Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer
Directed by: Tim Story
Written by: Don Payne, Mark Frost
Starring: Ioan Gruffudd, Jessica Alba, Chris Evans, Michael Chiklis, Julian McMahon, Laurence Fishburne (voice)

If Spider-Man 3 was the most highly anticipated comic book movie of the year, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer may have been the one that people had the most morbid curiosity about. Could it actually turn out worse than the first one? And if so, how is it possible that they managed to make it look so damn good in the trailers? Well, here’s the thing: the first Fantastic Four movie got a bit of a bad rap in my opinion, slogged off as being too “cheesy” and “kiddie” for the “serious” and “adult” comic book-reading masses. Am I the only one who sees something wrong with this picture? Haven’t we started to lose touch with what a comic book movie should be? Not every superhero needs to lead a complicated life and nurture a wounded psyche. Clearly I am in the minority for thinking this, although that didn’t stop the first movie from doing quite well at the box office. And yet, I was a bit concerned that Marvel would try to respond to the criticisms and get all dark and heavy time this time around. Well, I am happy to report that they stuck to their guns, for better or worse.

The movie picks up with Reed Richards and Sue Storm planning a high-profile wedding extravaganza, just as strange weather anomalies start popping up around the globe. The U.S. military asks Richards to build a sensor that can help pinpoint the source of the disturbances, and wouldn’t you know it, right in the middle of their wedding ceremony they get their answer… a mysterious silver stranger streaks through the sky right in front of them, forcing Johnny Storm to yell “Flame On!” and give chase. Eventually they learn that he serves a higher power known as Galactus, Devourer of Worlds, and that the planet Earth is next on his menu.

Make no mistake, this is a popcorn movie in every sense of the word. The special effects were quite impressive… in particular I thought the Silver Surfer looked amazing, and this was one of my biggest question marks coming in. It seemed like they took some shortcuts with Mr. Fantastic’s stretchy limbs at times, but other than that, everything looked great from a technical level.

I also thought the tone was exactly where it needed to be… mostly goofy and light-hearted, but not to the point of becoming a downright parody. It could still stand to be a bit funnier I think, and that is one of the things holding this franchise back from becoming a classic in its own right. However, I really enjoy the whole “superheroes as celebrity” schtick they have going on, and little things like Brian Posehn’s brief appearance as their wedding minister show that they have the right idea, even if they don’t always deliver solid laughs. Chris Evans is not as obnoxious this time around, although he is still arrogant, and Stan Lee’s cameo is appropriately corny.

One thing I will say is that it did feel noticeably sanitized to play for a younger audience; a good example is when Johnny is planning a bachelor party for Reed and he is given the explicit instructions, “No exotic dancers!” I mean, who actually calls a stripper an exotic dancer nowadays? But these kinds of innocent moments reminded me that the Fantastic Four were born out of the campy 60’s era comics, and I was okay with it.

When it comes to fanboy nitpicking, I have to say that I don’t really agree with most of the complaints I’ve been hearing. The biggest outcry has been concerning the portrayal of Galactus as a “storm cloud”, instead of a giant humanoid with purple armour. This doesn’t seem nearly as stupid when you see it on screen as some would have you believe; they essentially turned him into Unicron from the Transformers, who we all know is pretty bad ass. Some people have said that the Surfer and Dr. Doom do not get enough screen time, and while I will agree that Dr. Doom seems like a bit of an afterthought, I felt there was more than enough Surfer to go around. Let’s be honest, he’s kind of a one-trick pony, and I liked that they kept him as a man of few words and played up the mystery surrounding him. Laurence Fishburne did a surprisingly good job as the voice of the Silver Surfer, steering clear of sounding too much like Morpheus with the exception of the line, “All that you know is at an end”.

My only real complaint about this movie (and it isn’t necessarily a trivial one) is that the action scenes lacked a certain sense of urgency and danger. I think the blame for this has to fall on the shoulders of director Tim Story, who came from working on comedies like Taxi and Barbershop. On paper I think there were an adequate number of big action sequences, but in the movie they end up feeling rather short and uninvolving. They also felt strangely small scale at times too; the ferris wheel scene, for instance, should have been gripping with so many innocent lives at stake, but when it’s over all we see is a single family re-united with their kid. Also, with Galactus being a world devourer and all, they could have really played up the world catastrophe angle a lot more, but we never really see anything from a global perspective. By far the most fun comes from the Human Torch/Silver Surfer chase scene, which was slightly less spectacular since we had seen almost all of it in the trailer for the movie.

I do think in a lot of ways that Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer surpasses its predecessor, but there’s no disguising the fact that it’s still pretty fluffy, middle of the road stuff. With all the bloated blockbusters we’ve been seeing lately, this is a nice change of pace in my opinion, although others will disagree I’m sure. Longtime fans who take their comics seriously will probably find plenty to dislike, but I got exactly what I was expecting — my money’s worth. If you’re looking for deep storylines and complex characterization, you won’t find it here, but all in all it’s an entertaining summer flick. — Sean

SCORE:

Recommended If You Like: Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, Thunderbirds

Around the Web: