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\n\tSuperheroes are a thing of the past in the latest iteration of Marvel\u2019s Fantastic Four<\/a>, the best by far of the company\u2019s attempts to translate the long-running comic book\u2019s appeal to the big screen. This it does not by trying to reinvent the wheel but, rather smartly, by addressing the elephant in the room, locating the action in a kitsch yet somehow timeless retro-future more befitting The Jetsons than The Avengers. It also benefits from a smart script and\u00a0\u2014 I can\u2019t believe I\u2019m writing this \u2014 really quite moving performances from its four charismatic leads, being arguably the best of Pedro Pascal<\/a>\u2019s releases this year.<\/p>\n \n\tDirector Matt Shakman<\/a> sets out his stall with a bold opening gambit that sees Sue Storm (Vanessa Kirby<\/a>) discovering that she is pregnant by her partner Reed Richards (Pascal). Together with Sue\u2019s brother Johnny (Joseph Quinn<\/a>) and Reed\u2019s best friend Ben (Ebon Moss-Bachrach<\/a>), the couple are also celebrating five years of Fantasticness, which they do quite literally on TV\u2019s The Ted Gilbert Show. This enables a quick and effective recap of the foursome\u2019s origin story: during a routine space mission, an electric storm left each one of them with \u201ccosmically compromised DNA\u201d and their own special skillset.<\/p>\n \n\tInterestingly, the word \u201csuperpower\u201d is never used \u2014 the conscientious Reed prefers the word \u201canomalies\u201d to describe these changes \u2014 and the film quickly gets to work establishing a world \u2014 half real-life Manhattan, half EPCOT \u2014 where the Four have become the guardians of America (and, by extension, the world). The rejection of the s-word is important, since the Four\u2019s abilities haven\u2019t aged terribly well: Reed has become a real-life Stretch Armstrong; Sue can make herself invisible and project force fields; Johnny becomes a human torch at will; and Ben \u2014 aka The Thing, and the only who must live with his \u201canomaly\u201d full time \u2014 is now a clay-like creature gifted with super-strength.<\/p>\n \n\tThe perma-\u201950s vibe is incredibly well realized, and the sets are endlessly inventive: Cinema marquees in Times Square boast films with titles like Subzero Intel, Sunrise in Minsk, and The Emperor\u2019s Twin (a Walt Disney production, apparently), plus adverts for Juicy Fruit chewing gum and Pop-Tarts. The background casting is equally inspired; this is a film in which serious men in black-framed glasses and homburg hats point at things that literally everybody else is already looking at and say, \u201cWould ya look at that!!!\u201d Similarly, the Four\u2019s charitable trust \u2014 the Future Foundation \u2014 is quite a modest enterprise, more concerned with tackling crime at a grassroots rather than global level.<\/p>\n \n\tThe peace is suddenly shattered by the arrival of a mysterious silver surfer \u2014 not that one, but a female lookalike. Known as The Herald and played by Julia Garner, she announces to the world\u2019s media that the earth has been \u201cmarked for death\u201d and will soon be consumed an entity she refers to as \u201cThe Devourer.\u201d This turns out to be another name for Galactus, a surprisingly scary Marvel villain played with sinister sincerity by Ralph Ineson. Galactus is driven by an unassuageable appetite for destruction and, during an impressive showdown in space, offers to make a deal: Galactus will spare Earth if Reed and Sue hand over their as-yet unborn child.<\/p>\n \n\tNeedless to say, they don\u2019t, and when they return \u2014 in scenes that are wryly reminiscent of today \u2014 the citizens of New York berate them for their selfishness (\u201cYou said no???\u201d). Nevertheless, much to his wife\u2019s annoyance, Reed realizes that desperate measures must be taken to keep Galactus at bay, and so he devises a series of plans to save the world, using his own child as bait. This in itself makes a refreshing change from the usual baffling Marvel McGuffin, and even though the outcome is wholly predictable, there\u2019s a definite frisson in the sight of The Herald\u2019s liquid-metal hand trying to snatch Sue\u2019s baby from the womb.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \n\tAs expected (from recent Marvel movies, not Fantastic Four movies passim), the VFX are pretty extraordinary, and, for once, there\u2019s even a clarity to the action, which is certainly spectacular on an Imax screen. The big draw, though, is the core cast. Kirby is a powerful Mama Lion, Quinn makes for an audaciously uncool Johnny, and Moss-Bachrach brings unexpected pathos to The Thing. MVP, though, is Pascal, who, in a poetic inversion of Galactus\u2019 destructive curse, plays Reed as a great scientist burdened by his analytical genius, forever condemned to play out the worst possible scenario in his mind in his quest to protect the world.<\/p>\n