Reviewed
by Lamar Kukuk
6/15/07
I can't
say I read a lot of Fantastic Four comics as a kid (The Avengers were my
Marvel Super-Team of choice), making it a lot easier for me to accept some
of the sillier, more sitcomish decisions director Tim Story made when bringing
The World's Greatest Comic Magazine to film in 2005. I liked that
cheerful, unpretentious superhero flick quite a bit, but I have to say
I was expecting to see less of Mr. Fantastic using his stretching powers
upon running out of toilet paper and more scope and gravity in a sequel.
And yes, that sequel, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer,
does pit the title heroes against galactic forces seeking to destroy the
Earth. But it struggles to put away childish things, and gets off
to a brutally slow start before kicking into gear. Like so many sequels,
it relies on residual goodwill and game performances by the returning cast
to sell material I wouldn't otherwise view so charitably.
The
Fantastic Four are a media sensation, and the wedding of Reed Richards
(Ioan Gruffudd, aka the shape-shifting Mr. Fantastic) and Sue Storm (Jessica
Alba, the Invisible Woman) is swarmed by media. Her brother Johnny
(Chris Evans, the flaming Human Torch) is obsessed with newfound fame and
money, while Ben Grimm (Michael Chiklis, the rock-like Thing) pursues a
relationship with his blind girlfriend Alicia (Kerry Washington).
There's stress among the team, with Sue feeling like she and Reed can never
truly be happy if they're not “normal”, but something bigger than their
interpersonal squabbling arises when a mysterious silver-plated man on
a flying surfboard (a CGI creation modeled after the body of Doug Jones
with the voice of Laurence Fishburne) arrives on Earth, leaving bizarre
phenomena (snowstorms in Egypt, rivers turned to stone) everywhere he goes.
Old rival General Hager (Andre Braugher) comes to Reed looking for help,
and he designs a system to track the “Silver Surfer”'s movements.
Further research finds that The Surfer has traveled the universe, and that
each planet he's visited has been destroyed by a malevolent cloud of energy
called Galactus. With the future of Earth at stake, could it be time
to accept help from their old foe Dr. Doom (Julian McMahon)?
You'd
better believe it, because before Victor arrives on the scene, the movie's
first half has been rough sledding. Focusing almost exclusively on
domestic turmoil and third-rate comic relief, Story seems to be literally
saving up money to cut loose in the 2nd half. Only Johnny's crazed
celebrity plays well among the team's problems (I loved the new super-suit
covered with sponsor's logos he wears for a while, although the movie never
gets around to explaining what happens to it), and a general lack of drama
or gravity hangs over the early part of the story. Take, for example,
a sequence where Johnny sets up a “bachelor party” for Reed at a club filled
with beautiful women, and Mr. Fantastic cuts loose showing off some super-powered
dance moves until Sue shows up with the General to “catch” him. Granted,
this would be a lame scene under any circumstances, but it's even worse
when she's only mad at him for a moment before teasing that her party was
much wilder. What, other than the fact that someone on the crew thought
a super-stretching dance scene would be cool, was the point? At least
if he'd danced with his fiance instead of extras, it might have been romantic.
Meanwhile,
the much-ballyhooed Silver Surfer is hanging around, looking snazzy but
failing to generate much drama or interest. Fishburne only gets about
a dozen lines in the movie, most of them late in the game, and he never
emerges as much of a character. Galactus will almost certainly disappoint
comic fans who remember him as a giant man in a big purple hat, but I kinda
liked the unthinkably huge, scary cloud of doom, particularly after the
movie opens with a stark demonstration of exactly how a world is eaten.
But he's too large, too distant, and too alien to provide villainy, just
menace.
And
that, finally, is where McMahon arrives to save the day. Delightfully
evil for evil's sake, swishing his diabolical lines around his mouth like
a fine wine, Dr. Doom finally lights a fire under this adventure, and the
last 45 minutes are both fast-paced and exciting. Maybe they're not
entirely logical (note how the characters talk about and react to the news
that the universe if full of worlds with people on them as though this
was something everyone already knew), and the stars end up taking an excessively
passive role in their own climax, but there's enough real superhero action
in play to keep me happy. And yes, the Fantasticar is pretty damn
nifty.
The
cast is all game once again, but not everyone gets the best material.
Once again, Ioan Gruffudd is a real find as Mr. Fantastic, in my mind second
only to Christopher Reeves' iconic Superman performance in his ability
to summon the pure square-jawed virtue we expect of a comic book hero.
Saddled with the lion's share of the complaining and selfishness, Alba's
Sue isn't as much fun this time around (and were her blue contact lenses
as glaringly fake the last time around?), but her action chops can't be
denied. It's also nice once in a while to see a movie where the love
interest learns that maybe saving the entire freakin' world is more
important than her wedding day (which, after all, is gonna be ruined anyway
if the world ends). Evans is delightful as the transcendently cocky
Human Torch. Chiklis once again disappears amazingly into the Thing
makeup/suit, but the film can't quite find the character's balance:
he seems to have completely gotten over his horror at being made out of
rock, but remains prone to getting really upset about minor slights as
though he's got a reputation to uphold. Braugher's always a great
guy to have around, and have I mentioned that I really love Julian McMahon?
Fantastic
Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer is another disappointing sequel
in a summer that's thus far been full of them, but it does manage to entertain.
Ironically far too long at a trim 92 minutes, it leaves a better taste
by distilling pretty much all of its' pointless idiocy into the first half
and all the action and excitement into the last. But all the hype
and work put into the Silver Surfer is a waste, and, if there's to be a
FF3, maybe we could leave the idiocy aside altogether. Story has
done a good job creating a cinematicly viable Fantastic Four, but perhaps
its' time for him to step aside so another director can take them on journeys
more fitting of the characters place in comic book lore. |
