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Review of The Fantastic Four: First Steps (Michael Giacchino)

FILMTRACKS RECOMMENDS:

Buy it... to hear Michael Giacchino flourish in a retro symphonic atmosphere of brazen heroics, his main theme especially catchy.

Avoid it... if the whole concept of building a score's core identities out of a series of four four-note phrases is too obvious and simplistic, especially once the team's name is chanted by the choir on the same four notes in a row.

FILMTRACKS EDITORIAL REVIEW:

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.  ****

TRACK LISTINGS:

Total Time: 82:07

• 1. The Fantastic Four: First Steps Main Theme Extended Version (4:10) • 2. Pregnancy Testing 1, 2, 3 (1:58) • 3. Fantastic Four, First Cue (5:34) • 4. Herald Today, Gone Tomorrow (3:48) • 5. Out to Launch (6:10) • 6. A Galactus Case of the Munchies (3:08) • 7. Bowel Before Me (3:08) • 8. The Light Speed of Your Life (3:43) • 9. Nothing Neutron Under the Sun (2:23) • 10. Starship Birth (5:07) • 11. Span-tastic Voyage (6:36) • 12. The Bridges of Silver Surfer County (1:34) • 13. A Mole in Your Plan (3:09) • 14. A Walk on the City (6:09) • 15. The Other Sue Drops (5:34) • 16. Don't Sue the Baby! (2:53) • 17. Without Further Adieu (1:24) • 18. Carseat Drivers (1:17) • 19. Fantastic Four to Be Reckoned With (2:28) • 20. The Galactus/Silver Surfer Suite (7:24) • 21. Tripping the Lights Fantastic (2:16) • 22. The Fantastic Four Power Hour (Cartoon Theme) (0:34) • 23. The Ted Gilbert Show* (0:40) • 24. Let Us Be Devoured (Studio Version)** (3:42) • 25. H.E.R.B.I.E.'s Lullaby*** (1:18)

NOTES & QUOTES:

There exists no official packaging for this album.

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