Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (POSSIBLE SPOILERS)

Let me give you a little bit of my background on the Fantasic Four. I'm a decent fan of the comics. Truthfully, they have never really fascinated me when I read them on their own but I have really liked them in other people's comics (mainly Spider-Man's). The movie? Well, frankly, I disliked the first one... a lot. It was juvenile and it was bad performances across the board, and really terrible CGI on the part of Mr. Fantastic. BUT I was very excited for this movie for one reason and one reason only: the Surfer. The Surfer is such a great character and with the first teaser trailer that was released a while back, god damn, I was excited. So how did this stack up? Was the Surfer everything I wanted him to be? Did it improve on the original?

The story is fairly simple. With the opening shot of a planet being devoured by a giant cosmic dust cloud, we are introduced to Galactus. We don't know much, but we know he devours planets, but before he does that he sends his herald to prepare the planet. His herald you ask? None other than the Silver Surfer. The government finds out about this strange being when massive craters begin to form around the world. So they enlist the help of the Fantastic Four to help stop the Silver Surfer and save the world. All the while, Sue Storm wants to just get married and Johnny, after his first encounter with the surfer, switches powers with whichever of the Four he touches causing many complications. There are problems with the story though as it unfolds. Different plot points that could be used to be great set pieces, just don't turn out to pay off in the end.

Well, one thing that this improves on the first is the performances. Chris Evans is very good as Johnny in my opinion and is the single best out of the Four. He is cocky and knows that he is a celebrity, just like in the comics, but he pulls through when people need him. When he steps up to the big challenge that faces him, he does it with more maturity and understanding that any other in the four. Julian McMahon turns in a performance as Victor Von Doom that I was very pleased with this time. He is in the castle and he is using politics to get his way this time, just like the Doom we all know and love. He is very villiany, and sometimes it gets to the point where I'm expecting in to start playing with a handlebar moustache, but for the most part very fun to watch him come into the character. Alba has definately improved in the role from what, in the first, I considered to be a terrible choice for Sue, she now feels like she finally realized that Sue just wants to help people and not have a big showy life, but there are still way too many extremely stale lines that she delievers to call this "good." Michael Chicklis, you know, I feel that if they gave him proper dialouge, Chicklis could be a GREAT, not just good, but GREAT Thing, but they make everything with a joke. Even to the point of pulling a Mallrats-esque joke on his behalf. The Thing is a great character in the comic books, and frankly, the writers treat him like shit. Ioan Gruffudd... he has no clue what he is doing as Mr. Fantastic. It is sad to watch him deliver one stale life after another. There is not one moment he is believable in the movie. Sadly, because he is already established, they will not replace him in the 3rd movie.

The effects in this movie, except for the Surfer, feel a bit weak to me. There is one battle near the end between Johnny and Doom that could have been incredible. It could have been one of the coolest moments dedicated to film, but because of the cheezy look of it all it seems to not be able to achieve the spectacle it was hoping for. And, as before, the stretching Mr. Fantastic looks very cheesy.

And what about The Silver Surfer you ask? The sole reason I saw this movie, truthfully? He is incredible. Every moment he was on screen, I was absorbed. He was exactly how he was in the comics, stoic, brave, and with a sence of duty. This was what all the animators spent their time on in the movie, and damn does it pay off. When he is on his board he is shiney and looks entirely like he was covered in metal. Doug Jones brought the body to life perfectly and capture so many nuances and great looks. Even Lawerence Fishbourne, the voice of the Silver Surfer, who I was very skeptical about at first, was great. There was not one thing wrong about the Silver Surfer and I cannot wait for the Silver Surfer movie.

As for Galactus? They pulled him off the best way they could. Do we see the big purple guy with horns? Nope, but we do see the shadow of that. I feel that Galactus, while great on paper, would have looked extremely cheesy if brought to life the way he was depicted in the comics. Here they make him more like a god, a force of nature. Fans who want to see that Galactus, I'm sorry, you are going to be disappointed (and very disappointed with how they end his thread of the story).

Over all, this movie is much better than the first, in my opinion. The performances have gotten stronger, the action has gotten bigger, and there is no silly love triangle, but with all these improvements it just doesn't reach to a very memorable movie. I would see it if I had 5 bucks and had not seen Knocked Up and Ocean's 13 (which are still in theaters, and are both very good).