Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007)

Fantastic Four was a successful movie at the box office.  This was long before superhero fatigue and before the movies became so expensive and bloated that it was difficult for even the best of them to earn their money back.  This didn't mean it was a good movie.  Julian McMahon was good as Dr. Doom and Michael Chiklis as Ben Grimm, but the rest of the cast ranged from just there to insufferable.  The story was also quite hollow, even for an origin story.

Still, financial success, regardless of quality, pretty much guarantees a sequel.  In this case the decision was made to add one of the more popular antagonists, the Silver Surfer, and the ultimate boss villain in the world-eating Galactus.  By all accounts this should have made up for the problems with the first, as usually a second movie of this type sees the ensemble cast gel, and including a villain fans want to see helps.  However, this was the 2000s, which meant everyone involved would find a way to mess it up.

Reed Richards (Ioan Gruffudd) and Susan Storm (Jessica Alba) are getting ready to tie the knot despite the fact that Richards is often buried in his science experiments and being a superhero.  The wedding is a media circus due to Johnny (Chris Evans) making it so, and Ben is enjoying his new relationship with Alicia (Kerry Washington).  It is at this point that a number of strange anomalies begin to occur around the world, for which General Hager (Andre Braugher) employs Reed to make a scanner to track and determine what is going on.

Whatever it is, the phenomenon reawakens Dr. Droom in his prison in Latveria, and he goes searching for what is causing it, finding the Silver Surfer (Doug Jones, Laurence Fishburne).  After the Silver Surfer attacks New York to shut down Reed's scanner, Hager begins working with Doom, who has discovered that the board is the source of the Surfer's power.  The Fantastic Four travel to the Black Forest to employ a way of separating the Surfer from his board, finding out in the process that Doom has his own reasons for helping, as well as the reason for the Surfer's appearance on Earth. 

The Silver Surfer is almost completely CGI and I don't remember him looking great in the previews.  It looks more like a cartoon, as does a number of the computer effects, mainly those featuring Reed.  I would have assumed that the effects would improve in the two years since the original, but they are just as bad, if not worse.  Johnny's Human Torch effects are not as good as the first film.  There was also the controversial decision to abandon the typical look of Galactus - who, it has to be admitted, looks quite silly in the comics - and make him a giant sentient space cloud.  As disappointing as this decision may have been it is the only effect in the whole movie that works. 

The one improvement is that Rise of the Silver Surfer is just over 90 minutes, so it is over quickly.  This doesn't leave much time for any character to stand out, but I don't think a longer film would have improved that.  The writing is mostly bad comedy, with the relation between Johnny and Ben turned into something akin of Dennis the Menace and Mr. Wilson.  Jessica Alba and Ioan Gruffudd still aren't interesting enough to carry the film and, once again, there is a situation set up to publicly humiliate Susan Storm.  Tim Story returns to direct, but with no credited input to the writing this time.  Doesn't matter, as it could have been directed by any anonymous person, as there is nothing that stands out.  Even Dr. Doom is demoted to being a bland villain with no major motive other than power, which makes no sense if the world is about to end. 

Some people like this movie better than the first but I find this one even more hollow.  What good there was in Fantastic Four is ignored in the name of spectacle, and the spectacle itself is a letdown.  Rise of the Silver Surfer was a box office disappointment, leaving an immediate sequel in doubt.  Jessica Alba decided she was going to concentrate on her family and the actual Marvel movie machine decided to grab Chris Evans for Captain America: The First Avenger before another Fantastic Four film could be made.  This put an early end to the series but, unfortunately, made it ripe for a reboot. 

Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007)

Time: 92 minutes

Starring: Ioan Gruffudd, Jessica Alba, Chris Evans, Michael Chiklis, Julian McMahon

Director: Tim Story