This Film is set against the vibrant backdrop of a 1960s-inspired, retro futuristic world. The film follows Reed Richards (Pedro Pascal), Sue Storm (Vanessa Kirby), Johnny Storm (Joseph Quinn) and Ben Grimm (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) as they face their most daunting challenge yet. Forced to balance their roles as heroes with the strength of their family bond, they must defend Earth from a ravenous space god called Galactus (Ralph Ineson) and his enigmatic herald, Silver Surfer (Julia Garner). And if Galactus' plan to devour the entire planet and everyone on it weren't bad enough, it suddenly gets very personal.
Others to round out the cast are Natasha Lyonne as Rachel Rozman, Paul Walter Hauser as Harvey Elder, Sarah Niles as Lynne Nichols, Mark Gatiss as Ted Gilbert, Ada Scott as Franklin Richards and Matthew Wood as H.E.R.B.I.E.
This was directed with action, explosiveness and humor by Matt Shakman ("Cut Bank" '14) plus a plethora of TV. Considering this filmmaker has only one other feature film to his credit, this was staged and paced with extreme delineation from beginning to end. Although he does have a TV resume that seemingly goes on and on forever, this kind of film would still be difficult to direct considering all the staging, angle shots, the cameras used, set design and editing that is the responsibility of any director. Shakman will receive more work. It was written by Eric Pearson, Josh Friedman, Jeff Kaplan and Ian Springer, based on a story by Kaplan, Springer Pearson and Kat Wood, which is based on the Marvel comic, based on characters created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. As with most films, it's the writing that ends up having a couple of flaws in that there were a couple of places where (I know it's sci-fi), a certain situation wouldn't have been carried out the way that it did, but then it would've either ruined the scene or could've potentially killed or screwed with the premise, so I get it. And there were at least one place of slight slowness, but otherwise this was certainly better than I ever thought possible. Eric Pearson has the lion's share of the writing, and it showed here. I really went into the theater with trepidation assuming it was going to be like another one of its predecessors and it wasn't. And, of course, the visual effects that were predominantly designed by ILM (Industrial, Light & Magic) and SPI (Sony Pictures Imageworks) were seamless as they truly enhanced the story. Also, this having a retro look, the production design by Kasra Farahani was designed incredibly well--their car was amazing.
If you are a 'Fantastic Four' fan, or even a Marvel fan, this is one you must see, and you definitely have to see it on the large screen (it's also presented in an IMAX format as well) to breathe in that grandiose feel. This is definitely one of the best films of this franchise, and don't worry, there will be a sequel, so stay for the credits.
Out of 4 Stars: 3.5 Rated: PG-13 114mins.
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