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| Giacchino |
The Fantastic Four: First Steps: (Michael
Giacchino) Long mired with low-budget filmmaker Roger Corman and then
20th Century Fox, the rights to Marvel's original "The Fantastic Four"
characters finally landed with Walt Disney Studios so that they could
formally join the official Marvel Cinematic Universe in the 2020's.
After contributing tangentially to a few other movies, the foursome
achieves its own feature in 2025's
The Fantastic Four: First
Steps, erasing lesser memories of the characters caused by the Fox
films of the 2000's and the wretched second stab at the concept in 2015.
The Disney reimagining of the property is a massive success, showing
life in a Cinematic Universe that had starting going astray in previous
years. The characters are the same as before, each member of the
foursome affected by cosmic rays as astronauts at the height of the
American space race and advancing humanity through their inventions and
philosophies. The setting is therefore an alternate universe of the
1960's, one that is rooted in the same version of Earth that helms the
rest of the related films. After this film shows the origin exploits of
the team, it shifts to the trouble at hand, namely that the
planet-devouring villain, Galactus, is on his way to Earth with the
Silver Surfer as a minion prepping the way. Leads Reed Richards and Sue
Storm are expecting a baby, and that child's potential power is key to
everyone involved. The plot is a rather simple and straightforward one
with a single primary point of conflict, which is refreshing in films
that throw too many characters and motivations and alternate realities
at audiences all at once. The critical and financial success of
The
Fantastic Four: First Steps ensured immediate plans of a sequel
amongst the concurrent resurrection of the main line of
The
Avengers films. The 2025 entry marked the first superhero score for
composer Michael Giacchino in several years after they had become his
norm in the late 2010's. His history incorporating vintage 1960's
personality in his music made him a no-brainer for this assignment, too,
as he could blend the heroism of Alan Silvestri's overarching tonalities
with his own affectionate throwback style to create the right
atmospheres for the alternate, futuristic 1960's universe.
Understandably, nothing survives from the prior
The
Fantastic Four scores for the franchise, though John Ottman's music
remains arguably underrated. Instead, Giacchino blazes a new path to the
totally obvious, writing a score for
The Fantastic Four: First
Steps that slaps you across the face with its intent from the very
start. Everything in this work is way overstated by design across all
emotional realms. There's nothing subtle about any of it. Most
structures in the music are related somehow to a four-note phrase, and
each phrase itself is rather simplistic. The themes are all lacking
interludes or secondary phrasing to make them well-rounded, which causes
the score to become both memorable and monotonous. For those who study
and know music, the overabundance of four-note building blocks
everywhere throughout the lines of action could be humorous or
nightmarish, but it certainly is effective at forcing itself into the
listener's brain. Stylistically, the tone and instrumentation of the
work is pure Giacchino at its most exuberant, blending the hope and
heroics of
Tomorrowland and
Lightyear without straying
into the espionage-related zest of
The Incredibles. The
orchestra, which is lacking any real presence for woodwinds aside from
duties on secondary rhythmic devices, is joined by retro staccato vocals
that push against throbbing electronic pulses for a distinct overall
tone to achieve the future of yesteryear. It's an endearing sound, and
there are truly fine instrumental flourishes and pronounced roles for
chimes, harp, and keyboarded contributors. There are moments of engaging
and highly effective instrumental intrigue, such as the deep rumbling
effects in the action of "Bowel Before Me," and the second half of that
cue offers outstanding action material its instrumental layering and
choral chanting. The vocals in the score are accomplished, ranging from
the flowery retro puffs to more traditional superhero fantasy
applications that occasionally stray towards contemporary John Powell
usage. A language coach was employed for the vocals, but it's not
obvious what the singers are saying outside of their "fantastic four"
fanfare performances. The electronics are not particularly intrusive,
and the composer never succumbs to the need to engage in needless
post-production manipulation of the soundscape. The overall mix not as
dry as heard in some Giacchino works, which is a major help.
Narratively, Giacchino remains loyal to a really tight set
of themes in
The Fantastic Four: First Steps, but listeners
should be aware that the story on screen requires that most of the
outright heroics had to be front-loaded into the score's first third.
There is thus a lack of a really dynamic finale built into the story,
which the composer handles through his bookending renditions of the main
theme over the end credits. That theme is a decently good orchestral
anthem constructed upon four four-note phrases that resolve to four
notes on key on the eighth phrase. It's simple and catchy, and it's the
kind of identity that most should enjoy but some could find maddening.
At the very least, it's more appropriate than the head-scratching
four-note theme Giacchino wrote for
The Batman in 2022. The lack
of secondary phrasing in this theme is its potential undoing, because
the composer has to remodulate or simply repeat the same phrasing ad
nauseum in the longer expressions of the idea. Restated in various
guises in "The Fantastic Four: First Steps Main Theme Extended Version,"
Giacchino uses this recording to supply a cyclical linking motif at 2:35
that establishes itself as a common supporting device in these
performances. This particular recording of the theme ends in a vocalized
form, the chorus switching to "fantastic four" lyrics for the final
notes in somewhat corny but appreciably retro coolness. In the score
proper, this theme is boiled down to harp and celeste sensitivity in
"Pregnancy Testing 1, 2, 3" but experiences its initial expressions of
glory as it builds dramatically on strings and solo horn to a large
rendition in "Fantastic Four, First Cue." This material accompanies the
backstory in the cue with several vibrant renditions as a highlight, but
it becomes too repetitive in its straight brass reprises by the end, the
vocalized lyrics at the conclusion once again overstating their
presence. After being fragmented in the late dissonance of "Herald
Today, Gone Tomorrow," the main theme gains steam throughout "Out to
Launch" with really nice choral accompaniment, a highlight cue of the
work that strives for some wholesome James Horner
Apollo 13
spirit but stays rooted in retro style. The theme's final phrase is
adapted for the villain's domination in "Bowel Before Me" while the
melody strikes on brass against the Silver Surfer theme's choir at the
end of "The Light Speed of Your Life," continuing that struggle in
"Nothing Neutron Under the Sun" in minor mode.
