Fantastic Four: First Steps

Official Australian release date: 24/7/25. Viewed: 25/7/25.
Director: Matt Shakman
Actors: Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Joseph Quinn, Ebon Moss-Bachrach
Genre: Sci-Fi / Action
Rating: PG

 

‘Fantastic Four: First Steps’ is a really well-made action adventure film. It happens to be the fourth ‘Fantastic Four’ film, and 2^nd reboot, but it’s the first MCU version and the most faithful to the comics – you don’t need to have seen any of the previous films, or any Marvel films for that matter. There’s a really nice charm and style, almost Jetsons-esque, as this is set in the 1960s. It’s definitely helped by it’s really strong lead cast – Reed Richards/Mr Fantastic (Pascal), Sue Storm/Invisible Woman (Kirby), Johnny Storm/Human Torch (Quinn) and Ben Grimm/The Thing (Moss-Bachrach), with HERBIE the robot as a nice support.

The plot is quite straightforward and mostly-uncomplicated – very refreshing. The first 20min are a good introduction to the team/family without going into too much detail, done quite well as a talk show montage, and then we get straight into it. The Silver Surfer (Garner) shows up, heralding the impending arrival of Galactus (Ineson) the world-eater, setting in motion events as Reed tries to solve this impossible problem. The actual solution is pretty far-fetched, but also within the realms of comic-book-plausibility. Some good cameos – Lyonne as Rachel, Walter Hauser as Mole Man, Gatiss as Ted Gilbert.

Everything fits together so well – the score, cinematography, CGI, especially in space, the costumes and set design, complemented by the charismatic cast and their realistic banter, with a nice light tone throughout, until the final act battle with Galactus. The ending is handled well and has strong emotion. Great to see each of them use their powers, with Johnny’s fire seeming almost realistic and Sue’s forcefields being more than just shields. I quite like Ben’s beard! And the nice nod to Stan Lee with the spaceship being named Excelsior. Reed has some heart and isn’t just the typical supernerd. Mid-credits scene links to the upcoming MCU films – can’t wait to see these Fantastic Four join up with the rest of the MCU.

Overall: Expertly made comic-book fun

Gav’s Rating: 4.5 stars 

 

Friendship

Official Australian release date: 17/7/25. Viewed: 15/7/25.
Director: Andrew DeYoung
Actors: Tim Robinson, Paul Rudd, Kate Mara, Jack Dylan Grazer
Genre: Comedy
Rating: M

  

‘Friendship’ is a nice, somewhat unconventional comedy, starring Tim Robinson as Craig, but it’s not as unhinged as most of his show, ‘I Think You Should Leave’. Craig lives with wife Tami (Mara) and son Steven (Grazer), in some unnamed American town in some purposeful obscure era (houses look like they’re in the 70s and there’s a wall phone, but there’s computers and mobile phones…). Craig and Tami are coming out of a difficult time when they meet new neighbour, Austin (Rudd).

Austin is charming and goes out of his way to take Craig under his wing and go on some adventures together. There’s lots of funny moments and they almost act like a young couple. It’s all a bit goofy, with Robinson’s face being so expressive and Rudd playing a slightly-skewed version of his usual characters. Something happens, and things take a turn and everything spirals out of control for Craig. He tries to get it all back, but the ending is fitting and not as clean as a regular rom-com would be!

There’s definitely lots of awkward moments, some cringes, lots of silences, with one exceptional and hilarious scene where Robinson goes through about 8 facial expressions in silence. All actors are good, the situations are odd, but the laughs are real – great to see with a crowd. Nothing too sinister and while it’s occasionally outrageous, it’s grounded in the real need for friendship.

