Excelsior!
Written: Oct 11 '07
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Product Rating:
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| Bang For The Buck |
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Pros: steady well-paced action, plenty of visual treats and amusing moments
Cons: not as deep, or with enough character development as some would like
The Bottom Line: It's an Action/Adventure film, don't expect involved plots and serious character development. This is pure good for the whole family fun!
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| QuinnElaine's Full Review: Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer |
This sequel to the first Fantastic Four film has not been met with great enthusiasm, which puzzles me. Here, a silver humanoid figure on what appears to be a surfboard begins appearing all over the world and wreaking havoc. When the Silver Surfer interrupts Reed and Sue's most recent attempt to complete a wedding ceremony, Johnny aka Human Torch flies off in hot pursuit. Coming in contact with this alien being makes Johnny's powers unstable and exchangeable with the other Fantastics by simple touch!
Ultimately, it is revealed that the Surfer is the reluctant Herald to a being known as Galactus, the Eater of Worlds. Recalling his own people through the grace of the Thing's blind girlfriend, the Surfer decides to help our people save the Earth from the ever-hungry Galactus. But the Surfer's escapades also inadvertently released Victor Von Doom and the wicked Doctor is determined to steal the Surfer's Power Cosmic and use it to rule the world.
At 92 minutes, this is not a long or involved film. People have complained of corny lines, simplistic plot, and a disappointment with the portrayal of Galactus. I'd like to address these points. Once again, I think the majority of viewers have not truly understood the type of film they are seeing here. This is an action film based on comic book characters. The Fantastic Four comics were the cornerstone of the Marvel company. It was always full of cheesy lines and never really delved deeply into its characters. This was, in fact, part of its appeal. It left angst to Spiderman, and involved plots or deeper characters to comics like X-men.
The Fantastic 4 was about the compromise and sacrifice needed to forge good teamwork, finding empowerment through acceptance of self, adventure, and putting the good of society before personal needs while still acknowledging and fulfilling those personal requirements. Both films have more than adequately kept to these traditions while still retain the individuality of the main characters and presenting audiences with truly enjoyable action. I was thrilled with the non-stop action that flows through this film. It was fun, fast, entertaining and visually slick. I, for one, have not been disappointed with the presentation of the Fantastic Four films.
Galactus was not truly revealed in this film, and I suspect that they just might be saving his real unveiling for the final film. Comic fans will remember that Galactus was seen initially as a strange storm, and I have to admit that when we first see him as the big purple-helmeted giant... it's rather anti-climactic anyway. I could never watch Galactus in the cartoons without thinking, "He eats worlds and is all powerful, but still chooses to wear that dorky hat?!" I was surprised more people haven't commented on the introduction of Captain Frankie Raye. Her low-key entrance as a minor character primarily as a love interest for Johnny is really what has me suspecting that they will be bringing Galactus back in the 3rd film for his real unveiling.
Again, comic fans will remember that the Eater of Worlds put in more than one appearance here at Earth, and Frankie plays a bigger part later on. If this is how it plays out, wouldn't it have been a huge disappointment if they stripped away the mystery of Galactus' true appearance in this film? Frankie, like the film itself, is much more than meets the eye. Has everyone forgotten that the second film in a trilogy is always the least complete because it is a transition period?
Personally, I was thrilled with how neatly everything was presented in "The Rise of the Silver Surfer", and am looking eagerly forward to the conclusion of this trilogy. After all, now that Ben has come to terms with himself, Johnny is showing signs of growing up, and Sue and Reed finally got that wedding out of the way, what else could possibly go wrong?
Extras:
The single disc DVD gives us wide or full screen options and two simple commentaries. The 2 disc Power Cosmic edition is where all the real extras are found. The two commentaries cover the influence of certain books on the film, production decisions, various bits of behind the scenes trivium, but neither are particularly gripping. In the Deleted scenes section, I was actually quite surprised that there weren't more leftover bits. An alternate opening, some amusing scenes of Torch and Thing trying to get the wedding off the ground, and an interesting look at how the 4 fund themselves now.
Johnny was the marketer of the Fantastic Four as shown even in the first film with his proto-type action figures and insistence on a logo. Here we see the wealth of Fantastic merchandise that greases the groups wheels and pays their bills. This type of blatant commercialism that is consistently pushed upon audiences in real life to an appalling and sickening extent was likely too off-putting to include in the film. It is an eerie reminder to audiences though.
"Family Bonds: The Making of Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer " is pretty standard and mildly interesting. Stan Lee's candid charm is the real plus in this extra. I know he'd like to have a bigger role in these Marvel films, and if filmmakers don't want him in the films themselves, they ought to consider giving him a segment in the extras where he can talk about what that particular comic and its characters meant to him. Fans would eat it up, and Stan would have a great time.
"Interactive Fantasticar" is basically just a slide show of concept art for the 4's trademark vehicle. Interesting to die-hard fans but not a sensational extra. "The Fantasticar: State of the Art: shows us the evolution of their flying car and expands on the "Interactive" extra a little, but again not a huge asset. In "The Power Cosmic" the Visual Effects chief, John Kilkenny, discusses the special effects throughout the film. He expounds on the various issues that were tossed about in attempting to bring the Surfer to life, the trouble they had in making Reed's powers appear natural and believable. The FX of a film like this are always of interest to me and I really found this to be one of the star features in the Extras section.
"Sentinel of the Spaceways: Comic Book Origins of the Silver Surfer" is an in-depth look at that characters history and development in the comics. There were plenty of contributions from the majority of people who have worked on the Surfer over time, and this is exactly the sort of extra that will inspire myself, and other comic fans, into purchasing this Power Cosmic edition.
"Character Design with Spectral Motion: primarily discusses costuming and is likely to be of interest only to those who are truly interested in the topic. "Scoring the Fantastic" is time spent with the composer, John Ottman, and orchestra. Again, only of interest to those fans of film scores. "Stills Galleries" include a Behind the Scenes section which shows candid shots of the actors, Characters which are just film stills, and Concept Art. While nicely put together, I never find such galleries to be particularly interesting. All in all, not a bad selection if rather bland overall.
Final Thoughts:
It's a fantasy action/adventure, people, not timeless literature put on film. Entertaining and visually pleasing with excellent action pacing, I loved it! I'm still a bit uncertain how well I like Alba as Sue Richards, but the casting of the remaining 3, along with the delightfully wicked Dr. Doom is a real treat. I suppose it is a testament to the X-men comics how popular those films were considering how butchered they were from their original storylines. The Fantastic 4 has been handled much better though, and for all their popularity as a comic and then a cartoon, audiences seem less accepting of these excellent action films. Enjoy it for the action-packed fantastical adventure that it is, and you won't be disappointed. At $14.99 on Amazon, this is a Fantastic offering!
Recommended:
Yes
Movie Mood: Action Movie
Viewing Method: Other
Film Completeness: A few glitches, but mostly complete.
Worst Part of this Film: Duration
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Epinions.com ID:
QuinnElaine
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Member: Quinn
Location: Pgh, Pa
Reviews written: 198
Trusted by: 66 members
About Me:
“God is a comedian, playing to an audience too afraid to laugh.” ~Voltaire
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