Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer Review
by [email protected] (dnb AT dca DOT net)July 11th, 2007
FANTASTIC FOUR: RISE OF THE SILVER SURFER
A film review by David N. Butterworth
Copyright 2007 David N. Butterworth
**1/2 (out of ****)
With the X-Men standing for the last time (one can but hope), Spidey crossing over to the dark side, Batman nowhere to be seen, and the Powerpuff Girls now likely Powerpuff moms too distracted by after-school activities, which superhero are y'gonna call when the fate of the earth lies precipitously in the balance?
Not simply one superhero but four: the Fantastic Four.
"Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer" is a follow-up to the agreeable (if not exactly fantastic) "Fantastic Four" from 2005. That film introduced us to the latest crime-fighting, world-saving superheroes culled from the pages of "Marvel" comics, a quartet of scientists cum space engineers exposed to the out-of-this-worldly terrors of cosmic radiation, bestowing them with superhuman powers.
Team leader Reed Richards aka Mr. Fantastic (Ioan Gruffud) can bend, stretch, and otherwise manipulate his body into mind-boggling contortions; Sue Storm aka Invisible Woman (Jessica Alba) can disappear at will, and entertain some pretty forceful force fields; Sue's hothead brother Johnny Storm aka The Human Torch (Chris Evans) can spontaneously combust, not to mention fly at warp speeds; and Ben Grimm aka The Thing (Michael Chiklis) possesses incredible strength on account of the fact that he's mostly a rock.
'Four purists (which I don't profess to be) didn't much care for the first film. It wasn't dark enough; too lighthearted and sacrilegiously goofy. Having few if any expectations I myself quite enjoyed it, being surprised by its family-friendly tone--milder language than most PG-13 films and (mostly) non-graphic violence. If anything FF2 (rated PG) is even tamer, with only a smattering of hells and goddamns and plenty of good-natured humor courtesy Chiklis's one-liners (intentional) and Alba's bizarre make-up and outlandish hairstyles (less so).
On the day of Reed and Sue's wedding, an event that supercedes almost all of the day's more serious newscasts, anomalous weather conditions start occurring around the globe--the sea freezes off the coast of Japan, for example, and snow settles on Giza's Sphinx and the Pyramids. The cause? An interplanetary traveler, a Silver Surfer (voice of Laurence Fishburne), careens through the stratosphere on his metallic mercury surfboard, heralding the arrival of an even greater threat to humankind, the planet-devouring colossus known as Galactus. And as if that isn't enough the Four's arch nemesis Victor Von Doom (Julian McMahon), last seen in a weigh station in Latveria (?), also angles to get his oar in somehow.
If nothing else the film is well cast: Gruffud exudes a rubbery charm as Reed (and acquits himself admirably after his mawkish turn in "102 Dalmations," in which he was upstaged by an obnoxious macaw), Evans is all flash and ego as Johnny, and Chiklis shows plenty of heart under all those prosthetics. Alba's too young to play Sue Storm but she gives the role her best shot and doesn't embarrass herself too much. That, plus the screenplay's neither particular taxing nor overlong.
In short, if you're looking for some air-conditioned family fun involving surfing (but sans penguins) then "Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer" should certainly suffice.
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David N. Butterworth
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