Film Review: Fantastic Four: the Rise of the Silver Surfer
It’s hard to believe but Fantastic Four: The Rise of the Silver Surfer is a vast improvement over the first film, whose tone was uneven bordering on childish with several scenes that definitely should’ve been left on the cutting room floor. With the new film director Tim Story returns and he delivers a much more satisfying film. Being a former fan of the comics bringing in the Silver Surfer was a bold yet wise move. The franchise could’ve gone in many different ways but to allow the new film to overshadow the previous film, which was not well received, the franchise had to do something big and aside from rearing the ugly mug of The Watcher the Silver Surfer is the biggest thing to come to the pages of the Fantastic Four.
The Silver Surfer does not disappoint, as he is one of the most visually stunning characters in the franchise thus far. Several additions to just what the character can do also make for at interesting character and like in the comic books he is a man of few words but lots of action. He is definitely a character worth his own film.
The entire cast returns (Ioan Gruffudd, Jessica Alba, Chris Evans, and Michael Chiklis) includes arch villain Victor Von Doom (Julian McMahon) as it is Mr. Fantastic and Invisible Woman’s high profile wedding day that sees it interrupted by the arrival of the other-worldly Silver Surfer who is preparing the Earth to be devoured planetary killer Galatus within eight days. There is little time for pleasantries as much of the film goes by at a fast pace of an escalating story (the film runs under 90 minutes), which is basic and not complex at all. The humor in this film is well placed and never forced (unlike in the previous film) keeping in tone with the way the comic books original were.
The visual effects are a vast improvement over the previous film although they still need to do a little more work on Mr. Fantastic as the sequence at his bachelor party looked real rough and incomplete. Other than that, Rise of the Silver Surfer was an improvement even though there is still a little ways to go for a truly great Fantastic Four film.
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