In 1964, Canadian communication theorist Marshall McLuhan coined the phrase “the medium is the message,” arguing that the medium of communication is as, if not more, important than the message itself. A concept born from the television-obsessed 1960s, it rattles around the new Marvel movie, “The Fantastic Four: First Steps,” which is set in a 1960s-esque retro-futuristic universe Earth 828, where TV is the most important means of mass communication.
Television is also how our heroes, the Fantastic Four, establish their public roles as a quartet of cosmically supercharged scientists and protectors of the planet. They’re not just superheroes, they’re public intellectuals who share their knowledge on educational science programs, and late-night talk shows beamed into every household, which is how we’re introduced to them and their origin story in “First Steps.”
Directed by Matt Shakman, “First Steps” is a total reset of the characters, arriving a decade after the disastrous 2015 “Fantastic Four” movie. Pedro Pascal now plays Reed Richards, the scientist who took a team to space that included his wife, Sue Storm (Vanessa Kirby), his brother-in-law, Johnny Storm (Joseph Quinn), and his best friend, Ben Grimm (Ebon Moss-Bachrach).
After encountering a cosmic storm, they returned with special powers and acquired new nicknames: Mr. Fantastic, the Invisible Woman, the Human Torch and the Thing.
In the screenplay by Josh Friedman, Eric Pearson, Jeff Kaplan and Ian Springer, the focus is on the foursome as a family. The film is much more of a domestic drama with a little world-saving on the side. Early on, it’s revealed that Sue and Reed are expecting a child, after years of trying. Their happy news is interrupted by a herald, the Silver Surfer (Julia Garner) who arrives on Earth 828 to announce that the planet has been marked for consumption by Galactus the Devourer (Ralph Ineson). A worldwide crisis ensues, which is exacerbated when Galactus says he’ll spare the planet in exchange for Reed and Sue’s baby, whom he believes to be a powerful space god. They refuse, and the planet turns on them.
Sue rejects this binary choice, believing there’s a way to defeat Galactus without sacrificing her child. As a mother and leader on Earth 828, Sue ultimately appeals to the world by appealing to them as a family, asking everyone to work together to defeat Galactus, and television broadcast is how she shares her message of unity.
While the 1960s style and Space Age Googie architecture sure is neat, this period setting is also necessary for telling a plausible story that combines mass communication and collective action. If the message in “First Steps” is an allegory for what’s needed to save our own world — unified action against climate change — what we need is a united media landscape, where every person is watching the same news broadcasts at the same time, where facts are agreed upon and not contested, the message consistent and uniform. Which is to say, it’s nothing like the world we inhabit now, which has already been fractured beyond belief.
For a film that engages so much with TV and its power to reach a mass audience, it’s logical to hire a veteran TV director. Shakman, who directed many episodes of the retro family Marvel sitcom “WandaVision,” shepherd this project. That he brings a distinctly televisual — and utterly bland — style to the film is not such a boon for a movie that will be shown in IMAX. The spectacle on display here is nothing to write home about.
Despite the midcentury flair, the film is dull as dishwater visually. Shakman and his “WandaVision” cinematographer Jess Hall favor flat, static, center-framed medium shots of the characters, who spend most of their time inside their skyscraper fortress where the lighting is the same no matter the time of day. The action is unremarkable, and the aesthetic all blends into a kind of bluish-gray blur.
The story itself is simple, and while deeply emotional, it’s still fairly silly. There are a few attempts at banter, but the funniest person in the movie is Paul Walter Hauser as the Mole Man/Harvey Elder, the leader of the underground Subterranea (and there’s not nearly enough of him). Of the four, Pascal delivers the best performance as the fussy, fastidious scientist Reed Richards.
So it’s the message that’s the most interesting element of “First Steps,” and while delivered in a movie medium, it’s ultimately a story about the power of television. Perhaps it would have been best relegated to the small screen then, because the biggest one isn’t doing this movie any favors. A message this urgent shouldn’t be rendered in such a forgettable fashion.
‘The Fantastic Four: First Steps’
2 stars (out of 4)
MPA rating: PG-13 (for action/violence and some language)
Running time: 1:55
How to watch: In theaters
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