June 17, 2007 -- “Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer” is a movie that is entertaining enough to earn a passing grade, but it could have been a lot better than it is. It suffers from some disappointing special effects, bad acting, bad dialogue and other problems. What it has going for it is a fairly good story, some rousing action scenes, a little bit of comedy and the enigmatic new character of the Silver Surfer, an animated construct who is more interesting than most of the live action characters in the movie.

As in the first Fantastic Four film, based on the Marvel comic books of the same name, the best character among the foursome is Johnny Storm (played by Chris Evans). In the first film, he seemed to be the only member of the foursome who was actually having any fun in that movie. In this film, he gets a little more serious, but he is still the only character with an extra dimension. The invisible woman (played by Jessica Alba) is a fairly wooden character, who only shows emotion when she is accidentally turned into a human torch, that is, when she is turned into an animated character. The Thing (played by Michael Chiklis of “The Shield” TV series) gets to show his human side briefly in this film, and to escape, for a short time, from the obscuring makeup he otherwise wears. Reed Richards, (played by Ioan Gruffudd), shows some signs of life in the film. He was as stiff as a mannequin in the first one.

The most interesting character in the film is the Silver Surfer, an animated character (the voice is supplied by veteran actor Laurence Fishburne of “The Matrix”). The Silver Surfer is enigmatic, with conflicting actions and emotions. The Silver Surfer would be a great poker player with his expressionless face, another thing that makes him enigmatic. In this film, the Fantastic Four are pitted against two villains, the world-destroying Galactus and the evil Doctor Victor Von Doom, both of whom are causing a lot of trouble, along with the Silver Surfer. Galactus was a disappointing creation. It looks vaguely like a cloud. Dr. Doom also doesn't seem to have much personality. A better villain is needed. Oh, yeah, and Jessica Alba does have a nude scene in the film, but it is shot at an angle so you really can't see much. The Fantastic Four movies are not special enough to warrant seeing them immediately. They are decidedly below the level of the fine X-Men or Spider-Man movies. They are also below the level of “Daredevil” or “Hellboy.” Wait a few weeks until the movie trickles down to the cheap theaters. If you liked the first one, chances are you'll like this one too. It is more of the same, but a little bit better. This film rates a C+.

Click here for links to places to buy or rent this movie in video and/or DVD format, or to buy the soundtrack, posters, books, even used videos, games, electronics and lots of other stuff. I suggest you shop at least two of these places before buying anything. Prices seem to vary continuously. For more information on this film, click on this link to The Internet Movie Database. Type in the name of the movie in the search box and press enter. You will be able to find background information on the film, the actors, and links to much more information.

Copyright © 2007 Robert Roten. All rights reserved.
Reproduced with the permission of the copyright holder.

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