After its initial series of heroic conveyances, the
main theme for
The Fantastic Four: First Steps takes far more
malleable forms thereafter. A piano handles the melody as expected for
Giacchino during the tender family moment in "Starship Birth." The theme
contorts a bit for more fantasy optimism (and a little John Ottman
personality) in "Span-tastic Voyage," with some militaristic tones
applied by snare late in the cue. Keenly forming an alliance with the
Mole Man theme near the end of "A Mole in Your Plan," this idea attempts
to challenge the Galactus theme late in "A Walk on the City" with no
real success. The chords only occupy the opening of the melancholy
"Don't Sue the Baby!" while piano and cello bring the melody out of the
ambience in the middle of the cue's second minute. Restrained but cheery
for the crescendo closing "Without Further Adieu" and the film, the
theme is adapted into a truly hideous 1950's pop rendition in "Carseat
Drivers" before launching from the spoken vocal fanfare at the start of
"Fantastic Four to Be Reckoned With" to serve as a decent end credits
summary that may seem redundant on album. From there, Giacchino supplies
a number of variations on the idea on that product. It's reduced to
string formality as background pleasantry in "Tripping the Lights
Fantastic," essentially the 1980's John Barry interpretation of the main
theme. The idea is also translated into an old-fashioned cartoon
identity with Hammond organ and xylophone in the silly "The Fantastic
Four Power Hour (Cartoon Theme)." The aforementioned linking motif
supporting the main team theme is a four-note, cyclical rhythm that
underpins the main theme's chords, and listeners may find it reminiscent
of the composer's better cyclical ideas of the past, particularly
Tomorrowland, especially when it drives the rhythmic formations
of a cue like "Span-tastic Voyage" without stating its own four-note
melodic lines explicitly. This bouncingly bright motif, which some might
just attribute as an appendage of the main theme, can be heard under the
main theme at 2:35 into "The Fantastic Four: First Steps Main Theme
Extended Version" and toys in the background of that identity in
"Fantastic Four, First Cue." It supplies some light anticipation at the
outset of "Out to Launch," prevailing at cue's climax, and helps builds
hope at end of "Don't Sue the Baby!" and "Without Further Adieu" in
rhythm only. In the separate arrangements, this motif contributes to the
awful adaptation of the main theme in "Carseat Drivers" and joins the
suite performance in "Fantastic Four to Be Reckoned With."
For the villains, Giacchino treats the Silver Surfer to
a typically choral idea with some James Horner mannerisms in the
progressions, always foreshadowing the character's later heroics.
There's no convincing secondary phrasing to this idea, either.
Introduced on low string and choral shades in first minute of "Herald
Today, Gone Tomorrow" and stewing on strings during the middle of the
cue, this idea previews its better shades on choir and brass at 1:01
into "The Light Speed of Your Life." The mixed choir's chanting of the
opening phrase at 1:51 into this cue has touches of John Powell to its
style, and this material fights directly against the main theme in the
final half-minute. The Silver Surfer theme explodes with agony on
strings and choir throughout "The Bridges of Silver Surfer County" but
the tone softens on choir in "The Other Sue Drops" as the character
realizes her error, the theme officially turning positive in the last
minute of that cue. It emerges with choral, brass, and chime drama in
"The Galactus/Silver Surfer Suite," where it experiences some awkward
variations in performances in the later minutes of the suite. The
Galactus theme, meanwhile, has its menacing spirit previewed by choral
chanting in "A Galactus Case of the Munchies" before its three-note
phrases yield to its own brass fanfare at 1:12 into "Bowel Before Me."
This idea opens "A Walk on the City" with choral menace against skittish
string textures, the rising three-note portion of the theme a distinct
Godzilla inverse here. It stomps with force in the second minute
of "The Other Sue Drops" and opens the very long credits suite in "The
Galactus/Silver Surfer Suite" but is oddly somewhat boring and
understated in that arrangement. Finally, a Mole Man theme is a deep
brass idea teased at 3:53 into "Fantastic Four, First Cue" that finds
its footing on that brass at 1:49 into "A Mole in Your Plan" with
rambling snare rhythm, choral layers providing the theme a melodramatic
tilt. In the end, this narrative is highly effective even if the
villains' ideas are nowhere near as memorable as the main theme. Either
you will be charmed by Giacchino's style and repetitious structures or
you will find them as irritating as his fiendishly retro silliness
expressed in the album's appropriately ridiculous bonus tracks. ("The
Ted Gilbert Show" is funny but annoying, and "H.E.R.B.I.E.'s Lullaby"
adds nothing.) Giacchino is really good at the hyper 1950's-syled
jingles, but they're tough to tolerate. The song "Let Us Be Devoured" by
Giacchino associate Andrea Datzman is unoffensively attractive, and the
Alan Silvestri cue for the mid-credits scene teasing the next
The
Avengers film is not included on this score's album. Expect brazen
Giacchino heroism of a highly repetitive nature, a solid return to his
symphonic comfort zone.
**** @Amazon.com: CD or
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| Bias Check: |
For Michael Giacchino reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.48
(in 44 reviews)
and the average viewer rating is 3.21
(in 23,515 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.
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