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Fantastic Four: Rise Of The Silver Surfer

(PG)

originally published June 20, 2007

As significant a Marvel Comics property as Spider-Man, The X-Men or The Hulk, The Fantastic Four - Mr. Fantastic/ Reed Richards (Ioan Gruffudd), The Invisible Woman/ Sue Storm (Jessica Alba), The Thing/ Ben Grimm (Michael Chiklis), and The Human Torch/ Johnny Storm (Chris Evans) - are deserving of better big-screen treatment than they’ve received. First, Roger Corman fired off an unreleased cheapie. Next, Fox cobbled together a so-so cast (all of whom return for the sequel), a slight director (Tim Story, who is back as well) and a whole lot of disrespect for Marvel’s first family for the foursome's 2005 outing. Fantastic Four treated the quartet - and most wastefully, their foe Dr. Doom (the woefully uncommanding Julian McMahon), the Marvel Universe’s undeniable ultimate supervillain - like two-dimensional pen-and-ink sketches, as opposed to the complete and complex characters created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby.

After a jokey opening that continues the tonal traditions of the first film, Silver Surfer dramatically improves upon its predecessor. Asked by the U.S. military to create a means of tracking and then capturing a strange, shiny space entity causing weird weather phenomena worldwide, The Fantastic Four must work together with a revived Victor Von Doom, knowing good and well the megalomaniac is up to no good, while a giant space funnel approaches Earth with plans for global decimation. That’s why the Silver Surfer (eloquently given voice by Laurence Fishburne, given form by Doug Jones) is here. He’s preparing the way for his master, Galactus (unfortunately, he’s not a giant man in purple and blue armor like he is in the comic).

Silver Surfer fixes a great deal that was wrong with the original (though Dr. Doom remains peevishly inconsequential). With the drawn-out origin out of the way, the Fantastic Four are allowed to jump right into action. Said action might all be put into motion by sitcom plot devices, but there’s a lot more of it and it’s better staged than in the 2005 adventure. While grasping the canonical love/ hate interplay between arrogant, immature Johnny and gruff Ben, the film lacks much regard for its central female, the extremely powerful Invisible Woman, reducing her to wedding jitters, another naked gag and a nosebleed after showing up her male teammates. All complaints about Sue - or any character besides Dr. Doom (that’s a travesty) - become invisible next to the blindingly perfect Silver Surfer. A CGI character as impressive as the Hulk and King Kong (a real feat considering how chintzy the elastic Mr. Fantastic appears), the Surfer pontificates less on the screen than on the page - a man of actions as opposed to words plays better cinematically - but that’s a minor complaint considering how coolly the character has been envisaged (a contagion that the movie catches). Somehow left off the superhero A-list, The Fantastic Four, thanks to the Silver Surfer, have at least achieved the summit of the B- and C-listers to which they have been so unfairly consigned.

Drew Wheeler