doesn’t put in the effort to *make* the audience care. It’s not the viewers job to know why they should care about characters and be moved by their troubles, it’s the filmmakers’ job to make that connection happen. The sci-fi is flat and unimaginative, surface level stuff that doesn’t measure up to a mediocre Star Trek episode. The technology isn’t a problem, nor is its potential complexities explored meaningfully. Sure, it’s an alien invasion story, but so is half of the MCU at this point. The goober that saves the day isn’t looked at seriously, it just already exists and needs to be scaled up to save the day. You can literally write an ENTIRE book about teleportation (I am literally reading one right now) but the movie is so uninterested in it that it does nothing with it except use it as a magic “I Win” button at the end.
There’s no tension. In a drama story, you worry that the characters will make decisions that damage relationships or hurt one-another. In a sci-fi story, you worry that there could be unforeseen consequences or that the puzzle the heroes need to solve might not have a solution.
In this movie, there is never any worry. There is never any doubt that the happy ending is around the corner, or that Galactus is going to be beaten.
But Gunn’s Superman movie, ironically, has lots of emotionally engaging drama, it takes the time and does the legwork to make the audience care about the characters, and does things people didn’t like in order to ruffle feathers and make people worry. The climactic conflict revolves around a flashy sci-fi macguffin going haywire and wreaking havoc — a very definitive sci-fi plot structure.
Hit the character limit. I’m bored of bitching about this movie.
