Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer

Laughably awful and downright boring cinematic canine has the titled characters (led by Jessica Alba and Ioan Gruffudd) attempting to save the world from a mysterious alien being who literally glides around causing destruction on a surfboard and foretelling the doom of the entire planet. Never making much sense, "Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer" tries to get all cutesy by trying to cater to 10-year-old boys with low brow humor and then never creating much suspense or coherency with a screenplay that feels like it was thrown together a few minutes before the cast showed up to start shooting. Even Julian McMahon, who actually carried the first one to its mediocre standing, succumbs to the sheer idiocy of this entire venture. Hopeless. Turkey (0 stars out of 5).

This movie started off slow, boring, and all around just a drag, but the Silver Surfer was the best part of the entire film.

I might be biased because I've never liked a Fantastic Four movie so my rating may be harsher than how I usually rate these movies, but I find the main characters so boring and annoying.

The Silver Surfer was monotoned yet the most interesting character on the screen I also think that the way they used his flying ability was well done but could be better.

I wouldn't recommend this movie to be honest, but I will say it isn't too bad, I gave it an extra 2 stars solely because of the Silver Surfer.

Final thoughts:

Plot: 3/10 Writing: 3/10 Acting: 4.5/10 Special Effects: 7/10 Cinematography: 6.5/10 Personal Enjoyment: 3/10 (+2 for Silver Surfer).

Total:6/10.

What is wrong here? You'd think the director and writer second time around would get better right? Yea, you'd think but no such luck. Tim Story directed this thing like a newbie while both writers could'not seem to shake corny near senseless dribble. If I was Exec Prod, I'd be one ticked off guy for spending more than 130 million on this. Hell, for 10 million and real talent they could have done so much better.

I never felt taken away by this film in any way. No drama, sense of danger or urgency, even from the actors. Like eating spicy buffalo wings made of pink flavored bubble gum. Simply the whole film was a paper tiger of itself.

The best about this film... Every scene with the Silver Surfer and the magnetic Dr. Doom, Julian McMahon, whom was used far too less, made you feel like you were took along for the ride. They're the only charismatic, interesting and professional energies in this film.

Some effects, like in most fight, Surfer and earthly scenes were pretty impressive. However in the corny, "oh, let me stretch over here to get those papers" scenes, it looked like Barney Budget scale. And the unfunny cliché after cliché was embarrassing and frustrating.

And what's up with Alba's distractingly fake colored Lil Kim contacts? I mean, every time she was on screen, you'd have to fight being distracted from what's going on.

Or Mr. Fantastics gray hair changing density and shape with most every shot.

That the larger than life 'Thing' Ben Grimm is seemingly reduced to a pint size butterball party favor.

The interaction and perception of our hero's with the general public is tapered down like a cheap parlor trick leaving no sense of drama or superiority.

Ioan Gruffudd's acting was wimpy and stylized by director Tim Story as if he was in a day time soap opera.

Too bad the great possibilities for one of the best comic groups ever thought of, were laid to rest on such an incompetent team that possibly could have ruined it's chances forever.

I would have enjoyed myself better watching the animated series from decades ago.

The Fantastic Four are back in action, trying to save the world once more, this time from mysterious alien 'The Silver Surfer' whose creating havoc by inflicting blackouts and huge craters throughout the World,

Reed Richards (Ioan Gruffudd) & Susan Storm (The rather tasty Jessica Alba) are due to get married, but their nuptials are disrupted by the arrival of the Silver Surfer, and so along with Johnny Storm & Ben Grimm (Hunky Chris Evans & Michael Chiklis respectively) go into battle.

A lot of money was spent on this sequel ($130M +) and it shows with amazing special FX, The story being a PG rated film is family friendly and doesn't require a PHD in comic books to follow, and also being PG rated the violence is pretty much non-existent so anybody expecting something in the vein of 'The Punisher' this isn't for you... but. everybody else - young or old should find a lot of light hearted enjoyment from the Fantastic Quartet... which is FAR better than the original.

Highly Recommended.

In all its silliness and tongue-in-cheek disposition, the first "Fantastic Four" movie wasn't really a landmark as far as comic book films go. But it wasn't so bad either; it's just that after Marvel Comics' recent domination of the film genre, it's natural for one to expect that each of its characters having a shot at the big screen would present something legitimately entertaining to the audience. Something the first installment failed and the second struggled to achieve.

In "Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer," the four superheroes are back once again to help everyone solve their gamut of problems. Reed Richards aka Mr. Fantastic (Ioan Gruffudd) is about to wed Susan Storm aka Invisible Woman (Jessica Alba). However, an unknown cosmic entity is causing a screw-up in earth's natural phenomena, prompting the couple to postpone the wedding, and work with Johnny Storm aka Human Torch (Chris Evans) and Ben Grimm aka The thing (Michael Chiklis) to find out the cause of the mysterious occurrence. They soon come face to face with the Silver Surfer (Doug Jones, voiced by Laurence Fishburne) and realize that the world's survival is hanging on the balance. In addition to this, Victor Von Doom aka Dr. Doom (Julian McMahon) returns and is intent on destroying the Fantastic Four.

Granted, "Rise of the Silver Surfer" has a greater scale than its predecessor. But for all this, it's still very... middling. The title and the trailers suggest something of a grand battle between the eponymous characters but aside from the chase sequence involving the Human Torch and the Silver Surfer (which, by the way, has been shown numerous times in the teaser trailer), nothing much exciting still happens. Not even the team's rescue attempt in London. The quality of the special effects are inconsistent and all the visual polish expectedly goes to the Silver Surfer. (And while I personally don't think it's an issue, I imagine how some fans of the comic book might sneer at how the characters of Silver Surfer and Galactus were handled.) Instead, director Tim Story and screenwriters Don Payne and Mark Frost opt to flesh out the characters more but the end result feels less natural and more repetitive. Gruffudd does an okay job with Mr. Fantastic but there's really no feeling of chemistry between him and Alba, who manages to adequately portray a tough yet vulnerable character. In contrast, Evans and Chiklis continue to generate an easy rapport between them and the two get majority of the film's most amusing moments.

"Rise of the Silver Surfer" barely does what it sets out to do. It fares a little better than its predecessor with a more serviceable story and a little more enjoyable action sequences. But taken on its own terms, the film doesn't present anything to its characters that has been done much better with other characters of their ilk. The movie is entertaining to some extent but in the end, it doesn't really rise to something special.