I found the first Fantastic Four film to be reasonably entertaining but nothing special. There was quite a bit of speculation that with the introduction of the Silver Surfer into this sequel that this would be a much more enjoyable outing. While the majority of people I've spoken to and reviews I've seen in various places seem to indicate this, for myself I had much the same reaction to it as the first movie - it was okay, I'm not sorry to have seen it but I probably wouldn't bother watching it again.

The plot runs along these lines: two of the Fantastic Four (originally astronauts endowed with special powers in a radiation blast while in space) are getting married, but there are worrying anomalous events around the globe that could really do with sorting out. The military are getting involved but lack the scientific know-how so turn to Reid, the nerdy super-boffin Reed Richards. Trying to handle his upcoming wedding day and building a scanner is tough, but he manages it - however, when the alien intruder is tracked down, there seems to be no way of containing him and annoying over-confident "Human Torch" Johnny Storm has worrying changes after his first encounter with the being. But the being they're pursuing may not be the actual main threat… and an old adversary becomes their unwilling ally in a battle to save earth itself.

It's not that the plot's particularly bad, and the film does have some good special effects and action sequences. The main trouble with it is, as with the first film, that the main characters are just so plain boring. First off we have Reed Richards, AKA "Mr Wonderful". Played by Ioan Gruffudd, the man has not an ounce of charisma, his superpower is… um… well… okay, it's stretching - which is hardly a great skill. He at least has a scene in this movie where he holds his own against a snotty military man, but he's still dreadfully dull. Then there's his fiancé Sue Storm - she can go invisible (again I ask, why have someone as attractive as Jessica Alba playing the role and then make her invisible?!??!) and create force fields. Okay, decent powers, but her performance is much like Halle Berry's as Storm in the X-Men movies - it just feels completely wrong, and the character quickly becomes annoying. Her brother, Johnny, is a cocky, arrogant, annoying twit who can turn into flame and fly - he shouts "flame on!" whenever he does this, presumably for the benefit of the denser members of the audience who might not work out what was going on otherwise. Chris Evans plays the character well I guess, it's just that the character is so annoying in the first place… Finally we have "The Thing", who is… well, he's a thing. Ben Grimm has turned into moving stone, or something like that. Michael Chiklis plays the character with a gravely voice and laconic manner. Think of him as being the Incredible Hulk without the greenness and not so angry.

With those four failing to create much genuine interest or excitement except in a very few scenes, it's down to the baddies or potential baddies to provide them. The Silver Surfer (played by Doug Jones, voiced by Laurence Fishbourne) is relatively interesting, though considering how long he doesn't actually speak there's not all that much character development, but at least there's an attempt. The main villain is kind of impossible to character develop as its… well, its not the sort of creature you could have a proper conversation with. The baddie who comes back is mildly interesting but that's it. The best thing about the bad guys (or at least those who seem at first to be bad guys) is the effects for the Silver Surfer, which are very well done. Of the other characters in the movie, Andre Braugher as General Hager huffed and puffed and shouted a bit, but in reality was there purely to give Mr Wonderful his big tough guy scene. Kerry Washington as Ben Grimm's girlfriend seems to become a bit of an oracle, putting forth wise views on all and sundry when there's a bit of a lull in the conversation. The love story between her and "The Thing" remains quite sweet however. There's a love interest for The Human Torch who is quite frankly pointless as far as the movie is concerned.

I found that the storyline was quite good but became too obvious or too abstract at critical points, or exhibited too many inconsistencies, to make up for the other shortcomings. It's really the original Fantastic Four that weren't all that interesting, and therefore we can hardly expect the films to be that interesting. I kind of enjoyed it, there was a lot of humour thrown in, about half of which worked, but Brian Posehn as the unfortunate Wedding Minister is very funny.

I'm not saying that Fantastic Four: The Rise of the Silver Surfer is a bad movie, it just fails to lift itself above average. I didn't really find it more than marginally better than the first movie - really only recommended highly to those who liked the first movie, and perhaps fans of the Silver Surfer in particular.

Other Information

Director: Tim Story
Runtime: 92 minutes
Rating: Rated PG for sequences of action violence, some mild language and innuendo.

Related Links

The Fantastic Four


Ioan Gruffudd was much, much better in Amazing Grace

My Top Ten Superhero Movies




Recommended: Yes

Movie Mood: Action Movie
Viewing Method: Other
Film Completeness: Looked complete to me.