zBoneman.com -- Home Movie Reviews

Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007)

Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer
"Blowing through the atmospheres in these little podunk planets is really starting to burn my ass. If there's a sequel I'm getting a damn ship."
Watch The Trailer!

Directed By:

Tim Story

Starring:

Ioan Gruffudd
Jessica Alba
Chris Evans
Michael Chiklis

Released By:

20th Century Fox

Released In:

2007

Rated:

PG

Reviewed By:

Adam Mast

Reviewed On:

Tue Jun 19th, 2007

Grade:

C+


Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer isn't a bad movie. That's probably the best compliment this sequel can be paid, particularly given how truly awful the first installment was. In this continuation, some things certainly remain the same. The dialogue is still pretty inane, the gorgeous Jessica Alba still can't act, and much of the humor is enough to make one's eyes roll back into their head for good.

Having said this though, Rise of the Silver Surfer emerges as much stronger entertainment than its predecessor. Why? Well, for me, much of it boils down to expectation. You see, expectations are a two way street. If you're too excited for a film (as I was for Spider-Man 3) you're bound to be disappointed. However, if you're convinced that a film is going to be a steaming pile of dog shit, quite often, it's not as bad as you thought it was going to be. Such is the case here.

In Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, our fearless heroes have now adjusted to a life of celebrity. They've accepted their place in this world. As characters, they're still pretty much the same. Beautiful Sue Storm (Jessica Alba) is still madly in love with science geek Reed Richards (Ioan Gruffudd) while cocky Johnny Storm (Chris Evans) and bulky Ben Grimm (Michael Chiklis) still very much enjoy insulting one another.

As Sue and Reed finally plan on taking their vows, their big moment of happiness is cut short when an unexpected power outage puts a stop to their wedding. This outage is caused by a strange alien life form that Reed ultimately deems the Silver Surfer.

This sleek, silver colored humanoid (his appearance might remind one of the T-1000 in Terminator 2) blazes from one planet to the next, by means of a lightning quick silver flying apparatus that resembles a surf board. Hence the name. His motivations are unknown, but his arrival causes havoc across the globe. The Fantastic Four immediately spring into action so that they might put a stop to the Silver Surfer, and during their mission, they are brought face to face will old foe, Victor Von Doom (Julian McMahon).

Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer is hardly a masterpiece. It still doesn't meet the bar set by other recent super hero epics (i.e. Batman Begins and Superman Returns) but it is light on its feet and brimming with eye popping effects. And in fact, the visuals are much stronger this time around (save for Mr. Fantastic's lame stretchy effects). The Silver Surfer is a marvelous CG creation (performed by Pan's Labyrinth's Doug Jones and voiced by Laurence Fishburne).

Rise of the Silver Surfer clocks in at a minuscule ninety minutes, so don't expect much depth (the way Von Doom is reintroduced is virtually nonsensical, and the Silver Surfer, while interesting, is certainly shortchanged in terms of character development). For whatever reason, most of this summer's big tent pole releases can't seem to find a happy medium. They're either overstuffed (Spider-Man 3), overly long (Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End) or, in this case, underdeveloped. Still, I prefer this to the likes of Ghost Rider.

Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer was directed by Tim Story, and while this film maker clearly has a fondness for these characters, I still don't think he was the right man for the job. This franchise should have been painted on a much larger canvas, and Story doesn't quite have the chops to deliver a movie on this kind of scale. Still, this is a flick you can take the whole family to see (rare in this day and age), and in the end, it's an improvement over the first film.

:: zBoneman.com Reader Comments ::

Add your own comment here and see it posted immediately!