Average Four, Fantastic Surfer
Finally saw Fantastic Four Rise of the Silver Surfer (I had a free ticket). It was pretty much the same as the first movie - boring in parts, exciting and funny in others and silly all the way through.
For fans of the Marvel comic, there were things to enjoy and things to get mad about. The Silver Surfer is awesome - undoubtedly the most successful part of the movie. Doug Jones (who has specialised in playing unusual, thin characters in everything from Buffy to Hellboy) provides the body when he's not a CG effect and Laurence Fishburne is the voice (which did make me think of Morpheus in The Matrix a little too often). We even get to feel all ET over the Surfer when the bad government men experiment on him.
The coolness of the Surfer just shows up how weak the other characters are. As in the first film, the Human Torch and The Thing fare best, with their bickering banter recalling the comics. Sue Storm's character is as immaterial as her invisibility power, though Jessica Alba is game for anything, and Mr Fantastic is as goofy as his name (the stretch effects still look cartoony). Dr Doom returns, but unfortunately he once again becomes the bland Julian McMahon rather than the Darth Vaderesque villain he should be.
Comic book fans were up in arms when they learned the humanoid Galactus would become a big cloud, but it worked better than I expected. The conclusion nicely wraps up the story while leaving the possibility for Galactus and his herald to return. Johnny Storm also gets all the powers of the group briefly (like the Super Skrull) though it's never explained how since earlier he could just switch powers with the group after contact with the Surfer. The highlight of the action scenes, though, has to be when the London Eye wheel almost gets destroyed.
Overall, it's not going to join the ranks of the best superhero movies, but it's worth catching at a cheap matinée.
For fans of the Marvel comic, there were things to enjoy and things to get mad about. The Silver Surfer is awesome - undoubtedly the most successful part of the movie. Doug Jones (who has specialised in playing unusual, thin characters in everything from Buffy to Hellboy) provides the body when he's not a CG effect and Laurence Fishburne is the voice (which did make me think of Morpheus in The Matrix a little too often). We even get to feel all ET over the Surfer when the bad government men experiment on him.
The coolness of the Surfer just shows up how weak the other characters are. As in the first film, the Human Torch and The Thing fare best, with their bickering banter recalling the comics. Sue Storm's character is as immaterial as her invisibility power, though Jessica Alba is game for anything, and Mr Fantastic is as goofy as his name (the stretch effects still look cartoony). Dr Doom returns, but unfortunately he once again becomes the bland Julian McMahon rather than the Darth Vaderesque villain he should be.
Comic book fans were up in arms when they learned the humanoid Galactus would become a big cloud, but it worked better than I expected. The conclusion nicely wraps up the story while leaving the possibility for Galactus and his herald to return. Johnny Storm also gets all the powers of the group briefly (like the Super Skrull) though it's never explained how since earlier he could just switch powers with the group after contact with the Surfer. The highlight of the action scenes, though, has to be when the London Eye wheel almost gets destroyed.
Overall, it's not going to join the ranks of the best superhero movies, but it's worth catching at a cheap matinée.
posted by A.S. McDermott at 3:01 PM
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