The first Fantastic Four film was disappointing, no doubt. But even though it wasn’t a very good movie, it had the strange effect of still making me enjoy it a little bit. Yes there was some bad acting, terrible dialog and loads of cheese… but it was also kinda funny in places and had its charm. Still… a film that should have been much better.
So here comes along Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer. The trailers have looked pretty good, having the Surfer is good… but the whole “Is or is not Galactus a frigging Storm Cloud in the movie?” question has been hounding this movie like a bad PR nightmare. So with mild expectations off I went to see it.
THE GOOD
One of the things I appreciated about the the first Fantastic Four was that it didn’t try to be X-Men or Batman. This is NOT a “dark” movie. They set out to make a lighter hearted comic book movie, and they at least did that part right. The first 20 minutes or so of this film capture that pretty well too. The film is light, doesn’t take itself seriously at all and seems quite content to be just a fun, non-serious comic flick.
The Silver Surfer was a big point of apprehension for me when I first heard he was going to be in the film. I thought for sure he would end up looking like a cheesy silver dude with a surfboard. How on earth do you make that look cool in a live action film? Well… they did it. Hats off to them, Surfer looked totally fantastic in both his pumped up super mode… and his powered down mode (if you’ve seen the film you know what I’m talking about.
Sadly, that’s all for the good… now on with…
THE BAD
How the hell do you have a movie called “Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer”, and then have such a small amount of the Silver Surfer in the movie at all?!?!?! As a matter of fact… get this…. SILVER SURFER DOESN’T EVEN HAVE ANY FIGHTS IN THE FILM! He never throws down with the Fantastic Four, he takes one shot at Doom, and then just dodges some missiles. So yeah… a movie called “Rise of the Silver Surfer” has the Silver Surfer with about 15 minutes of screen time with ZERO fights. All he does in the movie is go around digging pot holes for Galactus! LAME LAME LAME LAME!
This one is so absurd my head literally started to shake just now while thinking about it. If you’re going to have a comic book movie… DON’T SPEND MORE TIME ON WEDDING PROBLEMS THAN YOU DO ON ACTION!!! You wanna know what the BIGGEST and longest action sequence is in the entire movie is??? You wanna know what the big fight was in the film? Are you ready for this? The Fantastic Four vs. a giant falling Ferris Wheel! Yes, you read that right. The big main action set piece in this film was The Fantastic Four vs a Ferris Wheel. Do I really need to say any more?
As mentioned earlier, one of the main things that made the first Fantastic Four film watchable to me was the silly charm and humor. That was sorrily missing from this film. Their idea of a fun charming funny scene? Mr. Fantastic dancing at a night club while getting all stretchy. I was so embarrassed for the movie at this point that I had to cover my eyes.
Let’s not forget about Galactus. YES, he was indeed a giant galactic storm cloud. Not just hiding in a storm cloud… he is a storm cloud. Now granted, the effects of the storm cloud in question looked pretty cool… but LOOKING cool wasn’t the problem. He was a storm cloud. I’m all for letting directors make some creative changes with characters. Use a brown haired guy to play a blonde superhero. Change costumes. Alter the looks… I’m totally ok with that stuff if it works. But to change a character from a regular looking human character (for all intents and purposes) into a gaseous entity is pushing that way too far. I have several FF fan friends who were just livid.
OVER ALL
The lighthearted nature of the film along with some decent effects with the surfer and a mercifully 91 minute running time, makes Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, the best comic book film of the summer so far. But this summer… that’s not saying much. This is a terrible movie, and unlike what most other people are saying, I think this film was a huge step backwards for the franchise. Little Silver Surfer with no fights at all… the Fantastic Four vs. a Ferris Wheel… a supposedly “main character” that just digs pot holes… no humor or charm that the first one had… all leaves Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer a regrettable theater going experience. Over all, I’m giving the film a 3 out of 10.
