Labelled as Earth-828, (an alternate universe) we are in a retro-futuristic 1960's New York City. Dispensing with another full origin setup in this version, the long-time space exploration team are already fully established with their unique powers being in full public knowledge. As the Fantastic Four, they are well-respected by the people and city officials alike. Their home and base is the Baxter Building - a super-tall skyscraper in the centre of the city. And that's where the story begins.
We first see Sue Storm (Vanessa Kirby) in her bathroom looking directly at a positive pregnancy test. She immediately shows it to her husband, Reed Richards (Pedro Pascal). They embrace and bring the amazing news to the remaining members of the quartet in the lounge - her younger brother, Johnny Storm (Joseph Quinn) and the massive rock-like being, Ben Grimm (Ebon Moss-Bachrach), who are both equally delighted for the pending new arrival and can't wait to be uncles.
It's months later now and Reed, who is the main scientist of the group, is currently working on teleportation experiments. He's found success and shows Johnny as he transmits an egg four meters across the lab, intact. This is a big thing! Later that evening, all four are on the open-air balcony, high up on their building, when the siren alert sounds on all their team wristbands at once. A disturbance in the sky, but it's not massive weather system. Something otherworldly is arriving from Space!
The group mobilise in their flying car and head directly to Times Square, which Richards has worked out to be the focus of the disturbance. A massive crowd has already gathered there as the entity floats slowly down to hover over the square. It's a female human figure on a surfboard but totally coated in silver. She speaks and states that she is just the herald and has come to announce the fate of Earth - which has been chosen to be the latest planet consumed by the one called Galactus.
Obviously, this a redo of the story first brought to us in Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007). Shalla-Bal (Julia Garner), who was already an established Marvel Comics character as the platinum-coated herald is a distinct change but works as well here. The much bigger budget here has not only expanded on the overall aesthetic, but it's given us a more authentic representation of the super-giant Galactus, perfectly played and voiced by the deep bass tones of Ralph Ineson.
Those aesthetics were a big part of the much more substantial feel to this Fantastic Four big screen outing, but although I still have a bit of a soft spot for that 2007 cast, I think this new cast embodies their roles well, as there's some interesting chemistry. The addition of baby as a potential future member was an intriguing prospect. There was quite a bit of scientific MacGuffin thrown into the plot but even though there was a couple of "Huh!" moments, it was easy to follow.
The final act was well choreographed as all the iconic superpowers worked well together, but the ending was a bit telegraphed and wasn't much of a surprise. Also, it came quicker than expected in this surprisingly short 1 hour and 55 minutes runtime. This film is the start of Phase Six of the MCU's latest big story arc and I'm already looking forward to seeing this team in action again. Stay for both the mid and post credit scenes.
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