Overall: Enjoyable and off-centre comedy

Gav’s Rating: 4 stars 

Superman

Official Australian release date: 10/7/25. Viewed: 10/7/25.
Director: James Gunn
Actors: David Corenswet, Rachel Brosnahan, Nicholas Hoult, Edi Gathegi
Genre: Action / Sci-Fi
Rating: M

‘Superman’ is a proper reboot, not the 9^th film in the franchise, and almost serves as a sequel to the original 1978 film. This film is up there with the original and ‘Man of Steel’, and possibly even better. That’s mostly down to Clark/Superman being played by Corenswet, who plays him excellently – not too cocky, not too serious, not too goofy. We meet him fully-formed, in his early 30s – this is not an origin film – and facing his first defeat, retreating to the fortress of solitude (which is done well), were we meet Krypto the dog, who has more screentime than I expected!

Behind the attack on Metropolis/Superman is obviously Lex Luthor (Hoult), who leans hard into the obsessive jealously and egotism, as well as a side of deranged, sometimes a bit over the-top. The Clark colleagues/friends are all well cast – Lois (Brosnahan), Jimmy (Gisondo), Perry (Pierce), Guy/Green Lantern (Fillion), Hawkgirl (Merced) and Mr Terrific (Gathegi). Because there’s so much happening and quite a few action scenes, not everyone gets a lot of screentime, with Clark’s parents Martha (Howell) and Jon (Vince) almost redundant. After the set-up, we get to see Lex’s full plan to discredit Superman, with Clark having to overcome something he can’t physically fight.

There’s a bit of “pocket universe” don’t-think-too-much-about-it stuff that’s standard in comic book films and doesn’t necessarily help anything, but the score is great, including the homage to Williams’ original, and as expected from Gunn, the soundtrack is great, with just a few great uses of songs that are not too well-known, but will become future classics now. Not too long at 2 hours, there’s some touching moments, especially with the fake countries that aren’t too dissimilar to the real world. Maybe not as much of a revelation as the first ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’, this is still a really well-put-together action adventure film. I’m here for the sequels.

Overall: Optimistic, enjoyable take, with a great cast

Gav’s Rating: 4 stars 

Jurassic World: Rebirth

Official Australian release date: 3/7/25. Viewed: 3/7/25.
Director: Gareth Edwards
Actors: Scarlett Johansson, Jonathon Bailey, Marshala Ali, Rupert Friend
Genre: Action / Sci-Fi
Rating: M

‘Jurassic World: Rebirth’ (why didn’t they call it ‘Jurassic Park: Rebirth’, if it’s actually supposed to be a revival/return-to-form like the original?) is the seventh Jurassic film, and thankfully slightly better than the last two films (‘Fallen Kningdom’ and ‘Dominion’). We have a whole new cast, with Krebs (Friend) the shady money man funding a trip to South America (apparently Suriname, but filmed in Thailand) to extract dinosaur blood for apparently good reasons, hiring “security” Zora (Johansson), boat captain Duncan (Ali) and palaeontologist Dr Loomis (Bailey).

Director Edwards (‘Rogue One’) knows how to make it look good, but the pacing is still off a fair bit of the time. After the Snickers intro, there’s about 25min where not much happens at all – and the whole explanation for dinosaurs only being around the equator because of more oxygen and the public losing interest is ridiculous. Dinosaurs not existing in the cooler climates makes sense, but it feels like they missed a trick not exploring the spread of dinosaurs after ‘Fallen Kingdom’. There’s a whole subplot here with a civilian family of 4, and while fine, they don’t add too much to the story and often split the narrative. There’s 3 others who we don’t really even learn the names of – wonder what happens to them?

The best scene still involves a T Rex – and is taken straight from ‘The Lost World’ novel. Shows when the right amount of tension, fear and relief are executed well, it can still be great. Weird to say, but the 3 big stars – Johansson, Bailey & Ali – don’t actually feel like they have that much to do, and any character development is too forced. They’re all passable, but they’re kind of just there. It’s just over 2 hours long, and there’s some good set pieces, but it definitely doesn’t feel like that much happens or that there’s enough dinosaurs. Always tough, as the original set such a high bar. There’s just enough good moments and just enough dinosaurs to give a 3.

Overall: Maybe if this was the first film of the ‘Jurassic’ series you were seeing as a kid, you’d like it much more.

Gav’s Rating: 3 stars